The Windows key on your keyboard may be one of the ones you use the least. Extremely practical, it is nevertheless the basis of a good number of keyboard shortcuts that can change your life on Windows.
Using Windows on a daily basis does not necessarily mean that you are familiar with Microsoft’s operating system. The OS indeed contains many secrets, often ignored by most people, probably because of habits and reflexes acquired over many years of use.
However, certain manipulations that you repeat daily, and which respond to a pattern of actions that runs without you even thinking about it, can be carried out much more quickly. But all of these actions taken together take time and may be long enough for you to find a faster alternative solution.
The secret is undoubtedly in the knowledge of the many keyboard shortcuts that Windows integrates. There are a plethora of them, adopting more or less similar execution schemes. A number use the very mysterious Windows key on your keyboard, the one that uninitiated users are afraid to press for fear of doing something wrong on their PC.
You will find in the following lines about ten Windows shortcuts which will certainly save you precious minutes.
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1. Open Start menu
This is the primary function of the Windows key. If you press it, you will directly open the Start menu.
You can then directly type the first letters of the name of the application you want to open and press the Enter key to quickly open it without having to navigate with the mouse.
2. Access Advanced Start Menu Options
The Start menu has an advanced mode accessible in principle by right-clicking on it. But it is also possible to access this advanced menu by using the key combination Windows + X.
3. Open File Explorer
You’re probably used to opening Windows File Explorer by clicking on the corresponding little icon pinned to your taskbar.
You can now shine in the evening simply by using the shortcut Windows + E to open it without touching your mouse. File Explorer will default to Quick Access.
4. Show desktop
No, you do not need to minimize all open application windows on your PC one by one to access the Windows desktop.
You just have to press Windows + D simultaneously (D for Desktop, or office in French), to display it in a fraction of a second.
5. Open Windows Settings
Are you also tired of having to click on the Start menu, then having to search for the Settings menu to change the Windows configuration? Know that you are wasting your time.
By using the keyboard shortcut Windows + i, the Windows 11 Settings window will open immediately before your amazed eyes. What a waste of time in all these years…
6. Lock your PC
This is arguably the most important shortcut to know if you don’t want to find yourself paying for breakfast for your entire Open Space when you have your back turned away for two minutes.
Adopt the reflex of using the keyboard shortcut Windows + L to lock your PC, your personal data and sensitive documents will also thank you.
7. Open Clipboard History
The shortcut for copying content, Ctrl + C, is probably familiar to everyone, as is the one for pasting content, Ctrl +V. But it is not necessary to immediately paste every content you copy.
You can indeed copy several elements several times, then paste them one after the other using Windows + V. This shortcut, which opens the clipboard history, will save you precious time.
8. Open the emojis and special characters panel
If you never know how to insert special characters in your writing or to illustrate your conversations with emojis, the only shortcut to remember is Windows +; (semicolon key). It gives you easy access from a floating window to emojis, GIFs, kaomojis and special characters.
9. Open the screenshot module
To take a screenshot in Windows, you might still use the Print Scrn key and paste the resulting content into Paint to save the image.
Immediately give up this bad habit, and use the shortcut Windows + Shift + S. The Windows screen capture module should then open. You just have to select the type of screenshot to take.
Be careful however, the screenshot is not saved on your machine, but simply copied to the Windows clipboard. Remember to click on the thumbnail that appears at the bottom right of the screen to open it in the editing tool, in order to be able to save it.
10. Take a screenshot and save it
You can also take a screenshot of your entire screen and automatically save it to your PC. To do this, use the keyboard shortcut Windows + Print.
The screenshots taken with this shortcut are all saved in a Screenshots folder located in the Pictures directory of your session.