Navigating Using Shortcut Keys

The following keyboard shortcuts can be used for navigation in MSDN Library Help.

To	Press
Close MSDN Library Help.	ALT+F4
Switch between MSDN Library Help and other open windows.	ALT+TAB
Display the Internet Options dialog box to change Microsoft Internet Explorer settings. The Internet Options dialog box also contains accessibility settings. To change these settings, click the General tab, and then click Accessibility.	ALT+V+O
Hide or show the navigation pane.	ALT+V+N
Print the selected topic or print the selected heading and all subtopics.	ALT+F+P
Move back to the previous topic.	ALT+LEFT ARROW, or ALT+G and then press B
Move forward to the next topic (provided you have viewed it just previously).	ALT+RIGHT ARROW, or ALT+G and then press F
Turn on or off search highlighting.	ALT+V+H
Refresh the topic that appears in the topic pane (this is useful if you have linked to a Web page).	F5, or ALT+V+R
Return to the home page.	ALT+G+H
Stop the viewer from opening a page (this is also useful if you have linked to the Web and want to stop a page from downloading).	ALT+V+P
Switch between the navigation pane and the topic pane.	F6
Scroll through a topic.	UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW, or PAGE UP and PAGE DOWN
Scroll through all the links in a topic or through all the options on a navigation pane tab.	TAB

For the Contents tab:

To	Press
Display the Contents tab.	ALT+C
Expand and collapse a book or folder.	PLUS SIGN and MINUS SIGN, or LEFT ARROW and RIGHT ARROW
Select a topic.	DOWN ARROW and UP ARROW
Display the selected topic.	ENTER

For the Index tab:

To	Press
Display the Index tab.	ALT+N
Place the cursor in the Type in the keyword to find text box.	ALT+W
Select a keyword in the list.	UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW
Display the selected topic.	ALT+D, or ENTER

For the Search tab:

To	Press
Display the Search tab.	ALT+S
Type a keyword to search for.	ALT+W, and then type the word
Start a search.	ALT+L
Select a topic in the results list.	ALT+T, and then UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW
Display the selected topic.	ALT+D, or ENTER
Search for a keyword in the results list of a prior search, or to clear this check box.	ALT+U
Search for words similar to the keyword, or to clear this check box. For example, to find words like “running” and “runs” for the keyword “run.”	ALT+M
Search through topic titles only, or to clear this check box.	ALT+R

For the Favorites tab:

To	Press
Display the Favorites tab.	ALT+I
Add the currently displayed topic to the Topics list.	ALT+A
Select a topic in the Topics list.	ALT+P and then UP ARROW and DOWN ARROW
Display the selected topic.	ALT+D
Remove the selected topic from the list.	ALT+R

Notes

Shortcut keys also work in secondary and pop-up windows.
Every time you use a shortcut key in the navigation pane, you lose focus in the topic pane. To return to the topic pane, press F6.
The Match similar words check box, on the Search tab, will be selected if you used it for your last search.
There are also shortcut menu commands that can be accessed through the keyboard.

Using the Shortcut Menu Commands

You can right-click in the topic pane to display the shortcut menu, which has several commands that you can click to display and customize information in the topic pane or the navigation pane.

Command	Description
Close All	Closes all books or folders. This command works only if the Contents tab is displayed.
Print	Prints the topic.
Jump to URL	Takes you to the requested URL when you type a URL in the Jump to this URL text box and then press ENTER.