| alternate key | key | description |
|---|---|---|
| F1 | Help | |
| F2 | Edit | |
| F3 | Search | |
| F5 | Refresh. doesn't apply to office programs. | |
| Ctrl F5 | hard Refresh. doesn't apply to office programs. | |
| F11 | toggle Full Screen mode | |
| F12 | Opens Debugger | |
| Ctrl F4 | close current document | |
| Alt F4 | close current program | |
| Alt F | File menu | |
| Alt T | Tools menu | |
| Alt E | Edit menu | |
| Alt V | View menu | |
| Alt I | Image menu (in paint programs) | |
| Ctrl N | New document | |
| Ctrl S | Save the current document | |
| Ctrl O | Open an existing document | |
| <Alt> <backspace> | Ctrl Z | undo the last thing you did (in some programs there is a history) |
| Ctrl Y | redo. undo the last undo (in some programs there is a history). | |
| Ctrl A | Select everything | |
| Ctrl Insert | Ctrl C | Copy selection to invisible clipboard |
| Shift Delete | Ctrl X | Cut selection from document/program and put into invisible clipboard |
| Shift Insert | Ctrl V | Paste selection from invisible clipboard into document/current program |
| Ctrl P | Print document | |
| Ctrl F or Ctrl R | Find/search/find and replace | |
| F3 | Find next occurrance (after search) | |
| Ctrl right-arrow | move to next word | |
| Ctrl left-arrow | move to previous word | |
| spacebar | toggle current checkbox or radio button | |
| Alt | activate the current window's menu bar | |
| Tab | select next control/item in window (gives it the "focus") OR in a word processor in editing, move to next tab stop. | |
| Ctrl Tab | go to next document tab. this is not a tab stop. | |
| Esc | cancel current operation | |
| Ctrl Esc | equivealent to hitting the windows-logo-flag-key | |
| Home | go to beginning of line | |
| End | go to end of line | |
| Delete | delete selection | |
| Enter | if a button has the focus/is selected, press it. if a program or document is selected, run or open it. | |
| Alt down-arrow | open selected drop-down list | |
| Alt spacebar | open windows' submenu (Restore, Move, Size, Minimize, Maximize, Close) | |
| Shift up-arrow | add previous line to text selection. | |
| Shift down-arrow | add next line to next selection. | |
| Shift left-arrow | add next item/character to selection. | |
| Shift right-arrow | add previous item/character to selection. | |
| Ctrl Shift left-arrow | add next word to selection. | |
| Ctrl Shift right-arrow | add previous word to selection. | |
| Shift F10 | display shortcut menu for current window (like right-clicking) | |
| Ctrl Page-Up | Ctrl Home | go to top of document |
| Ctrl Page-Down | Ctrl End | go to end of document |
| Ctrl I | toggle italics mode on/off | |
| Ctrl B | toggle bold mode on/off | |
| Ctrl U | toggle underlining mode on/off |
this is the windows-logo flag-key:
| <Alt> <Tab> | switch between applications | |
| <Alt> Shift <Tab> | switch between applications | |
| <Logo> L | lock screen, which you can quickly switch users. | |
| <Logo> R | "run" box. run anything if you know the executeable's name. | |
| <Logo> E | Windows Explorer (not Internet Explorer) | |
| <Logo> M | <Logo> D | show Desktop. (minimize all programs) |
| Ctrl <Esc> | <Logo> | bring up Start menu |
| Ctrl Shift <Esc> | Ctrl <Alt> <Delete> | bring up Task Manager. on DOS machines control-alt-del reboots, on windows 9x/ME it logs you out and in 2000+ it brings up the task manager. |
| <Print Screen / SysRq> | screen capture (image) to the clipboard | |
| <Alt> <Print Screen / SysRq> | capture window image to clipboard | |
| <Logo> F | Search for/Find files on computer | |
| <Logo> Ctrl F | find a Computer on your network | |
| <Logo> L | lock your computer (XP+) | |
| <Logo> Shift M | Restore all windows | |
| <Logo> Q | quick-switch users (XP+) | |
| <Logo> <Pause/Break> | Show System Properties control panel appplet. similar to right-clicking on My Computer. | |
| <Logo> U | launch utility manager. used for voice narrator and screen magnifier and on-screen keyboard. | |
| <Logo> V | open voice settings (Narrator settings window must be open) | |
| <Logo> <F1> | windows help | |
| <numpad *> | expand all folders from selection on out in explorer folder view (Windows Explorer) | |
| <numpad +> | expand folder in explorer folder view (Windows Explorer) | |
| <numpad -> | collapse folder in explorer folder view (Windows Explorer) |
older microsoft windows keyboard assignments can be found in this microsoft kb article.
Windows-8-specific keyboard shortcuts can be found here.