25 Cool Windows 7 Keyboard Tricks That Will Impress Your Friends

cool keyboard tricksAnyone working professionally with a computer has their hands on the keyboard most of the time. Reaching for the mouse can be an annoying disturbance and personally I often turn over my mouse in such situations. An easy solution is to simply keep the hands on the keyboard and complete as many tasks as possible with keyboard shortcuts only.

Apart from making you work more efficiently and faster, you can also impress your friends or colleagues by being able to work without a mouse. This article describes some cool Windows 7 keyboard tricks to get you started. In the end you might never want to take your hands off the keyboard again.


For your convenience, more keyboard shortcut resources are attached at the bottom.

Note that some of these shortcuts will only work if Windows Aero is enabled. If Aero effects are disabled on your computer, it might not be powerful enough to support resource intensive graphical features. The visual effects may also have been disabled to increase overall performance. If you wish to enable Aero nevertheless, have a look at my recent article explaining How To Enable and Troubleshoot Aero Effects in Windows 7.

Aero Shortcuts

  • [Windows] + [Spacebar] (Aero Peek)
    Make all open windows transparent to view gadgets and icons on desktop.

cool keyboard tricks

  • [Windows] + [D] (Aero Peek)
    Show or hide the desktop.
  • [Windows] + [Home] (Aero Shake)
    Minimize all but selected window. Reverse by clicking the key combination again.
  • [Windows] + left arrow OR [Windows] + right arrow (Aero Snap)
    Dock selected window to the left or right half of your screen.
  • [Windows] + up arrow OR [Windows] + down arrow (Aero Snap)
    Maximized and restores the selected window.
  • [Windows] + [SHIFT] + up arrow OR [Windows] + [SHIFT] + down arrow (Aero Snap)
    Maximizes and restores selected window in vertical dimension only.
  • [Windows] + [Tab] (Aero Flip)
    Launch 3D representation of open windows and click [Tab] key again to flip through them.

Windows & Taskbar

  • [Alt] + [Ctrl] + [Tag] + left/right/up/down arrow
    Flip window.
  • [Alt] + [Tab]
    Cycle through open windows.

windows 7 keyboard tricks

  • [Windows] + [T] OR [Windows] + [SHIFT] + [T]
    Move focus to front or back of taskbar. Press [T] again while holding the [Windows] key to cycle through items in the taskbar from left to right or, with [SHIFT] button held too, from right to left.
  • [Windows] + [B]
    Puts focus on the ‘show hidden icons’ button on the system tray.
  • [Windows] + [1] THROUGH [Windows] + [9]
    Launch first through ninth icon on taskbar, including items pinned to taskbar.
  • [Windows] + [SHIFT] + [1] THROUGH [Windows] + [SHIFT] + [9]
    Starts new instance of respective taskbar icon.
  • [Windows] + [Ctrl] + [1] THROUGH [Windows] + [Ctrl] + [9]
    Cycles through multiple instances of the respective icon.
  • [Windows] + [Alt] + [1] THROUGH [Windows] + [Alt] + [9]
    Opens jump list for respective icon.

fun keyboard tricks

Multiple Monitors

  • [Windows] + [SHIFT] + right arrow OR [Windows] + [SHIFT] + left arrow
    Move selected window from one monitor to another. They will remain in the same relative location.
  • [Windows] + [P]
    Select presentation display mode.

fun keyboard tricks

Magnifier

  • [Windows] + [+] OR [Windows] + [-]
    Activates Windows Magnifier to zoom in or out of screen.
  • [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [D]
    Switch to docked mode.
  • [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [L]
    Switch to lense mode.

fun keyboard tricks windows

  • [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [F]
    Switch from docked or lens mode back to full screen mode.
  • [Ctrl] + [Alt] + [I]
    Invert colors.
  • [Windows] + [Esc]
    Exist magnifier views.

Other

  • [Windows] + [G]
    Cycle through desktop gadgets.
  • [Windows] + [X]
    Launches Windows Mobility Center. Especially useful if you’re working on a laptop.

windows keyboard tricks

Can’t get enough? The following articles describe lots of additional keyboard tricks and shortcuts to make use of:

Which cool keyboard tricks did we miss and which ones are your favorites?


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Tina Sieber

Tina is a freelance writer, editor, natural scientist, and cosmopolitan with a strong interest in sustainability. She has been writing for MakeUseOf since late 2007 and also is the Editor for MakeUseOf Answers.

The comments were closed because the article is more than 180 days old.

If you have any questions related to stuff mentioned in the article or need help with any computer issue, just ask it on MakeUseOf Answers.

Hide 38 Comments

  • Nenene September 30, 2010
    0 likes

    *yawns*

    | Like
  • Craig Chamberlin September 30, 2010
    0 likes

    Pretty cool stuff, I probably wont become efficient in many of them but it’s funny how they make most of these shortcuts that people who use Windows 7 for months don’t even know exists.

    Odds are if someone became proficient in using them they’d probably be way more productive… lol, I’m probably too lazy for such a skill.

    | Like
  • Craig Chamberlin September 30, 2010
    0 likes

    Pretty cool stuff, I probably wont become efficient in many of them but it’s funny how they make most of these shortcuts that people who use Windows 7 for months don’t even know exists.

    Odds are if someone became proficient in using them they’d probably be way more productive… lol, I’m probably too lazy for such a skill.

    | Like
  • John Doe September 30, 2010
    0 likes

    “[Alt] + [Ctrl] + [Tag] + left/right/up/down arrow
    Flip window.”

    Don’t you mean “tab” and not “tag”

    | Like
    • Tina October 1, 2010
      0 likes

      Good catch! It’s TAB indeed.

      | Like
  • John Doe October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    “[Alt] + [Ctrl] + [Tag] + left/right/up/down arrow
    Flip window.”

    Don’t you mean “tab” and not “tag”

    | Like
  • Rebeccadoremus October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    Could this be made into a PDF? I would love to hand it out to some of my customers. Great article.

    | Like
    • Tina October 1, 2010
      0 likes

      Thank you for the feedback, Rebecca. If you have installed an PDF printer on your computer you can ‘print’ or rather save the article as PDF.

      | Like
      • Erica Ann October 9, 2010
        0 likes

        “If you have installed an PDF printer on your computer you can ‘print’ or rather save the article as PDF.”

        That is a good tip in itself. This is a tip that many people who have this ability with their OS do not even realize!

        | Like
    • ITGuy October 2, 2010
      0 likes

      Install CutePDF Writer its free; http://www.cutepdf.com/.
      You can then print the article to a PDF file.

      You might want to highlight what you want and print selection so you don’t print all the comments as well.

      | Like
      • Accountants November 30, 2010
        0 likes

        We use Cute PDF Pro – it is fantastic – I love the merge ability to add more than one PDF together and the price!

        | Like
  • Alan October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    These are so useful. Thanks.

    | Like
  • Anand October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    i like this win + tab shortcut

    | Like
  • Andrei Iulian October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    didn’t knew about the zoom shortcuts. thanks!

    | Like
  • Christian Tian October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    Win+G is absolutely a good keyboard shortcut

    | Like
  • Sean October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    Good stuff! I knew most of these but a couple were new and helpful.

    -Sean (Internetbeacon.com)

    | Like
  • LulaV14 October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    Hey I just discovered another:
    [Alt] + [Ctrl] + left/right/up/down arrow flips everything to the left/right/upside down/normal o_O

    | Like
    • john December 3, 2010
      0 likes

      tats not an OS function…. its only in some computers- actually a graphic display shortcut… mostly in intel graphics

      | Like
  • LulaV14 October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    Hey I just discovered another:
    [Alt] + [Ctrl] + left/right/up/down arrow flips everything to the left/right/upside down/normal o_O

    | Like
  • anil kukadiya October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    nice post. Today i come to know about some more hidden features.

    | Like
  • Pcradylady October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    Whats the WIN key?

    | Like
    • Mark O'Neill October 1, 2010
      0 likes

      The Windows key. On your keyboard, look at the bottom row to the left of the space bar. Second from the left is a key with a Microsoft logo on it. That’s the Win key.

      | Like
    • Aibek October 2, 2010
      0 likes

      here is the image of the WIN key,
      http://hacknmod.com/wp-content/old/pics/2232-1.jpg

      | Like
    • Meowmixmeow November 29, 2010
      0 likes

      windows *

      | Like
  • Free iPhone October 1, 2010
    0 likes

    Pretty cool stuff, should probably do work rather than play with these though lol.

    | Like
  • MT C October 2, 2010
    0 likes

    Might make a great MUO Guide.

    | Like
  • Aibek October 2, 2010
    0 likes

    here is the image of the WIN key,
    http://hacknmod.com/wp-content

    | Like
  • ITGuy October 2, 2010
    0 likes

    Install CutePDF Writer its free; http://www.cutepdf.com/.
    You can then print the article to a PDF file.

    You might want to highlight what you want and print selection so you don’t print all the comments as well.

    | Like
  • hnmAck October 3, 2010
    0 likes

    Im a Graphic Artist. My hands are on CAD peripherals most of the time. That makes me a less professional computer user?

    | Like
  • garybear October 3, 2010
    0 likes

    Great Tips. I have also overlooked the Windows key. Agree that MS does not inform users enough. I have been using Ctrl + C for copy and + V for paste (etc.) for years.

    | Like
  • Sumit 91iiitm October 4, 2010
    0 likes

    Some of these shrtcts not workin in win7 ultimate. Try [Shift]+[alt]+[num lock] ………:)

    | Like
  • Anonymous October 5, 2010
    0 likes

    Win+Shift+N creates a new folder, which is just absolutely incredibly useful

    | Like
  • Gulzae October 5, 2010
    0 likes

    any such short cuts for mac

    | Like
  • emcoffey3 October 5, 2010
    0 likes

    Not sure if this applies to Windows 7, but in Windows Server 2008: [Shift] + Right-click on a taskbar item gives you the “classic” context menu instead of the simplified menu with just “close window” and “pin to taskbar”.

    | Like
  • Versatile October 5, 2010
    0 likes

    [Alt] + [Ctrl] + [Tag] + left/right/up/down arrow
    Flip window.

    Still not fixed. Should be Tab!

    | Like
  • Versatile October 6, 2010
    0 likes

    [Alt] + [Ctrl] + [Tag] + left/right/up/down arrow
    Flip window.

    Still not fixed. Should be Tab!

    | Like
  • Erica Ann October 9, 2010
    0 likes

    “If you have installed an PDF printer on your computer you can ‘print’ or rather save the article as PDF.”

    That is a good tip in itself. This is a tip that many people who have this ability with their OS do not even realize!

    | Like
  • M Asadmanesh86 October 11, 2010
    0 likes

    it is realy fantastic

    | Like