Windows 7 Beta hotkey cheat sheet

by Brandon on January 10th, 2009

Got yourself a shiny new Windows 7 Beta install? Here’s a little cheat sheet I made up for some of the handy new hotkey combinations, many of which I’ve become quite dependent on!

General

Win+Up	Maximize
Win+Down	Restore / Minimize
Win+Left	Snap to left
Win+Right	Snap to right
Win+Shift+Left	Jump to left monitor
Win+Shift+Right	Jump to right monitor
Win+Home	Minimize / Restore all other windows
Win+T	Focus the first taskbar entry Pressing again will cycle through them, you can can arrow around. Win+Shift+T cycles backwards.
Win+Space	Peek at the desktop
Win+G	Bring gadgets to the top of the Z-order
Win+P	External display options (mirror, extend desktop, etc)
Win+X	Mobility Center (same as Vista, but still handy!)
Win+# (# = a number key)	Launches a new instance of the application in the Nth slot on the taskbar. Example: Win+1 launches first pinned app, Win+2 launches second, etc.
Win + + Win + – (plus or minus key)	Zoom in or out.

Windows Explorer

Alt+P

Show/hide Preview Pane

Taskbar modifiers

Shift + Click on icon	Open a new instance
Middle click on icon	Open a new instance
Ctrl + Shift + Click on icon	Open a new instance with Admin privileges
Shift + Right-click on icon	Show window menu (Restore / Minimize / Move / etc) Note: Normally you can just right-click on the window thumbnail to get this menu
Shift + Right-click on grouped icon	Menu with Restore All / Minimize All / Close All, etc.
Ctrl + Click on grouped icon	Cycle between the windows (or tabs) in the group

Note that this list focuses on stuff that’s specific to Windows 7. For a complete list of Windows Vista hotkeys (which should be largely unchanged except where noted above), visit this page on Microsoft.com or look in the Windows Help file.

If there’s something you think I should add, post a comment!

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201 Comments

Jacob Korsgaard permalink

Wow the bar is more powerful than I had imagined! I expected middle button to close a grouped app, but it makes perfect sense for it to open a new instance 😀
David permalink

These are great, I was hoping to find something like this.
Vishal Gupta permalink

Thanks Brandon. Those new keyboard shortcuts are really nice and useful. 🙂

Regards,
Vishal Gupta
Microsoft MVP
http://www.AskVG.com/
AltTabber permalink

Whatever happened to good ol’ Alt+Tab? Does it still support that?
Amir permalink

wow, these are awesome. My favorite is making Windows jump between monitors… Is there any more shortcuts??
Dan permalink

Also, Win+D takes you to the desktop (instead of just peeking at it). Hitting it again returns your program windows to their previous state.
Amal Roy permalink

Thanks Brandon . Really Useful Shortcuts.

Regards,
Amal Roy
Computing Unleashed
http://www.computingunleashed.com
The MAZZTer permalink

Nice superbar shortcuts, I figured out Shift + Click and Ctrl + Shift + Click (awesome for the Command Prompt) but the others should prove useful as well, thanks! 😀
The MAZZTer permalink

Woah, Win + and Win – are awesome.

Though I feel Win + mousewheel might have worked a bit better (Ubuntu uses something similar for the same feature, plus it goes with Ctrl + Mousewheel zooming pages in the major web browsers).
Martin permalink

Hi, is there a shortcut for the Win key for those of us with a keyboard without such a key? Great list if I can get it to work on my keyboard……..
Jenya permalink

Please make it so that the Win+Home shortcut is more accessible. Righ now you have to stretch you fingers too much. I use it very often…

also if you restore the windows back the windows aero animations are “broken” …

thank you for your work! bonne chance!
Jenya permalink

oh..I’m sorry the animations are alright. My mistake 🙂
mercuryLuz permalink

Very useful information, thanks! By the way, I don’t like that Win+E opens “Libraries” instead of “My Computer”… Is there still some hotkey for “My Computer”?
Sam permalink

My all time favorite and most used shortcut key remains Win + E for opening explorer.
Jordn permalink

There’s also Win+B, which switches focus to the notification area, like how Win+T switches focus to the taskband.
Jemm permalink

Win+Shift+Up = Maximizes the window vertically
Win+Shift+Down = Restores the window size (after previous)