Keyboard shortcuts are an easy way to potentially save you a lot of time. Pressing two or three keys at the same time can activate functions that would otherwise be multiple clicks away.
Windows 10 has so many keyboard shortcuts that it’s practically impossible to remember them all.
Many will be familiar with CTRL+C (copy), CTRL+V (paste), CTRL+Z (undo), CTRL+Y (redo) and CTRL+A (select all), so we’ve chosen 20 more that are particularly useful and can be used to your advantage.
Best Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts
Without further ado, here are our favourite keyboard shortcuts on Windows 10:
- Windows key + V: Open clipboard history
- Windows key + A: Open the Action Centre
- Windows key + C: Launch Cortana in listening mode (for voice commands)
- Windows key + I: Open the Settings app
- Windows key + S: Launch Cortana
- Windows key + T: Cycle through apps in taskbar
- Windows key + X: Open Quick Link menu, the list of common functions displayed when right clicking on open app
- Windows key + Tab: Open Task View
- Windows key + Left arrow: Snap active window to left of screen
- Windows key + Up arrow: Snap active window to top of screen
- Windows key + Down arrow: Snap active window to bottom of screen
- Windows key + Ctrl + D: Create a new virtual desktop
- Windows key + Ctrl + F4: Close the current desktop
- Windows key + Ctrl + left or right arrow: switch between virtual desktops
- Windows key + Shift + S: Take and annotate screenshots
- Windows key + Shift + M: Minimise all windows
- Windows key + Alt + R: Manually start and stop recording
- Windows key + full stop (.) or semi-colon (;): Open emojis
- Windows key + (number): Open app in corresponding position in taskbar e.g. adding 1 will open app closest to left in taskbar
- Ctrl + Shift + V: Paste text but keep source formatting (pasted text will look the same as the rest of the document)
How to customise your own keyboard shortcuts
While Windows 10\’s keyboard shortcuts are fairly intuitive, there is a way to customise them to launch specific. Here’s how it’s done:
Create a shortcut for the app manually. The easiest way of doing this is finding it in the Start Menu and then dragging it onto your desktop.
Right-click on the icon you’ve created and choose ‘Properties’
Under ‘Shortcut key’ type the command you’d like to use and click ‘OK’.
You may also be interested in how to add special characters.
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