Keyboard Shortcuts and System Commands for Popular Programs

Keyboard shortcuts can speed up even the most mundane of Windows 10 tasks. Learning the best of them, can make your PC experience faster, more efficient, and in some cases, even more enjoyable. Keyboard shortcuts can boost your productivity if your daily job relies heavily on using Windows. They just don’t get the work done quickly, but also improves the efficiency. Give them a try and you just might find yourself getting addicted to keyboard shortcuts.

In computing, a keyboard shortcuts is a set of one or more keys that invoke a command in software or an operating system.

They are typically an alternate means for invoking commands that would otherwise be accessible only through a menu, a mouse, or an aspect of the user interface. These shortcuts can expedite common operations by reducing input sequences to a few keystrokes.

These shortcuts can provide an easier and quicker method of using computer programs. These commands are commonly accessed by using the Alt ket (on PC computers), command key (on Apple computers), Ctrl, and Shift in conjunction with a single letter.

Special Keys

Some keys on the keyboard have specific functions which you may not be familiar with.

Tab – move between items or move forward 5 characters (depending on the task).

Shift – when the Shift key is pressed at the same time as a letter key, an upper case version of that letter is produced. For other non-letter keys, this action produces the character that is above the main character on the key.

Alt Gr – used on international keyboards to access special characters on keys where there are more than two characters on the key. Press it down at the same time as the letter/character key to produce the special character shown on the bottom right side of the key.

Ctrl – holding down the Ctrl key while selecting items allows you to select several items at once. The Ctrl key is also used in many keyboard shortcuts.

Scroll Lock – in the past, when Scroll Lock was selected, pressing the arrow keys resulted in scrolling through a page of text rather than moving the cursor line by line. These days, the functionality has been replaced by the on-screen scroll bar, so the Scroll Lock key is almost never used and most recent applications don’t recognize it.

Insert – pressing this key switches between two modes when you are typing. In the first mode, what you type appears before the cursor and pushes any text that comes after it to the right. In the second mode, any text that you type successively replaces any text that is to the right of the cursor.

Num Lock – When the Num Lock key is pressed, the numbers on the number pad of the keyboard are activated. When the Num Lock key is not pressed, it’s the arrows and special keys on the number pad which are active. The number pad is a block of numbers that looks like an upside down telephone keypad. On desktop computer keyboards it is found on the right hand side of the keyboard. On laptops, the number pad is a special feature that is associated with regular keys on the keyboard. The numbers corresponding to the number pad can usually be seen on the bottom edge of other keys (usually ones on the right side of the keyboard).

Caps Lock – when you press the Caps Lock key, you activate a feature that lets you type upper case letters continuously without having to press the Shift key at the same time. To go back to typing lower case letters, press the Caps Lock key again. You should use Caps Lock instead of shift if you want to type more than one or two upper case letters in a row. Numbers and special keys are not affected by the Caps Lock key.

Print Screen – pressing the Print Screen key captures an image of your entire screen. For more on this feature see the section PrintScreen under Other useful things...

These shortcuts are for the following programs and applications.

Word
Windows
Internet Explorer
File Explorer
Windows System Commands
Firefox
Excel
Mac
Finder
Chrome

Here is a list of commonly used short-cut keys that can provide an easier and quicker method of using computer programs:

List of basic computer Keyboard Shortcuts Keys

Alt + F–File menu options in the current program.
Alt + E–Edits options in the current program.
F1–Universal help (for any sort of program).
Ctrl + A–Selects all text.
Ctrl + X–Cuts the selected item.
Ctrl + Del–Cut selected item.
Ctrl + C–Copy the selected item.
Ctrl + Ins– Copy the selected item.
Ctrl + V–Paste the selected item.
Shift + Ins — Paste the selected item.
Home — Takes the user to the beginning of the current line.
Ctrl + Home–Go to the beginning of the document.
End — Go to the end of the current line.
Ctrl + End — Go to the end of a document.
Shift + Home — Highlight from current position to beginning of the line.
Shift + End — Highlight from current position to end of the line.
Ctrl + (Left arrow) — Move one word to the left at a time.
Ctrl + (Right arrow) — Move one word to the right at a time.

Microsoft Windows shortcut keys list

Alt + Tab — Switch between open applications.
Alt + Shift + Tab — Switch backward between open applications.
Alt + Print Screen — Create screenshot for the current program.
Ctrl + Alt + Del — Reboot/Windows task manager.
Ctrl + Esc — Bring up the start menu.
Alt + Esc — Switch between applications on the taskbar.
F2 — Rename selected icon.
F3 — Start find from the desktop.
F4 — Open the drive selection when browsing.
F5 — Refresh contents.
Alt + F4 — Close current open program.
Ctrl + F4 — Close window in program.
Ctrl + Plus Key– Automatically adjust widths of all columns in Windows Explorer.
Alt + Enter — Open properties window of selected icon or program.
Shift + F10 — Simulate right-click on selected item.
Shift + Del — Delete programs/files permanently.
Holding Shift During Boot up — Boot safe mode or bypass system files.
Holding Shift During Boot up — When putting in an audio CD, will prevent CD Player from playing.

Word shortcut keys

Ctrl + A — Select all contents of the page.
Ctrl + B — Bold highlighted selection.
Ctrl + C — Copy selected text.
Ctrl + X — Cut selected text.
Ctrl + N — Open new/blank document.
Ctrl + O — Open options.
Ctrl + P — Open the print window.
Ctrl + F — Open find box.
Ctrl + I — Italicise highlighted selection.
Ctrl + K — Insert link.
Ctrl + U — Underline highlighted selection.
Ctrl + V — Paste.
Ctrl + Y — Redo the last action performed.
Ctrl + Z — Undo last action.
Ctrl + G — Find and replace options.
Ctrl + H — Find and replace options.
Ctrl + J — Justify paragraph alignment.
Ctrl + L — Align selected text or line to the left.
Ctrl + Q — Align selected paragraph to the left.
Ctrl + E — Align selected text or line to the center.
Ctrl + R — Align selected text or line to the right.
Ctrl + M — Indent the paragraph.
Ctrl + T — Hanging indent.
Ctrl + D — Font options.
Ctrl + Shift + F — Change the font.
Ctrl + Shift + > — Increase selected font +1.
Ctrl + ] — Increase selected font +1.
Ctrl + [ — Decrease selected font -1.
Ctrl + Shift + * — View or hide non printing characters.
Ctrl + (Left arrow) — Move one word to the left.
Ctrl + (Right arrow) — Move one word to the right.
Ctrl + (Up arrow) — Move to the beginning of the line or paragraph.
Ctrl + (Down arrow) — Move to the end of the paragraph.
Ctrl + Del — Delete word to the right of the cursor.
Ctrl + Backspace — Delete word to the left of the cursor.
Ctrl + End — Move cursor to end of the document.
Ctrl + Home — Move cursor to the beginning of the document.
Ctrl + Space — Reset highlighted text to default font.
Ctrl + 1 — Single-space lines.
Ctrl + 2 — Double-space lines.
Ctrl + 5 — 1.5-line spacing.
Ctrl + Alt + 1 Change text to heading 1.
Ctrl + Alt + 2 Change text to heading 2.
Ctrl + Alt + 3 Change text to heading 3.
F1 — Open help.
Shift + F3 — Change case of selected text.
Shift + Insert — Paste.
F4 — Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+).
F7 — Spell check selected text and/or document.
Shift + F7 — Activate the thesaurus.
F12 — Save as.
Ctrl + S — Save.
Shift + F12 — Save.
Alt + Shift + D — Insert the current date.
Alt + Shift + T — Insert the current time.
Ctrl + W — Close document.

Excel shortcut keys

F2 — Edit the selected cell.
F5 — Go to a specific cell.
F7 — Spell check selected text and/or document.
F11 — Create chart
Ctrl + Shift + ; — Enter the current time.
Ctrl + ; — Enter the current date
Alt + Shift + F1 — Insert new worksheet.
Shift + F3 — Open the Excel formula window.
Shift + F5 — Bring up the search box
Ctrl + A — Select all contents of a worksheet.
Ctrl + B — Bold highlighted selection.
Ctrl + I — Italicize highlighted selection.
Ctrl + C — Copy selected text.
Ctrl + V — Paste
Ctrl + D — Fill
Ctrl + K — Insert link
Ctrl + F — Open find and replace options.
Ctrl + G — Open go-to options.
Ctrl + H — Open find and replace options.
Ctrl + U — Underline highlighted selection.
Ctrl + Y — Underline selected text.
Ctrl + 5 — Strikethrough highlighted selection.
Ctrl + O — Open options.
Ctrl + N — Open new document.
Ctrl + P — Open print dialog box.
Ctrl + S — Save.
Ctrl + Z — Undo last action.
Ctrl + F9 — Minimize current window.
Ctrl + F10 — Maximize currently selected window.
Ctrl + F6 — Switch between open workbooks/windows.
Ctrl + Page up & Page Down — Move between Excel worksheets in the same document.
Ctrl + Tab — Move between two or more open Excel files
Alt + = — Create the formula to sum all of the above cells.
Ctrl + — Insert the value of above cell into the current cell.
Ctrl + Shift + ! — Format number in comma format.
Ctrl + Shift + $ — Format number in currency format.
Ctrl + Shift + # — Format number in date format.
Ctrl + Shift + % — Format number in percentage format.
Ctrl + Shift + ^ — Format number in scientific format.
Ctrl + Shift + @ — Format number in time format.
Ctrl + (Right arrow) — Move to next section of text.
Ctrl + Space — Select entire column.
Shift + Space — Select entire row.
Ctrl + W — Close document.

Outlook shortcut keys

Alt + S — Send the email.
Ctrl + C — Copy selected text.
Ctrl + X — Cut selected text.
Ctrl + P — Open print dialog box.
Ctrl + K — Complete name/email typed in address bar.
Ctrl + B — Bold highlighted selection.
Ctrl + I — Italicize highlighted selection.
Ctrl + U — Underline highlighted selection.
Ctrl + R — Reply to an email.
Ctrl + F — Forward an email.
Ctrl + N — Create a new email.
Ctrl + Shift + A — Create a new appointment to your calendar.
Ctrl + Shift + O — Open the outbox.
Ctrl + Shift + I — Open the inbox.
Ctrl + Shift + K — Add a new task.
Ctrl + Shift + C — Create a new contact.
Ctrl + Shift+ J — Create a new journal entry.

WINKEY shortcuts:

WINKEY + D — Bring desktop to the top of other windows.
WINKEY + M — Minimize all windows.
WINKEY + SHIFT + M — Undo the minimize done by WINKEY + M and WINKEY + D.
WINKEY + E — Open Microsoft Explorer.
WINKEY + Tab — Cycle through open programs on the taskbar.
WINKEY + F — Display the Windows Search/Find feature.
WINKEY + CTRL + F — Display the search for computers window.
WINKEY + F1 — Display the Microsoft Windows help.
WINKEY + R — Open the run window.
WINKEY + Pause /Break — Open the system properties window.
WINKEY + U — Open utility manager.
WINKEY + L — Lock the computer (Windows XP & later).

Windows System Commands

Type the following commands in your Run dialogue box (Windows Key + R) to run specific programs.

devmgmt.msc: Device Manager

msinfo32: System Information
cleanmgr: Disk Cleanup
ntbackup: Backup or restore Wizard (Windows Backup Utility)
mmc: Microsoft Management Console
excel: Microsoft Excel (if installed)
msaccess: Microsoft Access (if installed)
powerpnt: Microsoft PowerPoint (if installed)
winword: Microsoft Word (if installed)
frontpg: Microsoft FrontPage (if installed)
notepad: Notepad
wordpad: WordPad
calc: Calculator
msmsgs: Windows Messenger
mspaint: Microsoft Paint
wmplayer: Windows Media Player
rstrui: System restore
control: Opens the Control Panel
control printers: Opens the printers dialogue box
cmd: Command Prompt
iexplore: Internet Explorer
compmgmt.msc: Computer Management
dhcpmgmt.msc: DHCP Management
dnsmgmt.msc: DNS Management
services.msc: Services
eventvwr: Event Viewer
dsa.msc: Active Directory Users and Computers
dssite.msc: Active Directory Sites and Services

Here are the keyboard shortcuts that can be used to rearrange apps on Metro screen. You should keep the Windows key pressed down continuously once you enter in the rearrange mode, then use the various commands. When you’re done rearranging apps, then release the Windows key.