Win Keyboard commands

Although Windows was designed to be used with a mouse, you can also navigate and command the computer from the keyboard. Following are most of the keyboard options.

Keyboarding the Menus
All menus are selectable by pressing the Alt key and the "underlined" letter of the menu title. For example, Alt-F for File menu is universal.

All menu options are also selectable by pressing the underlined letter in their name. Most of the time, it is the first letter. However, if two menu options start with the same letter, one of them will use a letter in the middle of the name as a keyboard command.

A Windows Menu

The Encyclopedia File menu is accessed by pressing Alt-F. Each option in the menu is selected by pressing the underlined key. Note the underlines for the two Print options: P for Print Entry and R for Print Picture. Pressing the Escape key closes the menu.

Keyboard Commands


START/STOP APPLICATION
Display Start menu: CTRL-ESC
Launch application from icon: ENTER key
Close application: ALT-F4 or ALT-SPACEBAR/C.

SWITCH BETWEEN, MOVE AND RESIZE WINDOWS
Go to all windows: ALT-TAB-TAB...
Go between last two: ALT-TAB
Go to next tab in a dialog box: CTRL-TAB
Move or resize window: Use ALT-SPACEBAR.
Select M or S and then use the arrow keys
to move window on screen. Press ENTER
when done.

MINIMIZE/MAXIMIZE WINDOWS
Minimize: ALT-SPACEBAR/N
Maximize: ALT-SPACEBAR/X

CLIPBOARD
Highlight text: Hold SHIFT down while
moving cursor.
Copy selected item into clipboard: CTRL-C
Cut selected item into clipboard: CTRL-X
Paste from clipboard: CTRL-V

UNDO LAST OPERATION
CTRL-Z

SWITCH BETWEEN DOS WINDOW AND FULL SCREEN
ALT-ENTER (not valid in Vista)