11 essential Windows 11 shortcuts you need to know

11 essential Windows 11 shortcuts you demand to know

(Paradigm credit: Future)

Windows 11 has arrived, and with information technology come up a host of changes to the way Microsoft'due south operating system looks and functions. In addition to the at present infamous centered Start menu, Windows 11 introduces a host of new features aimed at helping yous better organize and use your desktop, though in the end it'southward less a revolution and more of a refinement.

Microsoft also added some new keyboard shortcuts to assistance yous navigate Windows eleven more efficiently, and using them finer can let y'all to get more done with less fourth dimension wasted pointing and clicking.

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With that in mind, we've compiled the post-obit list of the well-nigh useful keyboard shortcuts you should be using in Windows eleven. Some replace older shortcuts — Windows key + C now launches Teams instead of Cortana, for case — while others are new in Windows eleven, but all are worth working into your solar day-to-day workflow.

We've too put together a separate guide on how to speed up Windows 11, which shows yous some simple tweaks to make your system run faster.

Windows xi keyboard shortcuts yous should know

Windows 11 keyboard shortcut	Command
Windows key + A	Open Quick Settings
Windows key + Ctrl + C	Plow color filter on/off (must first enable in Color Filter settings)
Windows cardinal + Thou	Open up Cast in Quick Settings
Windows central + N	Open notification center and calendar
Windows central + W	Open Widgets/News & Interests pane

These are some of the most useful basic shortcuts for quickly accessing cadre aspects of Windows xi. The new Windows primal + K shortcut for instantly opening the Quick Settings bill of fare (where tools like the brightness and book controls alive) and accessing the Bandage option is especially useful if y'all want to output to an external display. Cast is one of many optional tools yous tin can add to Quick Settings (which can exist edited past striking the pencil icon in the lower-right corner of the menu), but it's not added past default then many new users might miss information technology entirely.

Windows 11 Color filters menu — (Paradigm credit: Future)

The Windows central + Ctrl + C shortcut for chop-chop switching a colour filter on or off can as well be very handy for those with colour blindness or impaired vision, though y'all need to enable information technology start. To exercise so, open up your Settings menu (the keyboard shortcut is Windows key + I, as it was in Windows 10) and navigate to Accessibility > Colour filters, so toggle on Keyboard shortcut for color filters. Once you do that, you can pick an alternate color filter (including grayscale, inverted, and cerise-light-green or blue-yellow filters) and toggle information technology at will using the keyboard shortcut.

Windows 11 keyboard shortcut	Control
Windows central + Z	Open Snap Layouts
Windows key + Alt + Upwards arrow or Down arrow	Snap selected window to upper/lower one-half of screen

Snap Layouts is one of the nearly helpful new features of Windows 11 because it gives you more than command over how y'all distribute open windows beyond your desktop. You most frequently see it when y'all mouse over the maximize button in the upper-correct corner of a window, at which point the Snap Layouts card pops up showing four possible means of arranging your windows. Click the portion of your chosen layout where you desire the current window to get, and it snaps into place.

Windows 11 Snap Layouts menu shown in top-right corner — (Image credit: Time to come)

You lot can salvage fourth dimension hunting for that little button by only hitting the Windows central + Z to bring up the Snap Layout menu instantly. If you know you want a unproblematic 50/50 split with one window on the meridian half of the screen and the other on the bottom half, y'all can accomplish that even faster with the new Windows central + Upward and Down pointer key shortcuts. These complement Windows' existing Windows key + Left and Right pointer key shortcuts for snapping windows into the left and right halves of the screen, so y'all can quickly re-arrange your work with just a few keystrokes.

Windows 11 keyboard shortcut	Command
Windows cardinal + Tab	Open Chore view of virtual desktops
Windows fundamental + Ctrl + D	Add together a virtual desktop
Windows key + Ctrl + Right or Left arrow	Switch betwixt open virtual desktops
Windows cardinal + Ctrl + F4	Close the virtual desktop you're currently using

While Task view, virtual desktops and their corresponding keyboard shortcuts accept been available in Windows ten for some time, with Windows 11 Microsoft made this feature a front-and-center part of the operating organisation. That'due south very literally true, as there's now a Chore view push embedded in the centered Beginning bar by default, though you lot can remove information technology in your Taskbar settings menu.

Windows 11 Task view — (Image credit: Future)

Merely while there's no harm in removing the icon if you lot discover it unsightly, getting used to using multiple virtual desktops (and navigating them rapidly via keyboard shortcuts) can be a great way to keep your piece of work organized and silo off concern from pleasure. In Windows 11 each virtual desktop tin can have its ain custom cosmetic touches, including singled-out wallpapers and themes, and apps open up in one desktop aren't open in the others. This can brand it easier to do things like group all your work-related apps in i desktop and all your gaming apps in another, and then you tin can quickly swap back and forth when the time is right. And once you master these keyboard shortcuts, you should be able to practice then much more quickly than if you had to chase and click for the relevant icons every time.

Alex Wawro is a lifelong tech and games enthusiast with more than a decade of experience covering both for outlets like Game Programmer, Black Hat, and PC World magazine. He currently serves equally a senior editor at Tom's Guide roofing all things calculating, from laptops and desktops to keyboards and mice.