Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts - ARTICLE

Question

Technical Level: Basic.

Applies to: All Windows 11 editions.

Revision: 1.0.

In this article, I will be listing Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts that will help you to smartly use this operating system.

Shortcuts with Windows key

Here, denotes Windows key. On older keyboards, it have sign.

Keyboard shortcut	Usage
	Open Start Menu or Screen.
+ E	Open File Explorer.
+ C	Open Chat.
+ S or   + Q	Open Search (online and offline).
+ I	Open Settings app.
+ A	Open Action Center.
+ N	Open Notification Center.
+ H	Start voice typing.
+ F	Open Feedback hub.
+ W	Open Widgets.
+ K	Connect to wireless displays and audio devices.
+ X	Open Start context menu.
+ G	Open Game bar.
+ [1][2][3][…]	Open programs that are pinned to task bar.
+ Space	Switch keyboard input language (only if 2 or more than 2 languages present).
+ R	Open Run.
+ P	Project current screen.
+ L	Lock your Windows 11.
+ D	Show Windows Desktop.
+ V	Show Clipboard history.
+ O	Change orientation.
+ M	Minimize all open windows.
+ ,	Take a peek look at the desktop until you release the  key.
+ Shift + S	Capture part of the screen with Snip & Sketch.
+ U	Open Accessibility settings.
+ ; or .	Open Emoji viewer.
+ B	Highlight the first item in the Notification Area and use the Arrow key switch between the items.
+ PrtScr or  + Fn + PrtScr	Take screenshot of current screen and saves it to Screenshots directory under Pictures library.
+ T	Cycle through apps on taskbar.
+ Tab	Open Task View.
+ Ctrl + Left / Right	Switch to the virtual desktop on the left/right.
+ Down	Snap current window to the bottom of the screen.
+ Up	Snap current window to the top of the screen.
+ Right	Snap current window the the right side of the screen.
+ Left	Snap current window to the left side of the screen.
+ Ctrl + D	Create a new virtual desktop and switch to it.
+ Ctrl + F4	Close the current virtual desktop.

Check live demonstration of above shortcuts in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEaibQjP2aQ

Other keyboard shortcuts

Keyboard shortcut	Usage
Alt + F4	Closes current program window. When no program is open, it provides Shut down Windows dialog.
Ctrl + F	Opens a Find dialog for searching the currently opened program.
Ctrl + M	Enter mark mode which helps for selecting text especially in Command Prompt.
Ctrl + Page Up / Page Down	Scrolling up / down on current screen or page.
Ctrl + Up / Down	Move up / down on current screen or page line by line.
Ctrl + A	Select all content on the screen.
Ctrl + C or Ctrl + Insert	Copies all content on screen to clipboard.
Ctrl + V or Shift + Insert	Pastes text at the cursor.
Ctrl + Z	Undo operation.
Ctrl + Y	Redo operation, provided if you’ve used Ctrl + Z already.
Ctrl + Page Up / Page Down	Scrolling up / down on current screen or page.
Ctrl + Page Up / Page Down	Scrolling up / down on current screen or page.
Alt + Tab	This is the good older shortcut we’ve used for year to switch between tabs.
Shift + Left / Right / Up / Down	Moves the cursor left a character, right a character, up a line, or down a line, selecting the text along the way. Continue pressing arrow keys to select more text.
Ctrl + Shift + Left / Right	Moves the cursor one word to the left or right, selecting that word along the way.
Shift + Home / End	Moves the cursor to the beginning or end of the current line, selecting text along the way.
Shift + Page Up / Page Down	Moves the cursor up or down a screen, selecting text.
Ctrl + Shift + Home / End	Moves the cursor to the beginning or end of the screen buffer, selecting all text between the cursor and the beginning or end.
Ctrl + Shift + Esc	Open Task Manager.
Alt + Tab + F4	Restart File Explorer.

If you know any other shortcut that is not on above list, feel free to comment.

Hope you found these shortcuts helpful!