I’ve been infatuated with Twitter keyboard shortcuts lately. I know, shortcuts are so 2009, but their usefulness cannot be overlooked. In the past 3 years, we’ve given you articles on keyboard tricks for YouTube, launching bookmarks in Chrome, managing Google Calendar, navigating Firefox, accessing letters with accent marks on a Mac, and more. But, to the best of my knowledge (and ability to search), we have never done an article on Twitter shortcuts.

Did you even know that Twitter had keyboard shortcuts? Many people don’t, but ever since Twitter redesigned its website (remember #NewTwitter?) they’ve incorporated some handy features, shortcuts among them. In this article, I’m going to show you how to view all of Twitter’s listed shortcuts, as well as how to access a couple that Twitter doesn’t show you how to use so easily.

How Do I Access Shortcuts On Twitter?

If you’re feeling skeptical about whether or not keyboard shortcuts are worth your while or even whether or not they exist, I can make a believer out of you right now.

To access the shortcut key, visit your Twitter home screen. Once you’re there, type a question mark (?) on your keyboard. It won’t work if your cursor is in the Search or What’s happening? fields, just so you know.

Default Shortcuts

As you can see, Twitter’s default list of shortcuts are separated into 3 columns: Actions, Navigation and Timelines. Some keyboard shortcuts only work from some pages, which makes sense when you realize what they’re for.

Posting a new status update (n) will work on any page, but retweet (t), for instance, will only work when you are on a Twitter profile other than your own.

Typing a period (.) refreshes your feed and automatically takes you to the top of the page. This can be extremely useful as it saves you the trouble of having to click the link that says “56 new tweets” every 30 seconds.

The shortcuts listed in the Timelines column of the key require you to hit two buttons (doesn’t have to be simultaneously). If you’re on another page (within Twitter, of course) and you want to return to your home page, you can just hit

g

, then

h

on your keyboard.

Just to be clear, these shortcuts are only for Twitter.com, so if you use a 3rd party client to access your Twitter account you may be out of luck. You can however try Googling your client’s name + shortcuts to find some.

Searching For Photos & Videos

Two shortcuts that I think are fascinating that you won’t find on the list I’ve provided above are simple photo and video search from within Twitter.

No matter what page you are on within Twitter.com, if you just type

sv

(s, then v) or

sp

(s, then p) you will see a dialogue box pop up that you can type a search term in for videos or photos on Twitter.

Just type in your term and hit Enter to be taken to a grid-like page with your search results. If you are interested in seeing the most popular videos or photos being tweeted around certain topics, these Twitter keyboard shortcuts can really be useful for you.

Are there any interesting app/website shortcuts you would like to share?