Must-Know Windows Keyboard Shortcuts for
Win 10, 8 and 7
When it comes to keyboard shortcuts within the Windows OS, the Windows key (represented as “Win” below) 
is the basic key that, combined with countless letter and other keys, can call up or execute an incredibly wide variety of menus and functions. But too often we resort instead to mousing around, leading to slower computing and even wrist discomfort over time. It’s time to get faster while relaxing that wrist with these convenient keyboard shortcuts.
Shortcuts new to Windows 10
Windows 10 users can benefit from several new keyboard shortcuts making essential features of the new OS readily accessible.
Prior to Windows 10, pressing Win+← or Win+→ would allow you to “snap” windows to exactly half screen for easy double-window viewing. Now, window snapping lets you not only snap to fill half the screen, but a screen quadrant:
- Hold Win then press ← and then ↑ to move your program window to the upper left quadrant of the screen. Us the → for screen-right, ↓ for lower quadrants, etc.
Additional useful Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts include:
- Win+Ctrl+D Creates a new Virtual Desktop
- Win+C Awakes Cortana for voice input
- Win+S Opens Cortana’s Daily Glance feature (e.g., weather, sports, news)
Standard shortcuts worth regularly adopting
Users of Windows 7 and 8 can also take advantage of many great shortcuts, among them:
- Win Brings up the Start menu
- Win+Tab Scrolls through your open apps
(and in Windows 10, your virtual desktops) - Win+E Opens File Explorer (the “Computer” window)
- Win+D Minimizes all windows (shows desktop)
Pressing Win+D once more calls up all windows as you left them - Win+L Locks the PC
- Win+←/→ Lets you move windows around without mouse-dragging them
- Win+↓/↑ Minimizes/maximizes windows
- Win+1 through 9 Opens app in System Tray corresponding to that number position
(e.g., Win+5 opens the fifth-from-left app in the tray) - Alt+Tab Scrolls through open apps (like Win+Tab but in 2D)
- Alt+F4 Closes a window
Browser functions
Web browsing has its own set of useful shortcuts as well, whether you use Chrome, Internet Explorer, Firefox or the new Edge browser for Windows 10
- Ctrl+T Opens a new browser tab
- Ctrl+F4 Closes a browser tab
- Ctrl+N Opens a new browser window
- Ctrl+Tab Navigates through browser tabs
- Spacebar Scrolls down a web page
The Shift key is often used to perform the reverse of a function
- Shift+Ctrl+Tab Navigates browser tabs in reverse
- Shift+Spacebar Scrolls up a web page
Or, in Windows generally:
- Shift+Tab Tabs through fields in a window in the reverse direction
- Shift+Win+Tab Scrolls through your open apps in reverse
Microsoft Word
Just as in Windows generally adding the Shift key often performs the reverse of a keyboard function, in Word, Ctrl tends to perform the whole-word version of arrow-key function and more:
- Ctrl+Backspace Deletes the entire word to the left of the cursor
- Ctrl+Delete Deletes the entire word to the right of the cursor
- Ctrl+→ Moves cursor ahead one whole word
- Ctrl+← Moves cursor back one whole word
- Ctrl+Shift+→ Highlights whole words at a time
And finally, one more great Word shortcut allows you to easily toggle between all caps, upper-, lower- and sentence cases:
- Shift+F3 Changes letter case of the word where cursor rests
(or of entire highlighted text)
Using these shortcuts in combination can make for efficient computing that all but renders your mouse irrelevant, with a little practice.
Examples
To quickly get to your Recent Places in File Explorer without touching the mouse:
Win+E, Shift+Tab, ↑ six times and hit Enter.
To briefly set aside and then get back to an open window:
Win+↓ twice, then Win+[number Word app is in system tray] to recall it.
To call up a minimized browser tab if you’ve been working in Word or another app:
Win+[number browser app is in system tray], then Ctrl+Tab to scroll through open browser tabs until you reach it.
In addition to the well-known Copy/Paste (Ctrl+C/V), Undo (Ctrl+Z) and Redo (Ctrl+Y) functions in Microsoft Word, you can see that Windows, Word and web browsers all offer enhanced functionality and ease of use with lesser known keyboard shortcuts worth mastering.
