Computer keyboard shortcut keys

Shortcut keys ABCs

Shortcut keys help provide an easier and quicker method of navigating and executing commands in the computer software. Shortcut keys are performed using the Alt key (on IBM compatible computers), Command (on Apple computers), Ctrl key, or Shift key in conjunction with another key. The de facto standard for listing a shortcut is listing the modifier key, a plus symbol, and another key. In other words, «Ctrl+S» is telling you to press and hold the Ctrl , and then press the S at the same time.

You can also find the shortcut keys in popular programs by looking for underlined letters in their menus. For example, the file menu image has an underline on the «F» in File, which means you can press the Alt key and F key to access the file menu.

Some programs require the user to press and hold Alt to see the underlined characters. In the image above, you can see that some of the common features, such as Open (Ctrl+O) and Save (Ctrl+S), have shortcut keys assigned to them. As you begin to memorize shortcut keys, you’ll notice that many applications share them. We have a list of the most commonly shared ones in the basic PC shortcut keys section.

Non-English versions of Microsoft Windows may not be able to use all of the below shortcut keys.

Basic PC shortcut keys

Below is a list of some of the most commonly used basic shortcut keys that work with IBM compatible computers and software. We highly recommended that all users keep a reference to these shortcut keys or try to memorize them. Doing so will dramatically increase your productivity.

Besides the special character shortcuts listed here, some are also on the number keys (below the F1 — F12 keys). You can enter these special characters by pressing the Shift key and the number key with the special character listed on it.

Shortcut Keys	Description
Alt+F	File menu options in current program.
Alt+E	Open Edit options in current program.
Alt+Tab	Switch between open programs.
F1	View help information (F1 is used by almost every Windows program to display help).
F2	Rename a selected file.
F5	Refresh the current program window.
Ctrl+D	Bookmarks the current page in most Internet browsers.
Ctrl+N	Create a new or blank document in some software, or open a new tab in most Internet browsers.
Ctrl+O	Open a file in the current software.
Ctrl+A	Select all text.
Ctrl+B	Change selected text to be bold.
Ctrl+I	Change selected text to be in italics.
Ctrl+U	Change selected text to be underlined.
Ctrl+F	Open find window for current document or window.
Ctrl+S	Save current document file.
Ctrl+X	Cut selected item.
Shift+Del	Cut selected item.
Ctrl+C	Copy selected item.
Ctrl+Ins	Copy selected item
Ctrl+V	Paste
Shift+Ins	Paste
Ctrl+Y	Redo last action.
Ctrl+Z	Undo last action.
Ctrl+K	Insert hyperlink for selected text.
Ctrl+P	Print the current page or document.
Home	Goes to beginning of current line.
Ctrl+Home	Goes to beginning of document.
End	Goes to end of current line.
Ctrl+End	Goes to end of document.
Shift+Home	Highlights from current position to beginning of line.
Shift+End	Highlights from current position to end of line.
Ctrl+Left arrow	Moves one word to the left at a time.
Ctrl+Right arrow	Moves one word to the right at a time.
Ctrl+Esc	Open the Start menu.
Ctrl+Shift+Esc	Open Windows Task Manager.
Alt+F4	Close the currently active program.
Alt+Enter	Open the properties for the selected item (file, folder, shortcut, etc.).

PC shortcut keys for special characters

Many special characters can be created using keyboard shortcuts. Below are some of the more common and popular special characters and the keyboard shortcuts to create them.

Windows keyboard shortcuts for accessibility

Accessibility shortcuts can help you use your PC with a keyboard or assistive device.

The following is a list of keyboard shortcuts for assistive technologies in Windows 10, including Magnifier, high contrast, and others.

To see a list of keyboard shortcuts and touch gestures for Narrator in Windows 10, see Narrator keyboard commands and touch gestures.

Magnifier keyboard shortcuts

Windows logo key + Plus sign (+)

Turn Magnifier on

Windows logo key + Esc

Turn Magnifier off

Windows logo key + Plus sign (+) or Minus sign (-)

When Magnifier is on, zoom in or out

Ctrl + Alt + mouse scroll wheel

Zoom in and out using the mouse scroll wheel

Windows logo key + Ctrl + M

Open Magnifier settings

Ctrl + Alt + arrow keys

Pan in the direction of the arrow keys

Switch to full screen view

Switch to lens view

Switch to docked view

Cycle through views

Resize the lens with the mouse

Shift + Alt + arrow keys

Resize the lens with the keyboard

Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar

Quickly see the entire desktop when using full screen view

Magnifier reading commands

Windows logo key + Plus sign (+)

Turn Magnifier on

Start, pause, and resume reading

Modifier key + Enter

Read from mouse pointer

Modifier key + Left Mouse click

Read previous sentence

Modifier key + H

Read next sentence

Modifier key + K

For more info about Magnifier reading, see How to use Magnifier reading

Additional accessibility keyboard shortcuts

Right Shift for eight seconds

Turn Filter Keys on and off

Left Alt + left Shift + Print screen

Turn High Contrast on or off

Left Alt + left Shift + Num lock

Turn Mouse Keys on or off

Shift five times

Turn Sticky Keys on or off

Num lock for five seconds

Turn Toggle Keys on or off

Windows logo key + U

Open the Ease of Access Center

Windows logo key + Ctrl + C

Turn color filters on or off

Windows logo key + Ctrl + N

Open Narrator settings

Windows logo key + Ctrl + S

Turn on Windows Speech Recognition

Windows logo key + Ctrl + O

Turn on the On-Screen Keyboard

Additional keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts to help control Windows 8.1 with the keyboard.

Ease of Access keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts that can help make your PC easier to use.

Right Shift for eight seconds

Turn Filter Keys on and off

Left Alt + left Shift + Print Screen

Turn High Contrast on or off

Left Alt + left Shift + Num Lock

Turn Mouse Keys on or off

Shift five times

Turn Sticky Keys on or off

Num Lock for five seconds

Turn Toggle Keys on or off

Windows logo key + U

Open the Ease of Access Center

Magnifier keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Magnifier.

Windows logo key + plus (+) or minus (-)

Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar

Preview the desktop in full-screen mode

Switch to docked mode

Switch to full-screen mode

Switch to lens mode

Resize the lens

Ctrl + Alt + arrow keys

Pan in the direction of the arrow keys

Windows logo key + Esc

Narrator keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Narrator.

Spacebar or Enter

Activate current item

Tab and arrow keys

Move around on the screen

Caps Lock + Page Up or Page Down

Increase or decrease the volume of the voice

Caps Lock + plus (+) or minus (-)

Increase or decrease the speed of the voice

Caps Lock + Spacebar

Do default action

Caps Lock + Left or Right arrows

Move to previous/next item

Show commands for current item

Press Caps Lock twice in quick succession

Turn Caps Lock on or off

Narrator touch keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Narrator on a four-point tablet.

Tap once with two fingers

Stop Narrator from reading

Tap three times with four fingers

Show all Narrator commands (including the ones not in this list)

Activate primary action

Activate secondary action

Touch or drag a single finger

Read what’s under your fingers

Flick left/right with one finger

Move to next or previous item

Swipe left/right/up/down with two fingers

Swipe down with three fingers

Start reading on explorable text

Additional keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts to help control Windows 7 with the keyboard.

Ease of Access keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts that can help make your PC easier to use.

Right Shift for eight seconds

Turn Filter Keys on and off

Left Alt + left Shift + Print Screen

Turn High Contrast on or off

Left Alt + left Shift + Num Lock

Turn Mouse Keys on or off

Shift five times

Turn Sticky Keys on or off

Num Lock for five seconds

Turn Toggle Keys on or off

Windows logo key + U

Open the Ease of Access Center

Magnifier keyboard shortcuts

The following table contains keyboard shortcuts for working with Magnifier.

Windows logo key + plus (+) or minus (-)

Ctrl + Alt + Spacebar

Preview the desktop in full-screen mode

Switch to docked mode

Switch to full-screen mode

Switch to lens mode

Resize the lens

Ctrl + Alt + arrow keys

Pan in the direction of the arrow keys

Windows logo key + Esc

Create keyboard shortcuts to open programs

You can create keyboard shortcuts to open programs. Before you get started, you need to create a shortcut for the program to which you want to assign a keyboard shortcut. To do this, open the folder that contains the program’s executable file, right-click it, and then click Create Shortcut.

For more information about creating shortcuts to programs, see Create or delete a shortcut.

Locate the shortcut to the program that you want to create a keyboard shortcut for.

Right-click the shortcut, and then click Properties.

In the Shortcut Properties dialog box, click the Shortcut tab.

Click in the Shortcut key box, press the key on your keyboard that you want to use in combination with Ctrl + Alt (keyboard shortcuts automatically start with Ctrl + Alt), and then click OK. If you’re prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.

If you’re using a program that also has a keyboard shortcut using the same key combination as the shortcut you just created, then your shortcut might not work.

The word None appears in the Shortcut key box until you press a key; then it’s replaced with Ctrl + Alt + the key that you pressed.

You can’t use the Esc, Enter, Tab, Spacebar, PrtScn, Shift, or Backspace keys to create a keyboard shortcut.

Keyboard shortcuts in apps

Keyboard shortcuts are keys or combinations of keys that provide another way to do something that you’d typically do with a mouse.

The following are common keyboard shortcuts in many of the Microsoft apps that come with Windows 10. This includes shortcuts for:

In many of these apps, shortcuts are also shown in a tooltip if you hold the mouse pointer over a button. In others, pressing the Alt or F10 keys shows available keyboard shortcuts. If a letter is underlined in a menu, press the Altkey and the underlined key together instead of choosing that menu item. For example, to create a new picture in Paint, press Ctrl + N.

Note: With a touch keyboard, you’ll need to press the Ctrl key to view some shortcuts.

Calculator keyboard shortcuts

Switch to Standard mode

Switch to Scientific mode

Switch to Graphing mode

Switch to Programmer mode

Switch to Date Calculation mode

Store in memory, in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Add to memory, in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Subtract from memory, in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Recall from memory, in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Clear current input (select CE)

Fully clear input (select C)

Navigate to the next UI item and give it focus

Selects UI item that has focus

Selects = in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Select +/- in Standard mode, Scientific mode, and Programmer mode

Select 1/x in Standard mode and Scientific mode

Select 2 √x in Standard mode and Scientific mode

Select % in Standard mode and Programmer mode

When history button is visible, selects the history button in Standard mode and Scientific mode

Move up in history list, memory list, and menu items

Move down in history list, memory list, and menu items

Select DEG in Scientific mode

Select RAD in Scientific mode

Select GRAD in Scientific mode

Select 2 x in Scientific mode

Select 10 x in Scientific mode

Select 10 x in in Scientific mode

Select sin -1 in Scientific mode

Select sinh in Scientific mode

Select sinh -1 in Scientific mode

Select tan in Scientific mode

Select tan -1 in Scientific mode

Select tanh in Scientific mode

Select tanh -1 in Scientific mode

Select cos in Scientific mode

Select cos -1 in Scientific mode

Select cosh in Scientific mode

Select cosh -1 in Scientific mode

Select sec in Scientific mode

Select sec -1 in Scientific mode

Select sech in Scientific mode

Select sech -1 in Scientific mode

Select csc in Scientific mode

Select csc -1 in Scientific mode

Select csch in Scientific mode

Select csch -1 in Scientific mode

Select cot in Scientific mode

Select cot -1 in Scientific mode

Select coth in Scientific mode

Select coth -1 in Scientific mode

Select y √x in Scientific mode

Select |x| in Scientific mode

Select ⌊x⌋ in Scientific mode

Select ⌈x⌉ in Scientific mode

Select log in Scientific mode

Select log yx in Scientific mode

Select dms in Scientific mode

Select ln in Scientific mode

Select e x in Scientific mode

Select Pi in Scientific mode

Select x 2 in Standard mode and Scientific mode

Toggles on/off F-E buttonin Scientific mode

Select exp in Scientific mode

Select x y in Scientific mode

Select x 3 in Scientific mode

Select n! in Scientific mode

Select mod in Scientific mode

Ctrl ++ on numpad

Graph zooms in while in Graphing mode

Ctrl +- on numpad

Graph zooms out while in Graphing mode

Select DWORD in Programmer mode

Select WORD in Programmer mode

Select BYTE in Programmer mode

Select HEX in Programmer mode

Select DEC in Programmer mode

Select OCT in Programmer mode

Select BIN in Programmer mode

Select QWORD in Programmer mode

Select letters A-F in Programmer mode while HEX is select

Select RoL in Programmer mode when Bit Shift is set to either «Circular» shift

Select RoR in Programmer mode when Bit Shift is set to either «Circular» shift

Select Lsh in Programmer mode when Bit Shift is set to «Arithmetic» or «Logical» shift

Select Rsh in Programmer mode when Bit Shift is set to «Arithmetic» or «Logical» shift