The keyboard/mouse pair remains a must in the computing world. If the mouse brings with it a very remarkable fluidity and ease of use. It’s slower than keyboard shortcuts in many situations. To save you time, we have compiled the Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts here. The most important as well as the least known.
Source: FRANDROID – Chloé PERTUIS
Most of the time, when you want to interact with a computer, whether it’s running Windows 11 or not, you use your mouse, and therefore move the pointer to the buttons and menus that interest you. However, when you are in the operating system or software, keyboard shortcuts can quickly prove faster in use to increase productivity. We have grouped them here by universe and let you consult this tutorial that will help you save precious seconds. Here is List of keyboard shortcuts for Windows 11.
Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts for use on the desktop
- Open task manager: Ctrl + Shift + Esc.
- Open the quick settings panel: Windows key + A opens the control panel (to the right of the taskbar) that lets you turn Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Airplane mode, and other features on or off, including volume.
- Open Microsoft Team chat: Windows key + C, a feature to quickly see your recent messages and contacts in Microsoft Team, or start a meeting or call right from here.
- Show or hide desktop: Windows key + D, Show Desktop means show all your apps in the window, and Hide puts all your apps back in the right place.
- Open File Explorer: Windows key + E, open File Explorer.
- Open Feedback Hub: Windows key + F, open Feedback Hub and take a screenshot at the same time. Handy if you want to send feedback to Microsoft, and even more so if you’re an active Insider.
Source: Frandroid
- Open the Emoji panel: Windows key + “. launches the emojis panel to enhance your texts.
- Lock your PC: Windows key + L
- Show notification center and calendar: Windows key + N, show notification center and calendar.
- Open Windows search: Windows key + S, activates Windows 11 search on computer and web.
- Open the Run dialog: You can use the Windows key + R to launch software on your PC, provided you know the name of the application’s executable file.
- Take a screenshot: Windows key + Shift + S, launch the screenshot tool. Windows key + Print key, takes a screenshot of the desktop and saves it in the Pictures folder.
- Open the About page in Settings: Windows key + Pause, provides access to information about your computer hardware and your Windows version.
- Open the Settings app: Windows key + I, open the settings window.
- Open your clipboard history: Windows key + V, very valuable if you get lost copying and pasting. This feature allows you to view the texts, links, and files you have copied.
- Open the taskbar context menu: Windows key + X, shortcut equivalent to right-clicking the Start icon on your taskbar, with links to system features like Settings, File Explorer, Task Manager, and more.
Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts to use for display
- Minimize all your windows: Windows key + M, handy for getting a windowless desktop view.
- Restore all minimized windows : Windows key + Shift + M.
- Open the Instant Layouts panel: Windows Key + Z, makes it easy to arrange multiple windows on your screen.
- Open the broadcast panel: Windows key +K, this starts connecting to Miracast-compatible wireless displays.
- Change the display mode in Project to Multiscreen: Windows key + P, allows to have only one active screen, to duplicate the display on all screens or to extend the display to multiple screens.
Source: H.P
- Lock device orientation: Windows key + O, for Windows 11 tablets and hybrids, this feature prevents the display from rotating when you rotate your PC.
- Open the Widgets panel: Windows key + W, this new feature of Windows 11 offers diverse and configurable widgets.
Keyboard shortcuts for Windows 11 games
- Open the Xbox game bar: Windows Key + G, opens the Xbox Game Bar, which allows taking screenshots, recording videos and using various functions while playing a game.
// Source: Xbox
- Enable or disable HDR: Windows key + Alt + B, very useful if you have an HDR compatible monitor.
- Record a video: Windows key + Alt + R, start recording a video of a game or application.
Accessibility keyboard shortcuts in Windows 11
- Open the Accessibility Settings page: Windows + U key, a must-have for optimally adapting the computer to your potential visual and other difficulties.
- Enable or disable color filters: Windows key + Ctrl + C, if you suffer from color blindness, you can use this function to change the way colors are displayed. Please note that it must first be activated in the accessibility settings.
- Enable speech output: Windows key + Ctrl + Enter, Windows reads the items on the screen aloud for easier navigation for the visually impaired.
- Zoom out with the magnifying glass: Windows key + “-“.
- Close the magnifying glass: Windows key + Esc.
- Start voice input: Windows key + H, starts voice input to dictate text instead of typing it on the keyboard.
Windows 11 multitasking shortcuts:
- Open task view: Windows key + Tab, shows all your open applications as thumbnails, as well as your virtual desktops.
- Close the active window or application: Alt + F4 to quickly close software and games and use it on the desktop, the shortcut opens the Windows power menu.
- Maximize the active window: Windows key + up arrow key, the active window becomes full screen.
- Align an active window to the top half of your monitor: Windows Key + Alt + Up Arrow aligns the active window to the top half of your monitor.
- Reduce the display size of a window: Windows key + down arrow, the active window is minimized when in full screen mode and minimized to the taskbar when not in full screen mode.
- Align the active window to the bottom half of the screen: Windows key + Alt + down arrow, then you need to choose an app for the top half.
- Align the active window to the left half of the screen. : Windows key + left arrow.
- Align the active window to the right half of the screen: Windows key + right arrow.
- Stretch the active window to occupy all vertical space: Windows key + Shift + up arrow, the operation keeps the same width, the same key combination with down arrow reverses the action.
Windows 11 shortcuts for virtual desktops
- Create a new virtual office: Windows key + Ctrl + D
- Switch between virtual desktops: Windows key + Ctrl + left arrow or right arrow.
- Close the active virtual desktop: Windows key + Ctrl + F4
Windows 11 File Explorer Keyboard Shortcuts
- Open new window: The Ctrl + N keyboard shortcut also works in some web browsers and software.
- Open a new tab: Ctrl + T, only with Windows 11 22H2.
- Close active tab: Ctrl + W, only on Windows 11 22H2.
- Resize folder and file icons: Ctrl + mouse scroll wheel, scroll up to zoom in, scroll down to zoom out.
- Create a new folder: Ctrl+Shift+N.
- View properties of the selected file or folder: Alt + Enter.
- Show preview area: Alt + P
- Navigate forwards and backwards through pages: Alt + left arrow or Alt + right arrow, works with major web browsers.
- Show parent folder of active folder: Alt + up arrow.
Keyboard shortcuts for Windows 11 dialogs
- Show items in an active list: F4 or space bar.
- Select a button in a group of buttons or an option in a list: arrow keys.
- Check or uncheck a box: spacebar.
- Switch between different tabs: Ctrl+Tab
- Choose an option: Alt + (letter), the letter is the one underlined in the option description.
Keyboard shortcuts for the Windows 11 taskbar
- Browse Taskbar Apps: Windows key + T
- Open a new instance of the selected application: Shift + left mouse click.
- Open the selected application as an administrator: Ctrl + Shift + left mouse click.
Source: microsoft
- Open the menu of the selected application window: Shift + right click.
- Scroll through open windows of the active application: Ctrl + left mouse click, works only with an application with multiple windows open.
Common keyboard shortcuts for Windows 11
- Select all text or elements in a document, page, or window: Ctrl+A
- Delete selected text or elements: Ctrl+D
- Cut selected item or text: Ctrl+X.
- Copy selected item or text: Ctrl+C.
- Paste the copied or cut content from the clipboard: Ctrl+V
- Undo your last action: Ctrl+Z
- Redo an undone action: Ctrl+Y
- Rename the selected file or folder: F2.
- Show address bar list in File Explorer: F4.
- Refresh the active window or page: F5 or Ctrl+R.
- Cycle through the screen elements of the active window or desktop: F6.
- Activate the menu bar in the active window or application: F10.
- Open the active window’s pop-up menu: Alt + Spacebar.
- When the menus appear, select the option with the appropriate underlined letter in the text : Alt + (letter).
- Navigate through the menus and submenus: Right or left arrow in the active menus and left arrow to close an open submenu.
- Close the open document or tab in applications: Ctrl+F4.
- Open search: Ctrl+E
- Move cursor in text:
- Move the text cursor to the beginning of the next word: Ctrl + right arrow.
- Move the text cursor to the beginning of the previous word: Ctrl + left arrow.
- Move the text cursor up one paragraph: Ctrl + Up Arrow.
- Move the text cursor down one paragraph: Ctrl + down arrow.
- Select text:
- Choose the previous character: Left arrow selects the previous character, right arrow deselects the last selected text.
- Choose the next character: Right Arrow and Left Arrow deselect the last selected text.
- Select the previous line: Arrow up and arrow down deselect the last selected row.
- Select the following line: Arrow down and arrow up disable the last selected row.
- Select text in a document: Shift + (arrow key), the selection starts from the position of the text cursor.
- Choose the previous word: Left Arrow, Right Arrow deselects the last selected node.
- Choose the next word: Right Arrow, Left Arrow deselects the last selected word.
- Select the previous paragraph: Up Arrow, Down Arrow deselects the last selected paragraph.
- Select the next paragraph: Down Arrow, Up Arrow deselects the last selected paragraph.CTRL + layer + (arrow key) – In a document, select a block of text from the cursor position:
- Pausing or stopping a running task: Esc.
You now have a comprehensive overview of Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts. Don’t forget that the keyboard shortcut can give different results depending on the context (desktop, explorer, software, video game), so before you get upset about a keyboard shortcut not working. Verify that you are in the correct software environment.
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