There are two types of Windows users, one who use their pointing device aka mouse to perform all the task even simple as the opening Windows start menu and there are these power Windows users, who believe in saving their precious time by utilizing keyboard shortcuts.

The only difference between two is knowledge of keyboard shortcuts. Even the one who calls themselves as a power user often doesn’t know all the keyboard shortcuts offered by Microsoft Windows and its default applications and that’s what happened with us when we came across this thread on Reddit.

The Reddit user with handler jeffek82 had posted a list of Windows 10 keyboard shortcuts and also highlighted some of the less known once and to our surprise, those were indeed we never knew existed. That’s what motivated us to cover a dedicated post on Windows 10Keyboard shortcuts. Below is the list of shortcuts organized under different sections according to its purpose.

Windows 10 Keyboard Shortcuts

Download Windows 10 Keyboard Shortcuts List [PDF].

Do let us know in comments if you know of any Windows 10 keyboard shortcut that’s missing and we will add it to the list.

Shortcut keys ABCs

Shortcut keys help provide an easier and quicker method of navigating and executing commands in computer software. Shortcut keys are commonly accessed by using the Alt key (on IBM compatible computers), Command key (on Apple computers), Ctrl key, or Shift key in conjunction with another key. The de facto standard for listing a shortcut is listing the modifier key, a plus symbol, and another key. In other words, 'Ctrl+S' is telling you to press and hold the Ctrl key, and then press the S key too.

You can also find the shortcut keys in popular programs by looking for underlined letters in their menus. For example, the image to the right has an underline on the 'F' in File, which means you can press the Alt key and then the 'F' key to access the File menu.

Some programs require the user to press and hold Alt to see the underlined characters. In the image above, you can see that some of the common features, such as Open (Ctrl+O) and Save (Ctrl+S), have shortcut keys assigned to them. As you begin to memorize shortcut keys, you'll notice that many applications share them. We have a list of the most commonly shared ones in the basic PC shortcut keys section.

Users outside the United States or who have a non-US copy of Microsoft Windows or a Microsoft application may not be able to use all the shortcut keys listed below.

Basic PC shortcut keys

Below is a list of some of the most commonly used basic shortcut keys that work with IBM compatible computers and software. It is highly recommended that all users keep a reference to these shortcut keys or try to memorize them. Doing so will dramatically increase your productivity.

Besides the special character shortcuts listed here, some are also located on the number keys (below the F1 - F12 keys). You can enter these special characters by pressing the Shift key and the number key that has the special character listed on it.

PC shortcut keys for Special Characters

Many special characters can be createdusing keyboard shortcuts. Below are some of the more common and popularspecial characters and the keyboard shortcuts to create them.