What's more appealing than a shortcut? It's a quick way to take a task and make it less painful and easier to accomplish. With shortcuts, you can cheat time a little bit and find maybe a few extra moments each day. If you save three minutes a day for a year, that's a little over 18 hours. You could binge-watch the entire show Freaks and Geeks with four hours to spare. So, shall we get started?

OS Keyboard Shortcuts

Windows macOS Chromebook

Browser Shortcuts

Chrome Firefox Safari Edge

Mobile Shortcuts

Android iPhone / iOS

 

Note: This feature was originally published on 03/07/2016. We have bumped it because it's always a good time to learn a new shortcut and simplify your workflow. Part of our #ThrowbackThursday initiative.

 

Windows Shortcuts

Windows 10 introduced some new shortcuts to take full advantage of the operating system's features and interface. Here are some of the highlights:

Improved window management

  • Snap a window left / right: Windows key + Arrow key left / right
  • Snap a window to a quadrant: Windows key + Up or Down (after moving left or right)

  • Create new virtual desktop: Windows key + Ctrl + D
  • Close current virtual desktop: Windows key + Ctrl + F4
  • Cycle through desktops to the left / right: Windows key + Ctrl + Left / Right
  • Minimize all windows in the background except active window: Windows key + Home
  • Open Task View interface (to see all the virtual desktops you have running): Windows key + Tab

More Windows 10 shortcuts

  • Open Windows 10 Action Center: Windows key + A
  • Open Windows Settings: Windows key + I
  • Open Taskbar program (1, 2, 3...): Windows key + Number ("1" opens the first program pinned in the taskbar, and so on).
  • Open Start button context menu: Windows key + X

  • Open the Game DVR recorder: Windows key + G
  • Start recording current activity on screen: Windows key + Alt + G
  • Stop recording: Windows key + Alt + R
  • Open Cortana for voice input: Windows key + Q
  • Open Cortana for text input: Windows key + S

Take a Screenshot

  • Take a screenshot and save it to the Pictures folder: Windows key + PrtSc
  • Grab screenshot of the whole screen and save it to the clipboard: PrtSc
  • Grab screenshot of the current window and save it to the clipboard: Alt + PrtSc
  • Optional For more advanced functionality, Windows 10 comes with a built-in utility called Snipping Tool. You can also use a third party app like Monosnap.

New Windows 10 Command Prompt Shortcuts

  • Highlight text to the left of cursor: Shift + Left
  • Highlight text to the right of cursor: Shift + Right
  • Copy selected text to clipboard: Ctrl + C
  • Paste text from clipboard into command prompt: Ctrl + V
  • Select all text after prompt: Ctrl + A

Old but Good Windows Shortcuts

  • Open the Task Manager: Ctrl + Shift + Esc
  • Open the Run dialog box: Windows key + R
  • Minimize all windows: Windows key + M
  • Restore minimized windows on the desktop: Windows key + Shift + M
  • Maximize window: Windows key + Up arrow
  • Minimize window: Windows key + Down arrow
  • Zoom in or out using Magnifier: Windows key + Plus sign (+) / Minus sign (-)
  • Close the active window, or exit the active app: Alt + F4
  • Display properties for the selected item: Alt + Enter
  • Switch to recent window: Alt + Tab
  • Rename the selected item: F2
  • Search for a file or folder: F3
  • Display the address bar list in the File Explorer: F4
  • Refresh the active window: F5
  • Activate the menu bar in the active window: F10
  • Lock your PC: Windows key + L
If you enjoy our content, please consider subscribing.
  • Ad-free TechSpot experience while supporting our work
  • Our promise: All reader contributions will go toward funding more content
  • That means: More tech features, more benchmarks and analysis