Hey, welcome back to another Windows 10 Shots blog post. I hope you read my last post, Windows 10 Shots – Cortana Keyboard Shortcuts.
As I have mentioned in previous posts, with most shots, after about a handful things will start to get a little hazy. But, with Windows 10 Shots (this new series of posts), the hope would be that the opposite would happen. That clarity and insight into the highly anticipated release would free your mind to great new features and power of Windows 10.
I have worked with a lot of Windows users over the years, and one thing I have noticed is that there are users who love to use the mouse and there are users who love to use the keyboard. Sure there are those in the middle, and I actually prefer to use the mouse most of the time, but you have to admit, when you watch someone who has the keyboard down to a science, windows, screens, emails, etc. are flashing all of the screen like a firework show. It can be confusing to those watching, but for the person who has become proficient with the keyboard, productivity is the name of the game.
This post will focus on a new feature in Windows 10, Microsoft Edge.
I will attempt to keep this short by explaining as quickly as I can: the shortcut we are going to use, what it does and a quick description with an occasional screen shot to drive it home. That being said, the General Windows 10 and Microsoft Edge posts will have more content. So, let’s get typing…
Microsoft Edge
Probably one of the bigger changes to Windows 10 is their new, built from the ground up, web browser, Microsoft Edge. The new and improved browser comes with a lot of features. However, most people just want to surf the web, so let’s see what keyboard shortcuts we have available.
Note: Microsoft Edge must be the active window.
Action – Add to Favorites or Reading List
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + D
Description: This shortcut allows you to add a website to your Favorites or Reading List. You can also give it a name.
Action – Find on Page
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + F
Description: Trying to find something on a webpage can be time consuming. With this key combination you can easily find what you are looking for on the current webpage. Just type Ctrl + F and you will be presented with a text field on the top of the page to enter your search criteria.
For example, let’s say in the Technology News section you want to search for the hot new Virtual Reality headset, Oculus. You would simply type Oculus in the search box and as you type, any matches on the website will be highlighted in yellow.
You can also select how it matches during the search.
Also, notice that it displays the number of results, the currently positioned result and the option of stepping forward and backward through the results.
Action – New Window
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + N
Description: Sometimes you just want another window to maybe read or compare two different sites. This key combo will simply open a new Windows Edge browser window.
Action – Duplicate Tab
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + K
Description: Sometimes as a user, you want to keep the current page, but go back to the previous page. This is simple to accomplish with this key combination.
It might look something like this:
Action – New Tab
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + T
Description: Say you want to keep your current page filled with important search results, but you want to create a brand new tab for another webpage, you can simply press Ctrl + T and a new tab will be created.
Action – Refresh Page
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + R or F5
Description: Sometimes, webpages get stale. A great example of this are sites that report scores, or even some self-refreshing (every 10sec, 15secs, 30sec, etc.) websites. Hitting either of these key combinations will result in an immediate webpage refresh with updated information.
Action – Close Tab
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + W
Description: When you are done with your webpage, it is a good practice to cleanup your browser and release any memory that your application might not be using. This shortcut will close the current tab and give you back valuable system resources.
Action – Zoom In 25%
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + Plus
Description: Sometimes either a site is using a very small font, or maybe even your eyes aren’t what they used to be (trust me, I am living this right now) and you need a little help seeing things. Well, Ctrl + [Plus] will zoom your screen in by 25% all the way up to 1000%. That should help you see things better. 🙂
Here is the screen at 100%, 150% and 300%.
Action – Zoom Out 25%
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + Minus
Description: Some webpages have a lot of content on them and you can’t quite get it all into your browser to see it all in one shot. Hitting Ctrl + Minus, you can reduce the zoom by 25%. Here is an example of 100%, 50% and 25%.
As you can see, there is a lot more content on the screen the further you zoom out. This works extremely well with large monitors that support high resolution.
Action – Reset Zoom
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + 0
Description: If you mess up your browser zoom, a really quick way to get back to 100% is to use this key combination.
With Zoom at 175%
With Zoom back to 100% after Ctrl + 0.
Action – Switch to Last Tab
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + 9
Description: This is a feature that probably doesn’t seem to be very useful, but if you are like me, I have a tendency to have 15+ tabs open at times. So, usually the last tab you opened is the one that is most recent. However, when you switch back 2-3 tabs, sometimes it is just easy to apply this shortcut to get to the last tab quickly.
Action – Switch to Tab Number
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + 1, 2, 3…,8
Description: If you have 9 tabs or less, a really easy way to get to one them is to use this shortcut combination. You can quickly get to the 3rd tab by pressing Ctrl + 3. Or the 6th with Ctrl + 6.
Action – Go Back
Shortcut Key – Backspace or Alt + Left Arrow
Description: Probably one of the most useful shortcuts that isn’t used by most people. People love to click on that little back button on the top of the screen to go back to a previous page.
However, did you know that just hitting the Backspace or Alt + Left Arrow key will do the same thing? Try it, you may never click that arrow again.
Action – Go Forward
Shortcut Key –Alt + Right Arrow
Description: As much as I would love to say there is a one keypress forward button, there isn’t. However, there is a two keypress shortcut, Alt + Right Arrow, that will allow you to go forward a web page as opposed to mouse clicking on the forward button to the top left of the browser.
TIP: Notice that you can use Alt + [Left Arrow][Right Arrow] to quickly Navigate already viewed pages very quickly.
Action – Stop Loading
Shortcut Key – Esc
Description: Sometimes you navigate to a page that is taking a long time to load. Maybe you even have what you need on the page, but you are left waiting for the page to load. Sometimes, if your timing is right, you can stop the page from loading with this keyboard shortcut.
Action – Next Tab
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + Tab
Description: As I stated earlier, I have a tendency to have a million tabs open in my web browser. So being able to navigate thru all of them quickly is essential. If you find yourself in the same boat as me, try using Ctrl + Tab. It will allow you to cycle thru all your tabs from left to right. Pretty handy.
Action – Previous Tab
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + Shift + Tab
Description: If you become a Ctrl + Tab junky, you might find yourself blasting past a page you intended to navigate. Well, you can cycle thru your open tabs from right to left using Ctrl + Shift + Tab.
Action – Print Page
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + P
Description: I can’t imagine why people would need to print anything onto a piece of paper anymore, but just in case you need the ability, hitting the key combo, Ctrl + P will display a print dialog for you to select the printer of your choice.
Hopefully you actually want to print to a PDF file or sent it to Microsoft OneNote so that you can save the forests. 🙂
Action – Open Link in New Tab
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + Click
Description: Sometimes, you want to interact with an element on the page, but a quick keyboard combination isn’t quite enough to get the job done. For example, let’s say you want to open a link in a new tab to visit later. Well, if you hold down the Ctrl key and click on the link, that is exactly what you get.
After you apply the shortcut, you should notice a new tab with the links contents.
I actually use this quite a bit when I am research a topic and I want to open up a number of search results before I attempt another Bing search.
Action – Open Link in New Tab and Go to Tab
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + Shift + Click
Description: This combination is very similar to the previous one, Ctrl + Click, but in this scenario, you want to open a new tab for a link, but you also want to go immediately to that tab to view it. You simply press, Ctrl + Shift + Click on the link you want to open in a new tab.
However, since we included the Shift key, you are now brought to the tab you just created.
Action – Open Link in New Window
Shortcut Key – Alt + Shift + Click
Description: There are some situations that arise while browsing that you would like to open up another browser window with a different webpage. For example, let’s say you wanted to compare and contrast the difference in device specification for the Apple iPhone 6S+ and the new rumored Microsoft Lumia 950XL.
First, you would do a search for one of the devices, say, the iPhone 6S+ specifications.
You find the result you need and you want to open it up as one of your comparison devices.
You would now Alt + Shift + Click the link and see something like this:
Alt + Tab back to the search browser and do a Bing search for Microsoft Lumia 950XL specifications and find the result you wish to use.
Select the result and let’s snap our two windows next to each other using Windows + [Left][Right].
Now, Compare away!
Action – Select Address Bar
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + L or F4 or Alt + D
Description: If you want to quickly move to the address bar to hit another site or do a search. These keyboard combinations will be handy.
Action – Open Favorites
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + I
Description: If you have been putting a lot of sites into your favorites, you need a quick way to access them. Well, Ctrl + I will do that for you.
Action – Open History
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + H
Description: Where was that site I was on yesterday? If you find that you are wondering what sites you have been searching lately, this shortcut will be handy.
It will even group your history so that you can get to the day you hit the webpage quickly.
Action – Open Downloads
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + J
Description: As a developer I download a lot of stuff. I am always playing with new tools and applications. Since I have a huge passion for UI/UX, I download a lot. One really helpful shortcut is Ctrl + J. It will bring me to my download list. Give it a try.
Action – Enter Reading View
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + Shift + R
Description: Have you ever been on a webpage to try to read the article and you are bombarded with multitudes of ads, menus, popups, etc.? I am 100% sure you have.
Well, let’s say you find a great article and you just want to read that and not have to bother with all of the distractions. Well, Microsoft Edge has a solution. It is called Reading View. It takes all that noise out of the picture so you can concentrate on the article itself. Visually, you can see webpages that are compatible with Reading View by the little icon next to the address line for the site. Click on it and it will put itself into Reading View mode.
However, there is also a keyboard shortcut for that button as well. When you see the Reading View icon enabled, Hit Ctrl + Shift + R. You will notice that the page refreshing without all the “distractions” and the icon is now blue.
Now, isn’t that better?
Action – Open Search Query on Address Bar
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + E
Description: Want a way to quickly search using your browser? Ctrl + E will open up the address bar with a search query.
Just start typing your search criteria and hit Return.
Presto, search results…
Action – Open InPrivate Window
Shortcut Key – Ctrl + Shift + P
Description: Need a web browser window that is private and doesn’t keep track of what you are surfing? For example, you want to find a gift for your wife, but don’t want her to see the sites you have been viewing in history? Ctrl + Shift + P.
Summary
So, all you keyboard crazies out there, I hope this post helps you by identifying the some of the Microsoft Edge keyboard shortcuts in Windows 10 that will help you navigate your virtual desktops. This way, you can blaze a path of productivity using the most productive operating system in the world, Windows 10.