You don’t even realize how much time you spend on clicks. These seemingly insignificant movements eat up precious minutes every day, which turn into hours in a month. In this article, TechnoVisor has prepared a handy and easy-to-understand guide where you’ll find the most useful combinations without complicated terms (some of which you may already be familiar with).
For your convenience, we’ll provide shortcuts for both Windows (Ctrl/Alt/Win) and macOS (Cmd/Option/Control). P.S For macOS, we will write in brackets.
Type and edit without a mouse
- Copy / Cut / Paste: Ctrl+C / Ctrl+X / Ctrl+V (Cmd+C/X/V).
- Undo / Redo: Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y (Cmd+Z / Cmd+Shift+Z).
- Select all: Ctrl+A (Cmd+A).
- Jump through words: Ctrl+←/→ (Option+←/→).
- Delete a word from the left/right: Ctrl+Backspace / Ctrl+Delete (Option+Backspace / Fn+Option+Delete).
- Select by word: Ctrl+Shift+←/→ (Option+Shift+←/→).
- To the beginning/end of the line: Home / End (Cmd+← / Cmd+→).
- Select to the beginning/end of the line: Shift+Home / Shift+End (Cmd+Shift+← / Cmd+Shift+→).
- Paste without formatting: Ctrl+Shift+V (Cmd+Shift+V).
By the way, in many messengers, Shift+Enter creates a new line, and Ctrl/Cmd+Enter sends a message.
Browser: open, find, return faster
- New tab / close tab: Ctrl+T / Ctrl+W (Cmd+T / Cmd+W).
- Return the closed tab: Ctrl+Shift+T (Cmd+Shift+T).
- Address bar: Ctrl+L (Cmd+L).
- Search on the page: Ctrl+F (Cmd+F), then Enter – next entry, Shift+Enter – previous entry.
- Between tabs: Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab (Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab).
- Zoom: Ctrl+ “+” / “-” / 0 (Cmd+ “+” / “-” / 0).
- New incognito window: Ctrl+Shift+N (Cmd+Shift+N in Chrome, Cmd+Shift+N/O – depends on the browser).
Files and folders
- Explorer / Finder: Win+E (Cmd+N to open a new Finder window).
- New folder: Ctrl+Shift+N (Cmd+Shift+N).
- Rename the file: F2 (Enter).
- Properties/Information: Alt+Enter (Cmd+I).
- Search for files: Win+S (Cmd+Space – Spotlight).
- View without opening: – (macOS Space – Quick Look).
Windows and desktop
- Between programs: Alt+Tab (Cmd+Tab).
- Collapse All / Show Desktop: Win+D (Fn+F11 on many Macs or gestures).
- Fix windows at the edges: Win+←/→/↑/↓ (on Mac, the green window button or third-party utilities).
- Lock the screen: Win+L (Ctrl+Cmd+Q).
- Screenshots: Win+Shift+S (Cmd+Shift+4 – area, Cmd+Shift+3 – full screen, Cmd+Shift+5 – menu with options).
- Clipboard history (Windows 10/11): Win+V (in macOS – there is no standard one, use the buffer manager).
- Emojis and symbols: Win+. (Ctrl+Cmd+Space).
Email and text fields
- Send an email to Gmail/Outlook Web: Ctrl+Enter (Cmd+Enter).
- Search in mail: / or Ctrl+K (Cmd+K) – move the cursor to the search field.
- The link in the editor: Ctrl+K (Cmd+K) – the Insert Link dialog box appears.
Microtrick. If the cursor is already in the search field (browser/email), Esc exits the field, and / (backslash ) in many services returns the cursor back to the search.
For meetings and calls
- Microphone on/off: in most applications – Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+M
- Camera on/off: often Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+O or E.
- Show/hide chat: usually Ctrl/Cmd+Shift+C.
Please note! Some programs may have different commands. Look in the Help menu – it often has a list of current hotkeys.
Customization for yourself
You can reassign hotkeys in many programs:
- Open the program.
- Go to Settings/Preferences.
- Go to the Shortcuts/Hotkeys/Keyboard section (depending on the program).
- You will see a list of actions (for example, “copy”, “stop recording”, “new file”).
- Click on the desired action, then press a new key combination, and finally save it.
P.S. Choose 5-7 of the most useful abbreviations and keep a cheat sheet nearby.
And remember – speed comes not from secret combinations, but from regularity. Choose a few shortcuts for text, browser, and files, use them every day, and you’ll suddenly need your mouse half as often. This is the easiest performance upgrade that costs absolutely nothing.
