A handful of keyboard shortcuts can save you a surprising amount of time in Windows 11. Here are the ones worth actually memorising, grouped by what they do.
Everyday navigation
- Win + E — Open File Explorer
- Win + D — Show or hide the desktop
- Win + Tab — Task View, showing all open windows and virtual desktops
- Alt + Tab — Quickly switch between open apps
- Win + Left/Right/Up/Down arrow — Snap windows to the side or corners of the screen
Working faster
- Win + V — Open clipboard history, so you can paste something you copied earlier
- Win + Shift + S — Take a screenshot of any part of the screen
- Ctrl + Z — Undo your last action, works in most apps
- Ctrl + C / Ctrl + V — Copy and paste
System and settings
- Win + L — Instantly lock your PC
- Win + I — Open Settings
- Win + A — Quick Settings panel (Wi-Fi, volume, brightness)
- Ctrl + Shift + Esc — Open Task Manager directly
The hidden Win + X menu
Pressing Win + X opens a text-based power menu, and each item has its own follow-up letter you can press instantly instead of clicking:
- Win + X, then M — Device Manager
- Win + X, then W — Network settings
- Win + X, then K — Disk Management
- Win + X, then G — Computer Management (event viewer, services and more)
- Win + X, then U — Sign out, sleep, shut down or restart
None of these need installing anything — they are built into Windows 11 and work the moment you try them.
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