Shortcuts for most of the applications
Read Time: 3 min 50 sec. .
I am writing this to help all the lazy people like me. Many do learning the shortcut keys to increase their productivity, but for me I started learning about the shortcuts and few I create for my convenience due to me being so lazy to use the mouse or type all of it.
Here are few shortcuts which are inbuilt and tips to create your own shortcut keys for smarter and faster approach.
lets start with the basics windows, I understand many do know most of this shortcuts but it helps the one who don't. Please feel free to skip to other by skimming through all.
Windows shortcut keys
Win + B [Set focus in the notification area]
Win + C [Open Charms]
Win [Display or hide the Start screen]
Win + D [Display and hide the desktop]
Win + E [Open File Explorer]
Win + F [Open the Search charm and search for files]
Win + H [Open the Share charm]
Win + I [Open the Settings charm]
Win + K [Open the Devices charm]
Win + L [Lock your PC or switch people]
Win + M [Minimize all windows]
Win + O [Lock device orientation]
Win + P [Choose a presentation display mode]
Win + Q [Open the Search charm to search everywhere or within the open app (if the app supports app search]
Win + R [Open the Run dialog box]
Win + S [Open the Search charm to search Windows and the web]
Win + T [Cycle through apps on the taskbar]
Win + U [Open Ease of Access Center]
Win + V [Cycle through notifications]
Win + SHIFT + V [Cycle through notifications in reverse order]
Win + W [Open the Search charm and search for settings]
Win + X [Open the Quick Link menu]
Win + Z [Show the commands available in the app]
Win + , [Temporarily peek at the desktop]
Win + PAUSE [Display the System Properties dialog box]
Win + CTRL + F [Search for PCs (if you’re on a network)]
Win + SHIFT + M [Restore minimized windows on the desktop]
Win + (NUMBER 1-9) [Open the desktop and start the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number. If the app is already running, it switches to that app.]
Win + SHIFT + (NUMBER 1-9) [Open the desktop and start a new instance of the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number]
Win + CTRL + (NUMBER 1-9) [Open the desktop and switch to the last active window of the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number]
Win + ALT + (NUMBER 1-9) [Open the desktop and open the Jump List for the app pinned to the taskbar in the position indicated by the number]
Win + CTRL + SHIFT + (NUMBER 1-9) [Open the desktop and open a new instance of the app located at the given position on the taskbar as an administrator]
Win + TAB [Cycle through recently used apps (except desktop apps)]
Win + CTRL + TAB [Cycle through recently used apps (except desktop apps)]
Win + SHIFT + TAB [Cycle through recently used apps (except desktop apps) in reverse order]
Win + CTRL + B [Switch to the app that displayed a message in the notification area]
Win + UP ARROW [Maximize the window]
Win + DOWN ARROW [Remove current app from screen or minimize the desktop window]
Win + LEFT ARROW [Maximize the app or desktop window to the LEFT side of the screen]
Win + RIGHT ARROW [Maximize the app or desktop window to the RIGHT side of the screen]
Win + HOME [Minimize all but the active desktop window (restores all windows on second stroke)]
Win + SHIFT + UP ARROW [Stretch the desktop window to the top and bottom of the screen]
Win + SHIFT + DOWN ARROW [Restore/minimize active desktop windows vertically, maintaining width]
Win + SHIFT + LEFT ARROW or RIGHT ARROW [Move an app or window in the desktop from one monitor to another]
Win + SPACEBAR [Switch input language and keyboard layout]
Win + CTRL + SPACEBAR [Change to a previously selected input]
Win + ENTER [Open Narrator]
Win + SHIFT + . [Cycle through open apps]
Win + . [Cycle through open apps]
Win + / [Initiate IME reconversion]
Win + ALT + ENTER [Open Windows Media Center]
Win + +/- [Zoom in or out using Magnifier]
Win + ESC [Exit Magnifier]
File Explorer shortcut keys
ALT + D [Select the address bar]
CTRL + E [Select the search box]
CTRL + F [Select the search box]
CTRL + N [Open a new window]
CTRL + W [Close the current window]
CTRL + mouse scroll wheel [Change the size and appearance of file and folder icons]
CTRL + SHIFT + E [Display all folders above the selected folder]
CTRL + SHIFT + N [Create a new folder]
NUM LOCK + * [Display all subfolders under the selected folder]
NUM LOCK + + [Display the contents of the selected folder]
NUM LOCK + – [Collapse the selected folder]
ALT + P [Display the preview pane]
ALT + ENTER [Open the Properties dialog box for the selected item]
ALT + RIGHT ARROW [View the next folder]
ALT + UP ARROW [View the folder that the folder was in]
ALT + LEFT ARROW [View the previous folder]
BACKSPACE [View the previous folder]
RIGHT ARROW [Display the current selection (if it’s collapsed), or select the first subfolder]
LEFT ARROW [Collapse the current selection (if it’s expanded), or select the folder that the folder was in]
END [Display the bottom of the active window]
HOME [Display the top of the active window]
F11 [Maximize or minimize the active window]
General shortcut keys I use the most
CTRL + ARROW [to move between the words]
SHIFT + ARROW [to select letter by letter]
CTRL + SHIFT + ARROW [to select the entire word]
CTRL + SHIFT + V [to paste the text without any links attached]
CTRL + ARROW [to move between the words]
CTRL + K [to credit the source by attaching the links to specific text]
CTRL + SHIFT + 8 [for bullet points in Docs]
CTRL + SHIFT + 7 [for Action items in Docs]
CTRL + SHIFT + . [to increase the size of the text in Docs]
SHIFT + SPACEBAR [to select entire row in excel or google sheets]
CTRL + ALT + + [to insert new row in excel or google sheets]
CTRL + SHIFT + DOWN [to select all way down in excel or google sheets]
CTRL + D [to apply the formula to the whole row in excel or google sheets]
CTRL + SHIFT + -> or CTRL + R [to apply the formula to the whole column in excel or google sheets]
; [to expand the convo of mails in email]
SHIFT + ; [to back from the convo of mails in email]
CTRL + F [to find by word in email]
R [to reply in email]
CTRL + SHIFT + 8 [for bullet points in email]
CTRL + ] [for subpoints in email]
L [for labeling the mails in email]
E [for archive the mails in email]
V [to move the mails to _ in email]
K [for next mail in email]
Please do checkout the Inbox zero concept for organizing the emails professionally.
For better and fastest google search
CTRL + L [go to search box]
"your search word" [for exact search ]
[search term]+[keyword] [to search with the specified word]
[search term] OR [search term] [to search either of the words]
CTRL + SHIFT + B [to close the bookmark screen]
transparent background images [click on tools and choose color to transparent]
[search term]-[keyword] [to search without the specified word]
[search term]-site:[website] [to search without the specified website]
[search term]site:[website] [for the specific word search in those websites]
related:[search website] [for closest competitors]
[search term]filetype:[extension] [in search of specific in certain file type, here extension is like pdf, presentation etc.]
[search term]intitle:[specific year] [for the specific year published]
for date range feature search [find in anytime tool while searching]
* [for number specified search]
[search term]site:[top level domain country code] [for the specific region or area] country codes are available in Wikipedia
[topic or site] intitle: infographic or inurl: infographic [for the specific topic or site infographic]
How to create site shortcut in browsers
Steps to follow to create shortcut for site search
GO to browser settings -> Select search engine -> Select Mange search engines and site search -> Go to site search and add.
you get a page to fill, give some name on search engine and create a some shortcut in shortcut name and paste the url in url with %s in place of query.
To make it simple I'll illustrate with an example below: lets make a shortcut to direct search in amazon
I type amazon shopping in search engine and az as shortcut in shortcut name and now I open a new tab and search for amazon. In amazon search box I type some random letter to search, now copy the address from address bar.
paste it in url box in url with %s in place of query, here we need to make a small correction in url.
search the random word you searched in amazon search in the copied url. Replace the word with %s. the job is done.
create the shortcut and while searching in the search box type the az and tab key for direct search of product in amazon.
Similar way I created many shortcuts for many websites like Wikipedia, spotify, libgen etc.....
Its never ending page until I'm lazy enough to find new shortcuts hopefully I'm lazy all the time.