PowerToys Command Palette utility

PowerToys Command Palette helps you launch apps, run commands, search files, browse the web, and reach Windows tools from one place. It is customizable, extensible, and designed for keyboard-first workflows.

Press Win+Alt+Space and start typing. That's it.

Important

Command Palette must be enabled and running in the background. You can enable or disable it from the PowerToys settings Home page, and change the activation shortcut in Command Palette settings.

If you prefer a smaller launcher, set How Command Palette opens to Compact search box in Command Palette settings. In compact mode, Command Palette opens as a smaller search box and expands when results or nested pages need more space. You can also turn on the quick access shelf to show your pinned and recent commands below the compact search box.

When compact mode shows only the search box, press Down Arrow or Tab to expand the palette and browse the top-level commands.

You can also choose Command Palette as the app that opens when you press the Copilot key. For more information, see Use Command Palette with the Copilot key.

What you can do

Capability	How to use it
Launch apps	Start typing the name of any app and press Enter to launch it.
Run commands	Type > followed by a command (for example, > cmd or > Shell:startup).
Search files and folders	Navigate to Search files or type file followed by a space.
Search the web	Type ?? followed by your query to search with your default browser.
Calculate	Type a math expression like 23*47 or sqrt(256), or type = followed by a space. The calculator supports the same operations as the PowerToys Run Calculator plugin, including rand(), randi(x), sign(x), sgn(x), arbitrary-base logarithms with logn(x, base), and n-th roots with root(x, n).
Navigate Windows Settings	Type $ followed by a settings page name (for example, $ display). This also includes Windows Update pages such as Check for updates, Restart options, View optional updates, and View update history.
Find and install apps with WinGet	Navigate to Search WinGet to discover and install apps.
Switch windows	Quickly switch between open windows without Alt+Tab.
Access clipboard history	Browse and paste from your recent clipboard entries.
Look up time and date	View the current time and date in various formats.
Manage Windows Services	Start, stop, or restart system services directly from the palette.
Open Windows Terminal profiles	Launch any configured Terminal profile or run commands in a specific profile.
Query the Windows Registry	Look up and manage Registry entries without opening regedit.
Connect to Remote Desktop	Start Remote Desktop sessions from discovered connections, or type any hostname directly into the list to connect on the fly.
Monitor system performance	Check CPU, memory, network usage, network speed, disk usage, GPU, and battery metrics at a glance, or pin individual metrics to the Dock as standalone bands.
Execute system commands	Restart your computer, empty the Recycle Bin, and more. When Windows Update is waiting for a restart, Command Palette also surfaces Update and restart and Update and shut down.
Access PowerToys modules	Jump to other PowerToys utilities directly from Command Palette.
Customize your look	Personalize with themes, backdrop effects, background images, and custom colors in Settings.

Home page

The Home page is what you see when you first open Command Palette. It surfaces your most relevant commands, recent items, and a Pinned commands section that you control. Right-click any command in Command Palette and select Pin to Home to add it. From the Home page, use the right-click context menu to reorder your pinned commands or unpin them. Pinning to Home is independent of pinning to the Dock: use Home pins for quick access inside the palette and Dock pins for one-click access without opening the palette.

To show the commands you used most recently on the Home page, set Recent items > Show on Home to After pinned in Command Palette settings. To remove a command from the list, right-click it and select Remove from recent.

Quick access shelf

When Command Palette opens as a compact search box, you can turn on the quick access shelf to show your pinned and recent commands directly below the search box. The shelf appears only while the palette is collapsed and hides when the palette expands to show results. To turn it on, right-click the search box and select Show shelf, or turn on Quick access shelf in Command Palette settings.

The shelf shows the commands you pinned to Home, followed by recent commands if you turn on Recent items for the shelf. If not all items fit, the remaining items move to an overflow menu.

Action	How to do it
Run a shelf item	Select the item, or press Alt+1 through Alt+9.
Select a shelf item without running it	Press Alt+Shift+1 through Alt+Shift+9. Then press Ctrl+Enter to run the item's secondary command, or press Ctrl+K to open its context menu.
Reorder pinned items	Drag a pinned item to a new position on the shelf.
Pin a recent item	Drag a recent item onto Pin to home.
Remove an item	Drag an item onto Remove from quick access. Removing a pinned item unpins it from Home, and removing a recent item removes it from your history.

Right-click the shelf to open Shelf settings or to Hide shelf. If the shelf has nothing to show, it stays hidden. If you select Show shelf while the shelf is empty, Command Palette shows a tip that explains how to pin a command to Home or change which items appear in Shelf settings.

Keyboard shortcuts in results

Use these shortcuts to work with results in Command Palette lists:

Shortcut	Action
Alt+1 through Alt+9	Run the corresponding visible list item, counted from the top. To select the item instead, change Alt+number shortcuts in lists in Command Palette settings.
Alt+Shift+1 through Alt+Shift+9	Select the corresponding visible list item without running it.
Ctrl+Shift+Enter	Run the selected result as administrator. This shortcut works for supported results from Run, Windows Terminal, PowerToys, Bookmarks, and file search. For bookmarks and files, it applies to .exe, .bat, .cmd, .msc, and .cpl files.

To share a command or start it from a script, right-click a top-level command and select Copy command link. For more information, see Command links.

Bookmarks

Create Bookmarks for files, folders, URLs, or shell commands so you can launch them by name from Command Palette. Bookmarks can include placeholder values (for example, {query} in a URL). When you run a bookmark with placeholders, Command Palette prompts you for the values inline in the search experience instead of opening a separate dialog. You can also pin a Bookmark to the Dock by dragging the underlying file or URL onto the Dock.

Dock

Pin your most-used commands to a persistent toolbar on the edge of your screen. The Dock gives you one-click access to frequently used commands and extensions without opening the full Command Palette. On multi-monitor setups, each display has its own Dock and its own set of pinned bands. The Dock can stay pinned or auto-hide until you hover over its edge.

For more information, see Command Palette Dock.

Extensions

Command Palette is built to be extended. There's a large and growing ecosystem of extensions that add new commands, tools, and integrations to your workflow. Browse, install, update, and uninstall community extensions directly from the built-in Extension Gallery in Command Palette settings.

To learn more, see Finding and installing extensions and Extension development overview.

Related content

• Command Palette Settings
• Command Palette Dock
• Finding and installing extensions
• Extension development overview
• Extension samples