Chromebook Hotkeys
Chromebook hotkeys are keyboard shortcuts that help you perform tasks quickly without using a mouse or touchpad. Faster navigation, quick access to settings, efficient web browsing, text editing, and more! Using these hotkeys can save time and streamline your workflow, making it easier to manage tasks and navigate your Chromebook.
Known Issues and Challenges
In our experience, we have found that students have used hotkeys as a way to render their Chromebook completely defunct. By pressing the ESC REFRESH and POWER buttons at the same time, it will force reboot the Chromebook and boot it into "Developer Mode".
In this mode, students can fully wipe the Chromebook back to its factory settings by the click of a few buttons. When this happens, it disconnects the Chromebook from the school Wi-Fi and un-enrolls it from our VUSD Google Database. When Chromebooks are not enrolled, they disable our ability to send apps, commands, grade level settings, etc.
The reason why some students generally do this has been to make a staff member or a teacher believe that their Chromebook "doesn't work", thinking it will get them out of taking a test or accessing their Google Classroom assignments.
Thankfully, everything is saved in Google, including the student's profile and all their work. So there's no reason to panic. The Chromebook will just have to be re-enrolled again and its very easy to fix.
To re-enroll your Chromebook, click here.
We know students will be students. Should problems arise, thankfully, many things we've run into have been simple and easy fixes. Below are a few things to keep in mind should you run into the following issues on a Google Chromebook.
Flipping the Screen
To rotate the screen on a Chromebook, press the following keys at the same time:
CTRL + SHIFT + REFRESH
Magnifying the Screen
Make the page bigger: Press CTRL and +.
Make the page smaller: Press CTRL and -.
Reset zoom: Press CTRL + 0.
High Contrast Mode
High contrast mode inverts colors to make on-screen content easier to read for people with low vision or for those working in bright environments.
Press "CTRL + Search + H" to invert colors on your Chromebook instantly.
You can also go to Settings -> Accessibility -> Display and Magnification.
Refresh Power
Hard Reset of your Chromebook
Chrome Vox Spoken Feedback
ChromeVox is a built-in screen reader for Chromebooks that provides spoken feedback. It can read text under the cursor, navigate pages, and move to different cells in tables.
For more information about keyboard shortcuts, click here