25 best Windows 10 shortcut keys that save you the most time when working in Windows. They will do this by learning how to divide your screen in several different ways. Find your files and applications, multitask on multiple desktops, cascade your windows, shorten your favorite program, and much more. Shortcuts like this are the fastest way to double your productivity.
Windows 10 shortcut keys
Top Windows 10 shortcut 1
The Windows 10 shortcut for search is to simply press the Windows key or Ctrl + Esc. Either one will launch what is now called Cortana. Which lets you press buttons, I’ll hit the Windows key and start typing something you’re looking for.
So if you want to find Excel, Excel will appear automatically. If I’m typing PowerPoint, notice that you don’t even have to continue or finish typing PowerPoint to bring up PowerPoint. If you want to find your Bluetooth speakers or something, just type Bluetooth and you’ll see Bluetooth devices appear. It’s a quick way to find programs and settings on your PC.
Just hit the Windows key type or Ctrl + Esc, which is looking, I’m looking for my mouse now. You will see the change in your mouse settings appear. Now you can use it to search for files, therefore the best shortcuts on your computer. You even have a document filter at the top, but it’s not the fastest way. I don’t recommend trying to find files through this Windows search shortcut. I’ll show you a better shortcut for this. This is for settings and apps using Windows only or control escape keyboard shortcuts,
Top shortcut number 2
Your favorite program shortcut, which only takes a few seconds to set up. And your favorite program or application shortcut will just be the Windows key plus number one. And here is how it will work. Note that you have the programs sitting at the bottom of my screen on my taskbar. If not done just place your programs of yours in the taskbar.
Once you’ve set that up, these become windows plus a number, and keyboard shortcuts. So Windows plus one, two, three, etc. It makes sense to configure your most frequently used programs here on your taskbar.
If you have placed excel in first place in the taskbar and this is the first position number one now that if you just press the Windows One keyboard shortcut, you will see Excel open automatically. So Windows One will now automatically open Excel.
So, you can start saving time and if at any point you want to remove the program you pinned right-click, and detach it from the taskbar.
Top shortcut 3
is the File Explorer shortcut, which is the fastest way to find files on your computer. So while the Windows key, the fastest way to find Windows E programs and settings is the fastest way to find your file. So hitting Windows will launch File Explorer, which is a much more robust system, just press Windows E to search your computer. You have filter options, you can sort, you can search for things, and you even have search filters.
Windows E is therefore a very important keyboard shortcut. It just has the Windows E keyboard shortcut to automatically launch your FileExplorer.
Top shortcut number four
The File Explorer search shortcut, which you can also double up on your web browser. So once you fire up your Windows E File Explorer you can still search for your File Explorer with Control E. So I’m going to hit Windows E to open my File, Explorer. I’ll click on my Windows shortcut deck.
Now notice the search box. So instead of clicking with your mouse at any time, just press Control E and you automatically jump up there. So if you want to see shortcut number 12, just type 12, and you can see the cascading shortcut open. If you want to see my capture tool, the capture tool shortcuts will appear.
Now the cool thing about this search folder and why it is better than window search, you can search by type, size, properties, and date modified. This also works, If you hit windows two to open chrome which is if second on your taskbar. If you press Control E, notice you appear directly in the search bar, then control e when you are surfing the web, to search for something you can just Control E will automatically jump you up there. So it’s actually a double-dipper keyboard shortcut.
Top shortcut number five
is the switching app shortcut, which is your first of some cool multitasking shortcuts in Windows 10, so your first multitasking shortcut is the Alt plus tab key to jump between two of your most recently active programs. So here I am active in PowerPoint. It allows me to maximize my screen space, right? I don’t have to try to split my screen between the different programs, which I’ll show you how in a minute instead, it lets you be full screen and just switch between your two programs. It was the first keyboard shortcut I learned in the corporate world and it’s the one I still use to this day, so Alt-Tab and you can see that little black screen that pops up, which shows you how to freeze in a second is your first multitasking shortcut for saving time, working with multiple files at the same time.
The main shortcut number 6
the application freeze shortcut, which is another way of handling multiple tasks between different programs. Your second multitasking shortcut is the Alt Control tab. So while Alt-Tab will switch you between your two most recent programs by holding the control key in there and letting go, it will open your switching app’s dialog, allowing you to click through the programs. of your choice.
So there’s PowerPoint, here’s a word, and then I could alt-tab between these two most recently active programs, if you want to switch to a third alt-tab program control will open all open apps. It’s just another way or preference that you can switch between files and multitask between files here in Windows 10, which leads us to the new way to multitask both in Windows 1
The top shortcut number 7
the new multitasking view shortcut for Windows 10. So instead of pressing Alt plus the Tab key to switch apps, you can now also press the Windows key plus the Tab key to open this new multitasking view. The Windows tab will therefore open. You will see all your open programs. And the most recent thing is that you can now scroll through the most recent documents you’ve been working on here in the multitasking view.
So, the Windows tab will not only show you the programs you need to work with, not only the most recent programs you have worked with, but it is also where you can manage your virtual desktops. And I’m going to talk about managing these virtual desktops and switching between them in a second. So this is another Windows tab that you can choose from and it is a personal preference if this is how you want to switch programs and multitask in Windows 10.
Top shortcut number eight
The virtual desktop switch shortcut is good for setting up three, four, or more documents that you want to work on at the same time. Your virtual desktop switch shortcut is Control Windows plus the left or right arrow. But first, you need to configure this. So press the Windows tab on your keyboard to open your multitasking view. So here on my second virtual desktop, you can add as many virtual desktops as you want.
Let’s say I want to work on this excel file, and I also want to work on this pdf cheat sheet here in Word. So here on my second desktop, if I click on it, I will only see my Word document and my Excel document. Alright, I can Alt-Tab enter my second virtual desktop here. If I control Windows to the left, I’ll go back to my other desktop, where I have this PowerPoint file and this folder.
So here on this first virtual desktop, I can alt-tab in between while I’m working away. When I next want to work on my Excel and Word documents, control the windows on the right arrow, and I can then switch between these two documents. So in this way, you can create multiple virtual desktops which you can then switch between multiple files, and at any time only in the Windows tab, you can click on one virtual desktop and just click and drag files to the other desktop if you want to work on it.
Top shortcut number nine
They minimize all windows keyboard shortcuts, which I like to call the desktop drill. If you’re like most people, I know you probably use your desktop as an open placeholder for your hot folders or the files you’re working on, which can be problematic finding those files when you have a bunch of different windows. opened like this, so this is where the Windows D desktop explores or minimizes all your Windows keyboard shortcuts Windows D comes in handy for Windows D to immediately take you to your desktop, minimizing all your open or active windows.
If you don’t open anything if you press Windows D the second time we will return everything to its place that you have already opened. As I open this Windows D will just keep this one open and all of my other windows will be kept to a minimum. So this is a super-fast way if you are using your desktop as an open placeholder to work on your files to find the files that are buried under all your active windows on your desktop.
Top shortcut number 10
minimizes all Windows shortcuts except one that hardly anyone knows about. Let’s say I have this folder open and I want Windows D to put this Word document in that folder. The question is how to do this without a deal. Having to minimize all of these windows individually, what you need to do is just grab the window, it’s just a keyboard shortcut of the mouse, and shakes it.
So for example, if you grab this window and with my mouse, I click and hold and I tremble. Note that I minimize all windows except the open window so that I can then click and drag. Alright, this document is here in this folder, windows will shake again and all other windows will open. This is also useful. Okay, a window shook. Imagine if this was my mail server. I want it for the shakedown windows. I wanted to catch something, attach it to an email window, and then reopen all other applications. Just make sure that when you do that you are giving it a little strong shake and a little strong shake. Again to activate the shortcut. So it’s your mouse shortcut to minimize all but one.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 11
Windows plus left, right up, or down arrow keys. And the way it works, let’s say I want to split the screen of this PowerPoint file on the windows on the left. Windows will automatically assume that I don’t already have a shared window here and will give me a few options. So here is a split-screen double. I can select my PowerPoint file and windows to create a third division.
You can even switch to a fourth division if you want, but basically, you just use the Windows up, right, left down arrow keys to create these different divisions and as long as you have them, don’t have them. not something divided. Windows on the left you’re going to have the option to split another working document and I’ll show you a cool PowerPoint tip in a second. But another cool thing is that you can configure Windows control to the right.
If you are setting up multiple virtual desktops, I will display this one in the right window. You can have two files here or three files or four files. Cliché like this, control the windows on the left. You can have two more files like this. So this is another way to create a unique multitasking scenario if you are working with a ton of different files and need to switch between them. Now, a neat little PowerPoint tip here is that not many people know that if you split your PowerPoint files, you can actually take a slide from one presentation and just drag it into the other, which makes a copy of these slides. I’m gonna take these shifts, drag them over there. It’s a quick way. If you work back and forth between presentations in PowerPoint to get slides from one presentation to another.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 12 number 13
the waterfall and non-cascade shortcuts. Your cascading shortcuts are a combination of right-clicking your mouse and pressing the d or U key, but you need to right-click on your taskbar. So in this case look, I have all of these files open. Let’s say you want to cascade them all. Just right-clicked and hit d. All of my files are cascading, allowing me to pull them out and close them by clicking on those Xs and I’ll show you a keyboard shortcut to do that in a minute. You can also click to find the program you are looking for. If you right-click and press U it will return all your files or open windows to their current state. So the right-click cascades quickly, and then right-click, U disassembles. The key is that you need to right-click on your taskbar to make these keyboard shortcuts work.
Top shortcut number 14
is the display window stack shortcut, which is a quick alternative to capturing or cascading your open windows. Another great shortcut to your task part is to right-click on it and press E to see all your stacked windows, which will help you work with a lot of files and windows. So if I have a bunch of windows open, if I click on the alt control tab, you can tell that multiple files are open.
If you want us to see them stacked on your desktop, you can right-click and press E, which will stack all my open windows and those little thumbnail windows, right-click. You’re going to undo that. So right-clicking on E will stack all the windows you have open, you can find the window you want, place it on the sides of your computer screen, and create that split-screen effect. And here I am going to split the screen with my PowerPoint file. There you have it, you right-click on your Windows Estack keyboard shortcut in the taskbar.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number Number 15
of your cycle app shortcut, which works great when working with your Microsoft Office documents. The shortcut to the cycling app is Control F6 and what it does is cycle regardless of which program you are in. So if I’m in a nutshell okay notice I have two-word files open. If I Alt-Tab, I’ll go back to PowerPoint because that’s where I came from. But if I’m in Word and hit Control F6, I’ll just scroll through the Word files I opened so I don’t have to worry about my Excel or PowerPoint files. If I then go back to PowerPoint, I come to scroll through the apps and I ControlF6 I will just go through it which will save you a lot of time without having to find the file you want to work on next.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 16
is the close file shortcut, which you can double with the multitasking view shortcut windows tab. The Windows 10 Close File shortcut is the w control that will close the file without closing the app. For example, here is an open, empty Excel file. If I click on Control W, I will close the file, but Excel stays open so I can continue working on it, opening new documents, and so on. But if you have more than one here I have a PowerPoint file open, here I have two PowerPoint files open. If I press Control W on this PowerPoint file, this entire window will close because this app is still open.
So control w is a quick way, right? To just close a file you are working on and if you made a change so I changed what I am controlling, it will always ask you to save so that you never lose your work when using Control W to close a file and to multitask in multitasking view. When you start walking around here you can control the keyboard shortcut w to close these different files, which here if there is no more open file and we close also the application. So this is a little double-dipper keyboard shortcut for the w control that you can use in the multitasking view shortcut windows tab of your keyboard.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 17
is the close app shortcut, which is a more intense version of the close file shortcut by hitting Alt F4 on your keyboard. Will close your file and apps. If you press Alt F4 and haven’t made any changes to Word and the file you can see, Word is no longer open. Whereas if you are in a file so you don’t have to worry about losing your work, if you change something Alt F4 it will ask you if you want to save your changes before actually closing the file and program and where you can use it as a double-dipper with the keyboard shortcut Windows D.
So, Windows D on your desktop Alt F4 will actually launch you to shut down the operation Windows press Enter and your computer will start to shut down, automatically go to sleep, and so on. So it’s your Alt F4 shutdown app or even closes your computer keyboard shortcut.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 18
the new app shortcut which is great for moving things around with file explorer The new app shortcut is just Control N which will create a new instance control N we will create a new instance of the application you are currently in. But where this really helps?
If I press Windows E to launch my file explorer, say here in my file explorer I want to explore some of these different folders, but I want to drag folders in between to be able to press Control N to also create a new arrow to the left of the file explorer windows, I’m going to break it, or split-screen with it. This now allows me to dig through the different files on my computer and you know start dragging things from left to right and so on, so this is the Windows New application shortcut which is extremely useful when creating split screens with your file browsers to move files around your computer.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 19
The shortcut creates a new folder. Similar to the new Control N application shortcut. File Explorer, say I’m here in this window ControlShift N will start a new folder that I can name, I am going to name it the folder of Taylor, press Enter Control Shift will create another. new folder to move files around in File Explorer or if you are on your desktop or Windows D Control Shift N will also create a new folder here. So this is the new folder, the N shift control keyboard shortcut on your keyboard.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 20
is to create a new desktop file shortcut to quickly load new folders you create in File Explorer, once you have created new folders, you can right-click the mouse over w and select to load your new folders with new desktop files. If I come from Windows D to go back to this new folder that I created just a second ago, if I now want to load it with new desktop documents, I can right-click and will open this little flywheel, I’ll just add a Microsoft Word document, Taylor’s Word document Let’s say it’s a project So I’m also going to right-click I’m going to need an excel file I’m going to right-click I’m not going to name it So there’s just a quick way to throw a bunch of different document types into a folder without having to first open the file, save as and so on.
Then you can open them and they’ll start a new, blank file you can work with. So here is the shortcut to create a new office file, right-click with your mouse in a new folder, press w, and just select what you want to create.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 21
Is your file explorer’s navigation shortcuts, which also work when you are surfing the web. Your navigation shortcuts are Alt plus left arrow to rewind and Alt plus right arrow to move forward.
So if I have Windows E, open my file explorer and I Digi into, alright, this folder, I’m going to search in another folder, the left arrow will back me up in the same direction as me, I just came and the arrow before Alt Now it’s important to know that this just tracks your history of how you’ve been through your records Alright, it doesn’t make you jump down a folder level that you can click here to jump at the folder level, so it’s just the whole left arrow to bring you back. Arrow to guide you forward, which is the same keyboard shortcut that you can use to move forward and backward in most modern web browsers.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 22
the preview file shortcut that saves you from having to open and close a bunch of files to find what you are looking for. A great shortcut for file explorer is Alt plus P to preview a file before I have to So if I open a file explorer let’s say I don’t know which of these documents is the one I want to find, so I just select the Alt P file. Will open a preview pane and you can see exactly what this file looks like before opening it.
Now if I click on a Word document you can see, I can also scroll through the document to find or see if it is the actual file before I actually open it. So it’s a super-fast way to quickly view your files. be careful because it uses your system RAM. When you are not using it. I’d just like to press Alt P to close, so it’s Alt P to open or close the preview pane in your file explorer.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number23
the document property shortcut to quickly get information about a file or folder. To see the properties of a file or folder in Windows 10, just hold down the Alt key and double-click on it with your mouse. So if I Windows D my desktop, and try to save space on my computer, I can do a double Alt-click to immediately see the size of this folder when it is created or if there is has other security settings.
But usually, I’m just looking for the size. So if I want to see this Alt folder double click, this one just doubles click 6kg, this one 703 megabyte, so there is just a quick way. Then if I open a folder, double-clicking Alt will also show you all the property details for that file so it’s the shortcut for file or folder ownership just hold Alt on your keyboard and double-click with your mouse.
Windows 10 shortcut keys Number 24
is one of my personal favorites, the Screen Clipping Shortcut. Now in Windows 10, you have a few apps to help you clip your screen., My Screen Clipping Shortcut preferred Windows + Shift S which was once a OneNote shortcut, but now it’s just windows 10 windows shift S goes white on your screen.
You can click and drag. Alright, to cut out the part you want, and if you paste it into a newer version of PowerPoint, now you’re going to get these new slide design ideas, which is a quick way to create slide backgrounds, which you can check but the great thing about adding your screen clippings here in PowerPoint is if you Shift F5 you can if you have a pen or with your Control P mouse is the inking shortcut. If you don’t have a pen, you can create this inking scenario. But when you hit escape and select keep, it becomes a second layer on top of your PowerPoint slide. Okay, can you add annotations or banners and stuff like that? So this is my favorite way to mute my screen in Windows 10 with the Windows+Shift+S shortcut.
And finally,
The top shortcut number 25
Your action center shortcut to find your system-level settings on your computer, and your action center shortcut are just Windows A, hitting Windows A will open up some of the most frequently used things. that you’ll probably want to do on your computer, that’s why it’s in this top 25 list. All settings, change your networks, tablet mode, airplane mode, change the brightness, see what kind of Bluetooth device you have connected to A will your Windows computer, open them all you even projected on other monitors, which will save you a lot of Windows A time, when you want to do these things on your computer.
And that sums up these 25 Best windows 10 Shortcut keys That Save You the Most Time When Working in Windows 10 and it’ll start to double your productivity. If you want to know how to speed up your laptop/windows 10 Check out my post on How to speed up windows 10/laptop.
