Windows 11 keyboard shortcuts let you snap windows, switch desktops and open almost any system panel without reaching for the mouse. Most lists online still show keys that changed years ago, so this one keeps only what Microsoft documents today and what we saw on a lab machine.
It covers Windows key, snap, desktop, screenshot, File Explorer, Terminal and PowerToys keys, plus a PDF. Windows 11 26H2 went live on 29 September 2026, and Microsoft’s shortcut page, rechecked in November 2026, still lists no key that differs by version. We pressed the snap, desktop, File Explorer, Terminal and PowerToys keys on a Windows 11 24H2 lab VM (build 26100.9457), the same code base that 25H2 switches on.
Windows 11 Keyboard Shortcuts Quick Reference
These are the sixteen Windows 11 shortcuts you will press every day. Each one comes back in its own section below, next to the related keys and anything we saw behave differently from Microsoft’s list:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Win | Open Start (hold it with PowerToys running for taskbar number hints) |
| Win + E | Open File Explorer |
| Win + I | Open Settings |
| Win + D | Show or hide the desktop |
| Win + L | Lock the PC |
| Win + V | Clipboard history (asks to turn it on the first time) |
| Win + Shift + S | Screenshot of a region with Snipping Tool |
| Win + Z | Snap layouts for the active window |
| Win + Left / Right | Snap the window to the left or right half |
| Win + Up | Maximize the window |
| Win + Tab | Task view with all desktops |
| Win + Ctrl + D | Create a new virtual desktop and switch to it |
| Win + Ctrl + Left / Right | Move to the previous or next desktop |
| Alt + Tab | Switch between open windows |
| Ctrl + Shift + Esc | Open Task Manager directly |
| Win + . (period) | Emoji, symbols and GIF panel |
Ctrl + Shift + Esc is the one worth memorising first. It skips the Ctrl + Alt + Delete screen and lands straight in Task Manager, which is what you want when an app has frozen the desktop.
Which Windows key shortcuts open system features?
The Windows key opens almost every system panel in Windows 11 when you pair it with one letter. Microsoft’s own keyboard shortcuts page is the reference, and these are the ones from it that people actually use:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Win + A | Quick Settings (Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, volume, brightness) |
| Win + N | Notification center and calendar |
| Win + W | Widgets |
| Win + S or Win + Q | Search |
| Win + R | Run dialog |
| Win + X | Quick Link menu (Terminal, Device Manager, Disk Management) |
| Win + C | Copilot, or search when Copilot is unavailable |
| Win + H | Voice typing |
| Win + K | Cast to a wireless display |
| Win + P | Projection mode for a second screen |
| Win + U | Accessibility settings |
| Win + G | Xbox Game Bar |
| Win + 1 to 9 | Open or switch to the app pinned at that taskbar position |
| Win + M / Win + Shift + M | Minimize all windows / restore them |
| Win + , (comma) | Peek at the desktop while the key is held |
| Win + Ctrl + Shift + B | Wake the display when the screen stays black |
Win + X is the most useful key on that list for anyone who administers a machine, because it opens a menu with Terminal (Admin), Device Manager, Disk Management and Event Viewer. Press the underlined letter in the menu and you never touch the mouse. A quick way to check you remember the set:
- Win + A opens the Quick Settings panel in the bottom right.
- Win + X followed by A opens an elevated Terminal after the UAC prompt.
- Win + 1 opens whichever app sits first on your taskbar.
The taskbar numbers follow the pinned order, so pinning your browser, Terminal and File Explorer in that order gives you Win + 1, 2 and 3 for the three apps you open most. Pressing the same number again cycles through that app’s windows.
How do you snap windows with the keyboard in Windows 11?
You snap a window with the Windows key plus an arrow, or with Win + Z to pick a layout. Win + Left puts the active window on the left half, and Snap Assist then offers your other windows for the empty side:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Win + Z | Open snap layouts for the active window |
| Win + Left / Right | Snap to the left or right half |
| Win + Up (on a snapped half) | Move to the top quarter of that side |
| Win + Up (on a normal window) | Maximize |
| Win + Down | Restore a maximized or snapped window, minimize a normal one |
| Win + Alt + Up / Down | Snap to the top or bottom half |
| Win + Shift + Up | Stretch the window to full height, keep its width |
| Win + Shift + Left / Right | Move the window to the monitor on that side |
| Win + Home | Minimize every window except the active one |
We wanted to see where windows really land, so a script on the lab VM pressed each chord on a Notepad window and read its position back with GetWindowRect. The work area was 1024 by 720 pixels (a 1024 by 768 screen minus the taskbar), and these are the results:
| Key pressed | Starting state | Where the window ended up |
|---|---|---|
| Win + Left | Normal window | Left half, full height |
| Win + Up | Snapped left | Top-left quarter (365 px tall) |
| Win + Down | Top-left quarter | Back to the left half |
| Win + Right | Snapped left | Restored to its original size, not snapped right |
| Win + Up | Normal window | Maximized |
| Win + Shift + Up | Normal window | Full height, width unchanged |
| Win + Alt + Up | Normal window | Top half |
| Win + Alt + Down | Normal window | Bottom half |
| Win + Z, then 1 | Normal window | Left half, same as the first layout slot |
| Win + Shift + Left | One monitor | No change |
Two rows surprise people. Win + Right on a left-snapped window does not jump to the right half: it restores the window first, so you press it twice to cross the screen. Win + Z also takes number keys, so Win + Z then 1 snaps into the first slot of the first layout without any arrow work, which Microsoft’s Snap help page does not mention.
If none of these keys snap anything, the feature is switched off. Open Settings, then System, then Multitasking, and check the Snap windows options:
- Snap windows is switched on.
- “When I snap a window, suggest what I can snap next to it” is ticked for Snap Assist.
- “Show snap layouts when I hover over a window’s maximize button” is ticked if you also use the mouse.
FancyZones in PowerToys can take over Win + arrow with your own zones, but it leaves the built-in keys alone unless you tick “Override Windows Snap”. On our fresh install that option was off, so the table above held with PowerToys running.
How do you switch virtual desktops in Windows 11?
Win + Ctrl + Left and Win + Ctrl + Right switch virtual desktops, and Win + Ctrl + D creates a new one. Four keys cover everything:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Win + Ctrl + D | Create a desktop and switch to it |
| Win + Ctrl + Left / Right | Switch to the previous or next desktop |
| Win + Ctrl + F4 | Close the desktop you are on |
| Win + Tab | Task view: every desktop and its windows |
We counted desktops in the registry (VirtualDesktopIDs under the Explorer key) after each press, starting from one desktop. You can repeat the same check by eye in Task view:
- Two presses of Win + Ctrl + D leave three desktops in Win + Tab.
- Each new desktop becomes the active one as soon as it is created.
- Win + Ctrl + F4 removes the desktop you are on, one per press.
- Win + Ctrl + F4 on the last remaining desktop does nothing.
Those four results matched Microsoft’s description on our build. The registry value only appears once a second desktop exists, so a missing VirtualDesktopIDs entry simply means you have one desktop.
Closing a desktop does not close its apps. Windows moves them to the desktop on the left, so Win + Ctrl + F4 is safe even with unsaved work open. By default the taskbar and Alt + Tab only show windows from the current desktop, and Settings, then System, then Multitasking, lets you show all of them instead.
How do you take screenshots and record the screen?
Win + Shift + S takes a screenshot of a region, and Win + Shift + R records a region as video. Both run through Snipping Tool, which also owns the Print Screen key now:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Win + Shift + S | Snip a region, window or the full screen to the clipboard |
| Win + Shift + R | Record a region; with auto-save on (the default) the MP4 goes to Videos\Screen Recordings |
| Print Screen | Opens the Snipping Tool overlay (the default) |
| Win + Print Screen | Save the whole screen to Pictures\Screenshots |
| Alt + Print Screen | Copy the active window to the clipboard |
Print Screen opening Snipping Tool catches people who expect it to copy the whole screen silently. The toggle for it is under Settings, Accessibility, Keyboard. Our VM had no PrintScreenKeyForSnippingEnabled value in the registry at all, which leaves the key on Microsoft’s default of opening the overlay. Turn the setting off if you want the old copy-to-clipboard behaviour back.
Which File Explorer shortcuts save the most time?
Ctrl + T, Alt + D and Ctrl + Shift + N save the most time in File Explorer, because tabs and the address bar replace most clicking around. These are the ones worth learning:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + T / Ctrl + W | Open a new tab / close the current tab |
| Ctrl + Tab / Ctrl + Shift + Tab | Next or previous tab |
| Alt + D or Ctrl + L | Jump to the address bar |
| Ctrl + E or Ctrl + F | Jump to the search box |
| Ctrl + N | Open a new window |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | Create a new folder |
| F2 | Rename the selected item |
| Alt + Enter | Properties of the selected item |
| Alt + P / Alt + Shift + P | Toggle the preview pane / details pane |
| Alt + Up | Go up one folder |
| Alt + Left / Right | Back and forward |
| Ctrl + Shift + 1 to 8 | Switch view (extra large icons through content) |
| Shift + F10 | Classic context menu (“Show more options”) |
| Ctrl + Shift + E | Expand all folders in the navigation pane |
On the lab VM, Ctrl + T in a File Explorer window changed its title to “Home and 1 more tab”, so new tabs open on Home rather than on the folder you were in. Alt + D followed by a typed path such as %APPDATA% is faster than any tab, because the address bar expands environment variables. Shift + F10 is the other big one: it skips the trimmed Windows 11 right-click menu and shows the full legacy menu where older tools add their entries.
Which Windows Terminal shortcuts work by default?
Windows Terminal ships 69 default key bindings, and you will use about twelve of them. We read them straight from the defaults.json file inside the installed Terminal package instead of trusting a list, so this table is exactly what version 1.24.11911 does on a fresh install. Version 1.25 is the current stable release, and we did not compare its file:
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + Shift + T | New tab with the default profile |
| Ctrl + Shift + 1 to 9 | New tab with profile 1 to 9 |
| Ctrl + Shift + N | New window |
| Ctrl + Shift + D | Duplicate the current tab |
| Alt + Shift + Plus / Minus | Split the pane to the right / below |
| Alt + Arrow | Move focus between panes |
| Alt + Shift + Arrow | Resize the focused pane |
| Ctrl + Shift + W | Close the current pane |
| Ctrl + Tab / Ctrl + Shift + Tab | Next or previous tab |
| Ctrl + Alt + 1 to 8 | Jump to tab 1 to 8 (Ctrl + Alt + 9 is the last tab) |
| Ctrl + Shift + P | Command palette |
| Ctrl + Shift + F | Find in the scrollback |
| Ctrl + Shift + C / V | Copy and paste |
| Ctrl + Shift + M | Mark mode: select text with the keyboard |
| Ctrl + Shift + K | Clear the scrollback buffer |
| Ctrl + Plus / Minus / 0 | Zoom the font in, out, reset |
| Ctrl + , | Settings |
| Alt + Enter or F11 | Full screen |
| Win + ` (backtick) | Quake mode: a drop-down Terminal from the top of the screen |
You can check the bindings on your own copy with one PowerShell command. Run it in an elevated PowerShell window, because -AllUsers needs admin rights to read the package location. The sort keeps only the newest package when an update is staged next to the installed one:
$wt = (Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.WindowsTerminal | Sort-Object Version | Select-Object -Last 1).InstallLocation
Select-String -Path "$wt\defaults.json" -Pattern '"keys": "alt\+shift' | ForEach-Object { $_.Line.Trim() }The pane bindings came back as duplicate actions, which is why a split opens with the same shell and directory you were already in:
{ "keys": "alt+shift+-", "id": "Terminal.DuplicatePaneDown" },
{ "keys": "alt+shift+plus", "id": "Terminal.DuplicatePaneRight" },
{ "keys": "alt+shift+down", "id": "Terminal.ResizePaneDown" },
{ "keys": "alt+shift+left", "id": "Terminal.ResizePaneLeft" },
{ "keys": "alt+shift+right", "id": "Terminal.ResizePaneRight" },
{ "keys": "alt+shift+up", "id": "Terminal.ResizePaneUp" },Quake mode is the default the docs leave out. Microsoft’s Terminal actions page lists quakeMode with no default key, yet the installed file binds win+sc(41) to it, which is scan code 41, the backtick key. Plain Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V are not in that file at all, so Ctrl + Shift + C and Ctrl + Shift + V are the copy and paste keys you can count on in every profile. If you work in WSL, the tmux cheat sheet and the Linux terminal shortcuts cover the keys that work inside the Linux shell.
What do the PowerToys shortcuts do?
PowerToys adds shortcuts for a launcher, a colour picker, pinning windows on top and more, but only some of them are on after you install it. We installed PowerToys 0.102 on the VM, started it once and read every module’s settings.json. That gives the real defaults and whether each module starts enabled. Two rows, Advanced Paste and Find My Mouse, had no hotkey field in those files, so their keys come from the PowerToys docs:
| Shortcut | Utility | On after install? |
|---|---|---|
| Win + Alt + Space | Command Palette (launcher, calculator, commands) | Yes |
| Win + Ctrl + T | Always On Top: pin the active window | Yes |
| Win + Shift + C | Color Picker | Yes |
| Win + Shift + ` | FancyZones layout editor | Yes |
| Win + Ctrl + Shift + M | Screen Ruler (Measure Tool) | Yes |
| Win + Shift + H | Mouse Highlighter | Yes |
| Ctrl + Space | Peek: preview the selected file in File Explorer | Yes |
| Win + Shift + / | Shortcut Guide | Yes |
| Left Ctrl twice | Find My Mouse | Yes |
| Alt + Space | PowerToys Run (older launcher) | No |
| Win + Shift + T | Text Extractor (OCR from the screen) | No |
| Win + Shift + V | Advanced Paste (takes over Windows’ own Win + Shift + V, which cycles notifications) | No |
| Win + Ctrl + ` | Workspaces editor | No |
| Win + Alt + P | Mouse Pointer Crosshairs | No |
| Win + Ctrl + Shift + D | Light Switch: toggle light and dark theme | No |
| Win + Shift + Q | Keyboard Manager editor | No |
Three results in that table differ from what most PowerToys lists say, and each one changes what happens when you press the key on a new install:
- PowerToys Run is disabled, so Alt + Space still opens the window menu until you enable it.
- Peek is set to Ctrl + Space in the settings file, although the current docs say Space.
- Holding the Windows key alone for about a second shows number hints over the taskbar icons.
Command Palette on Win + Alt + Space is the launcher Microsoft now puts first, which is why Run starts switched off. The Windows key hold comes from Shortcut Guide: its config had a 900 ms press_time and the hold action set to taskbar indicators, which is the default. Pick “Open Shortcut Guide” under its Hold Windows key setting if you want the full guide on a hold instead. Our scripted Win + Shift + / press did not bring the guide to the front, so treat that row as the documented default rather than one we saw work. Check Settings, then Peek, before you rely on either Peek key.
We tested two of the shortcuts on a Notepad window. Win + Ctrl + T flipped its “topmost” flag on and a second press turned it off, and Win + Alt + Space opened Command Palette as an 800 by 480 window, with Esc handing focus back to Notepad. To confirm which build you have, read the version from the installed binary:
(Get-Item 'C:\Program Files\PowerToys\PowerToys.exe').VersionInfo.FileVersionThe machine-wide installer we used reported the hotfix build from late October:
0.102.3001.0That path only exists for the machine-wide installer from the PowerToys releases page. The per-user installer puts PowerToys under your own AppData folder, so adjust the path if you picked that one.
Two more commands in the same elevated window give the Windows build and the Terminal package that every table on this page was checked against:
Get-ItemProperty 'HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion' | Select-Object DisplayVersion, CurrentBuild, UBR
Get-AppxPackage -AllUsers Microsoft.WindowsTerminal | Select-Object Name, VersionWe rendered the output those commands printed on the lab VM, together with the PowerToys check, into one terminal card:
Build 26100.9457 is 24H2, and Microsoft states that 24H2 and 25H2 share the same source code, with 25H2 features switched on by an enablement package. A 25H2 machine reports build 26200 in the same command.
Which shortcuts are new in recent Windows 11 builds?
Several Windows 11 shortcuts have been added or repurposed since the first release, and older cheat sheets miss them. These are on Microsoft’s current list:
| Shortcut | What it does now |
|---|---|
| Win + C | Opens Copilot; falls back to search when Copilot is off or unavailable |
| Win + Shift + R | Screen recording of a region in Snipping Tool |
| Win + Alt + Up / Down | Snap to the top or bottom half |
| Win + Alt + K | Mute or unmute the microphone in supported call apps |
| Win + J | Recall, on Copilot+ PCs only |
| Print Screen | Opens Snipping Tool instead of copying the screen |
The Copilot key on newer keyboards behaves like Win + C, and you can point it at another app under Settings, Personalization, Text input. Win + Alt + Up and Down both worked on our 24H2 build, which matters because they are the only built-in keys for horizontal halves on a portrait or ultrawide screen.
How do you remap a shortcut you don’t like?
Windows 11 has no built-in key remapper, so PowerToys Keyboard Manager is the tool for it. It ships disabled; turn it on in PowerToys Settings, and its editor opens with Win + Shift + Q. You can remap single keys (Caps Lock to Ctrl is the classic) or whole shortcuts, either globally or for one app.
Three remaps cover what most people ask for:
- Caps Lock acts as Ctrl after a “Remap a key” entry.
- The Copilot key opens the app you chose in Settings, Personalization, Text input.
- Print Screen copies the full screen again once the Accessibility, Keyboard toggle is off.
Keyboard Manager remaps only work while PowerToys is running, so tick “Run at startup” in its General settings. If you switch between a Mac and a PC, our macOS keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet has a Windows-to-Mac table that helps decide which keys are worth remapping. Dual boot Ubuntu as well? Our Ubuntu keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet covers the GNOME keys on that side.
Setup checklist for a new Windows 11 PC
A fresh install leaves a few of these shortcuts switched off or pointing somewhere unexpected. We found every item below in its default state on the lab VM. Run through them once on a new machine, whether you installed it from a USB stick or set it up next to Linux in a Fedora dual boot:
- Press Win + V and accept the prompt, then confirm clipboard history shows your last copy.
- Press Print Screen and check that it does what you expect (overlay or plain copy).
- Press Win + Z on any window and confirm the snap layouts flyout appears.
- Open Terminal, press Ctrl + , and confirm Windows Terminal is the default terminal application under Startup.
- Install PowerToys and confirm Win + Alt + Space opens Command Palette.
- Pin your three most used apps first on the taskbar and test Win + 1, 2 and 3.
Our VM had no default terminal values under HKCU\Console\%%Startup, which means “Let Windows decide”. Step 4 makes that choice explicit in your own settings instead of leaving it to Windows. Running Windows as a VM on Proxmox or KVM? Install the VirtIO drivers for Windows first, because the guest agent we used to read these settings comes with them.
