In addition to having an access key, a menu item can have a shortcut key associated with it. A shortcut key is different from an access key, because the menu does not have to be active for the shortcut key to work. Also, an access key is always associated with a menu item, while an shortcut key is usually (but does not have to be) associated with a menu item.
Text that identifies the shortcut key is added to the menu-item text string. The shortcut text appears to the right of the menu item name, after a backslash and tab character (\t). For example, "&Close\tAlt+F4" represents a Close command with the alt+f4 key combination as its shortcut key and with the letter "C" as its access key. For more information, see Keyboard Accelerators.