Who doesn’t love a good shortcut? We all do! Not only do they improve our productivity, allowing us to accomplish more, but it also improves our efficiency, allowing us to accomplish more in the same time frame. 

Do you know that Windows key on your device? What is it for? Turns out, it’s much more powerful than you may think when you know how to use it. Properly using it will allow you to use keyboard shortcuts, Permitting you to quickly access all that you need. 

There are many keyboard shortcuts available to all of us. We will cover some handy shortcuts and why you may want to use them in this article. 

Open and close the start menu

Simply press the Windows key. It doesn’t get much easier than that. Instead of navigating your mouse to the start icon and clicking it, save time by pressing the Windows key. In your start menu, you have access to all of your apps, settings, and files. You may also customize the start menu to better fit your needs by pinning the apps and programs you use most. Need more space in your start menu? Try resizing to fits all you need. 

Open notifications

Windows key + A. Notifications are valuable for many reasons. They may give you calendar reminders, that you received a new email, or that software updates are available. This may be information to help you stay in the know and keep you productive. Others may prove a distraction. Opening your notifications give you one location to action some or all of them quickly. 

Minimize All Windows

Windows key + M. This lets you clear your desktop all in one go! Cleaning up your desktop and letting you navigate to a new program or screen more easily. 

Activate task view

Windows key + Tab. This shortcut is big when it comes to efficiency. The task view gives you a clean look at all open applications, allowing you to quickly jump from one application to another. 

Activate Cortana with speech

Windows key + C. For Amazon users, this is similar to Alexa. For Apple users, this is similar to Siri. Why would you want to use Cortana? We’ll leave that one to you! Here are a few examples to get you started: 

• Ask Cortana about local services, such as Chinese restaurants that are nearby. 
• Ask Cortana to set a reminder for a specific date and time. 
• Ask Cortana what’s on your schedule.
• Ask Cortana just about anything, similar to what you may search in Google. 
• Ask Cortana to add an item to your grocery list. 

Hide or display desktop

Windows key + D. Some of us like a clean desktop. Many programs you install will automatically add an icon to your desktop. Rather than continuously deleting icons, you can just hide your desktop when you’d like it to be clean and unhide it when you want to see your icon shortcuts. 

Lock your screen

Windows key + L. Whenever you need to get up from your computer for anything, it is a good idea to lock your machine. The fastest way for us to lock our machine is with this shortcut. 

Activate connect feature to stream to wireless displays and audio devices

Windows key + K. A very usual feature when you want your display on say, your tv screen. You may be watching a YouTube video that you’d like to share with others in the household. Simply use this shortcut to connect to a smart TV for the display to show on your TV. 

Open Windows settings

Window Key + I. Rather than navigating through the start menu to your settings every time you want to adjust something, use this shortcut to save time. 

Create a new virtual desktop

Windows key + Ctrl + D. Let’s first begin with what a virtual desktop is. A virtual desktop allows you to access your desktop on any device from anywhere. This is useful when you are not at home but need to access something off your home PC. 

Switch between virtual desktops

Windows key + Ctrl + left or right. Useful for when you have multiple virtual desktops and you need to switch from one to another. 

Move apps from one monitor to another

Windows key + Shift + left or right. Many of us have several monitors these days. Some of us like to keep an open browser on one, email on another, maybe open programs on another. It allows us to be more productive and efficient. This shortcut allows you to quickly move an app from one monitor to another. 

Open the Game bar

Windows key + G. Have you ever been playing a game and you would like to record your gameplay or take a screenshot? Use this shortcut to open the Game bar, which allows you to record your gameplay footage or take a screenshot. 

By no means is this a fully comprehensive list of Windows keyboard shortcuts; there are many more! Above is a list of some popular ones which allow users to be more productive and efficient when using their PC. 

We hope that you find value in some or all of the above shortcuts. We would like to hear from you! Which keyboard shortcuts do you find yourself using the most? Which brings you the most value?