ChromeOS has a keyboard shortcut for most things you do with the touchpad. This guide covers every shortcut in our video, which we tested on ChromeOS 154, plus more browser and system shortcuts. You do not need to learn them all. Pick the two or three you would use every day, and ctrl launcher s shows the full list when you need the rest.
The Launcher key
Many Chromebook shortcuts use the Launcher key, the key with a circle on it where Caps Lock sits on other laptops. Press launcher on its own to open the launcher with your apps and a search box, and press it again to close it. On older Chromebooks the same key has a magnifying glass and is called Search. It works the same way, so wherever this guide says Launcher, press Search. On newer Chromebook Plus models with a Quick Insert key, Quick Insert sits in the Caps Lock spot and the Launcher key is the Google key next to the space bar; the shortcuts in this guide use that key.
On an external Windows or Mac keyboard, the Windows key or the Command key takes the Launcher key’s place. Our guide to keyboards for Chromebooks has more on using one. Because the Launcher key took the Caps Lock spot on most Chromebooks, you turn caps lock on and off with launcher alt .
Find every shortcut with Key Shortcuts
Press ctrl launcher s to open Key Shortcuts, the full list of shortcuts for your Chromebook. It is sorted into General, Device, Browser, Text, Windows and desks, and Accessibility, and the search box is ready to type in when the window opens. Type a word such as “window”, arrow down to a result like “Pin window to left”, and press enter to jump to that row. You can also open it from Settings: go to Device, then Keyboard and inputs, then View keyboard shortcuts.
Many shortcuts can be changed. Hover over a row and click the pencil at the end of it to open the Edit shortcut dialog. Add shortcut gives the same action a second key combination, and you can give one action up to five of them, according to Google’s guide to customizing shortcuts. Some rows are locked, and top-row keys cannot be part of a custom shortcut. If you change your mind later, Reset all shortcuts in the sidebar puts every row back. Press ctrl w to close Key Shortcuts when you are done.
Quick settings, the calendar, and notifications
The panels at the right end of the shelf have their own keys. alt shift s opens quick settings, where Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Do Not Disturb sit. launcher c opens the calendar, with your tasks above the month view. alt shift n opens your notifications. Press esc to close any of them.
Open apps from the keyboard
alt shift m opens the Files app. For the apps pinned to your shelf, hold alt and press the number of the app’s spot, counting from the left: alt 1 through alt 8 open the first eight, and alt 9 opens the last one. If Chrome is the second icon on your shelf, alt 2 brings it up. When the app is already open, the same keys bring its window forward.
Emoji, Quick Insert, and caps lock
launcher shift space opens the emoji picker at the text cursor. Click an emoji and it goes in where you were typing. launcher f opens Quick Insert, which has a row of emoji along the top and also lists recent pages and documents and the Help me write tool. Pick an emoji there, and it lands at the cursor the same way.
launcher alt turns caps lock on. An up arrow shows in the shelf, and everything you type comes out in capitals until you press launcher alt again.
Chrome tabs and pages
These work in Chrome and in most Chrome-based apps. ctrl t opens a new tab and ctrl w closes the one you are on. ctrl tab moves to the next tab and ctrl shift tab to the previous one. ctrl shift t brings back the tab you closed last. If the last thing you closed was a window, it brings back that window instead, even when it was the Settings window.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| ctrl n | Open a new browser window |
| ctrl shift n | Open a new window in Incognito mode |
| ctrl shift w | Close the current window |
| ctrl 1 to ctrl 8 | Go to tab 1 to 8 in the window |
| ctrl 9 | Go to the last tab in the window |
| alt | Go back a page |
| alt | Go forward a page |
| ctrl o | Open a file in the browser |
| ctrl and click a link | Open the link in a new tab in the background |
| ctrl shift and click a link | Open the link in a new tab and switch to it |
| shift and click a link | Open the link in a new window |
| Type an address, then alt enter | Open the address in a new tab |
| esc while dragging a tab | Put the tab back where it was |
Switch between windows
The Show windows key sits on the top row, and its icon is a rectangle with two lines beside it. Press overview to see every open window at once, with your desks along the top, and press it again to go back. To step through windows instead, hold alt and tap tab . Each tap moves to the next window in the switcher, and when you let go of Alt, the window you picked comes forward. alt shift tab starts from the window you used least recently.
Arrange windows
alt [ pins the current window to the left half of the screen and alt ] pins it to the right half. Pin one window left and another right, and both fit side by side with a divider between them that you can drag. Our guide to split screen on a Chromebook covers the touchpad and the divider in more detail.
alt = maximizes the window and alt - minimizes it to the shelf. launcher z opens the layout menu for the window you are in, with Split, Partial, Full, and Float, and esc closes the menu. launcher alt f floats the window: it shrinks and sits at the bottom right of the screen, above your other windows. Press the same keys to put it back.
Take a screenshot
ctrl overview takes a screenshot of the whole screen. ctrl shift overview opens the screen capture toolbar, where you can pick a partial screenshot, a single window, or a screen recording. Press esc to close the toolbar without taking a picture. Our Chromebook screenshot guide goes through the toolbar’s options and where the files are saved.
Virtual desks
Desks keep groups of windows apart, for example work on one desk and personal browsing on another. Press overview to see your desks along the top of the screen. The shortcuts below add, switch, and remove desks without the touchpad.
| Shortcut | What it does |
|---|---|
| launcher shift = | Add an empty desk (the shelf shows its name, such as Desk 2) |
| launcher [ | Move to the desk on the left |
| launcher ] | Move to the desk on the right |
| launcher shift - | Remove the desk you are on |
| launcher shift [ or launcher shift ] | Move the current window to the desk on the left or right |
| launcher shift a | Show the current window on all desks |
Clipboard history
launcher v opens your clipboard history, which keeps the last five things you copied. Click an item to paste it, or move through the list with the arrow keys and press enter .
Lock the screen and sign out
launcher l locks the screen. You need your password or PIN to get back in, and your open windows stay as they were. ctrl shift q , pressed twice, signs you out of your Chromebook and closes everything you have open.
Function keys F1 to F12
A Chromebook’s top row has Back, Refresh, Show windows, brightness, and volume keys in place of the F keys. To send a function key, hold launcher and press the top-row key in that position: Launcher plus the first top-row key is F1, the second is F2, and so on up to the last key in the row. Most top rows have 10 keys, so on some Chromebooks you can pick keys for F11 and F12 in Settings, then Device, then Keyboard and inputs, then Customize keyboard keys. If you use F keys more than the special keys, the same Keyboard and inputs page has a switch that treats the top-row keys as function keys.
