Most useful Windows keyboard shortcuts in 2024

Keyboard shortcuts provide a quicker way of doing tasks, helping you to be more efficient and productive.

There are common key combinations that many people know and use frequently. There are, however, many more worth learning because they will speed up your digital life, saving you time and money.

Windows and Microsoft's 365 suite are packed with useful shortcuts. Brainscape even quantified these savings to 8 days a year. 

Below we've listed the most helpful Windows shortcut key combinations.

• Universal Shortcuts
• Formatting Shortcuts
• Internet Browsing Shortcuts
• Desktop Experience Shortcuts
• Capturing Screenshots shortcuts
• Windows 11 shortcuts

Universal Shortcuts

Some shortcuts work across almost every application in Windows. For example, Ctrl + C and Ctrl + V to copy and paste. That combination will copy and paste files in Windows Explorer, text in Microsoft Word, or cell data in Microsoft Excel. It will work with Photoshop, AutoCAD, and your web browser. It's universal.

These shortcuts apply across almost all Windows apps and reduce common tasks to just two key presses. 

Formatting Shortcuts

These shortcuts can help you quickly format text no matter what application you're writing in.

Internet Browsing Shortcuts

Moving about and between web pages is almost always fastest using your mouse or touchpad. There are, however, some tasks that can be accomplished quicker in your browser with just a quick keyboard press. 

Desktop Experience Shortcuts

These shortcut combinations can help you control your computer, and your desktop environment, with ease.

Capturing Screenshots Shortcuts

If you need to capture a picture or a video of either your whole screen or just a portion of it these commands will help you achieve that. 

Take a look at our blog about recording your screen in Windows 11 for a much deeper explanation of how to record still images or videos of your screen.

Windows 11 Shortcuts

New shortcuts are introduced with each iteration of Microsoft's Windows operating system. Below is a list of useful shortcuts specific to Windows 11.

After reading through these selected shortcuts, it is clear to see how keyboard shortcuts can save you time.

Use this guide and our quick 8 time saver secrets to figure out which keyboard shortcuts suit your needs, put yourself to the test and see how much time you can save.

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