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General Keyboard-only Commands

The following table shows commands for completing actions from the keyboard.

General keyboard-only commands

Shortcut Action
ALT+ESC Display next window.
ALT+SPACE Display pop-up window for window.
ALT+HYPHEN Display pop-up window for active child window.
ALT+ENTER Display properties.
ALT+underlined letter in menu bar Carry out corresponding command on main menu bar, such as Format menu bar.
SHIFT+underlined letter in menu item Carry out corresponding command of menu item, such as Font command, located in Format menu.
ALT+F4 Close application or window.
ALT+F6 Switch to next window in application.
ALT+TAB Switch to window you last used, or switch to another window by holding down ALT and repeatedly pressing TAB.
ALT+PRINT SCREEN Copy active window to Clipboard.
PRINT SCREEN Copy desktop to Clipboard.
CTRL+F4 Close current window in (MDI) programs.
CTRL+F6 Display next child window.
CTRL+ALT+DEL Task List.
F1 Start Help.
F10 Go to menu mode.
SHIFT+F10 Display context menu for selected item.
CTRL+ESC Display Start menu and move focus to taskbar.
CTRL+ESC, ESC Move focus on taskbar so you can use TAB and then SHIFT+F10 for context menu, or use TAB and arrow key to change tasks, or use TAB to go to desktop.
ALT+TAB Switch to next running application.
ALT+M When focus is on taskbar or desktop, minimize all windows and move focus to desktop.
ALT+S When no windows are open and no items are selected on desktop, display Start menu; then use arrow keys to select menu commands.