Standard Browser Keyboard Shortcuts

February 13, 2006

All modern browsers have extensive keyboard shortcuts:

I tested every shortcut, and here's my list of keyboard shortcuts that work in all browsers – or, for the rare keyboard shortcuts I found especially useful, those that work in at least two of the above browsers.

Standard toolbar buttons

Alt+←, or Backspace
Back

Alt+→, or Shift+Backspace
Forward

F5
Reload

Ctrl+F5
Force Reload (no cache)

Esc
Stop

Alt+Home
Homepage

Ctrl+N
New browser window

Address Bar

Alt+D, or Ctrl+L, or F6
Set focus to Address Bar

Ctrl+Enter
Add "www." and ".com" prefix to Address Bar

Alt+Enter
Open Address Bar location in a new tab

Tabs

Ctrl+1…8
Switch to nth tab

Ctrl+9
Switch to last tab

Ctrl+Tab, or Ctrl+Page Up
Switch to next tab

Ctrl+Shift+Tab, or Ctrl+Page Down
Switch to previous tab

Ctrl+W, or Middle Click tab, or Ctrl+F4
Close current tab

Ctrl+T
Open new tab in the foreground

Ctrl+Shift+T
Reopen last closed tab

Ctrl+Left Click, or Middle Click
Open clicked link in a new background tab

Shift+Left Click
Open clicked link in a new browser window

Ctrl+Shift+Left Click
Open clicked link in a new tab, and set focus to it

Reading

Space
Scroll down

Shift+Space
Scroll up

Home
Go to top of page

End
Go to bottom of page

F11
Toggle full page mode

Ctrl++, or Ctrl+Mousewheel down
Zoom page larger

Ctrl+-, or Ctrl+Mousewheel up
Zoom page smaller

Ctrl+0
Set to default zoom

Bookmarks

Ctrl+D
Add current site to bookmarks

Ctrl+H
Open browsing history

Ctrl+J
Open download history

Search

Ctrl+E, or Ctrl+K
Set focus to search box

Alt+Enter
Perform search in new tab

F3, or Ctrl+F
In-page search

F3
Scroll to next in-page search item

Ctrl+F3
Scroll to previous in-page search item

Developer

Ctrl+U
View source of current page

F12
Developer tools

Ctrl+Shift+Del
Delete browsing history

While it's not a keyboard shortcut per se, also note that left-click-and-hold on the forward and back buttons will show a list of the last (n) pages to select from, if you want to go forward or back more than a single page at once. This comes in handy at least once a week for me.

It's good to see browser developers standardizing on at least a few common keyboard shortcuts rather than making up their own.

Posted by Jeff Atwood
6 Comments

Good list, I didn't know about Ctrl-1.

My one gripe about the shortcuts: I wish Ctrl-Enter were smarter: don't add the prefix and suffix if thery're already there, for example.

Ned Batchelder on February 14, 2006 7:24 AM

apparently ALT+D does not set the focus to the address bar, but instead opens the file menu :-) (English File-German Datei). thats why ALT shortcuts suck :-(

(personally i tend to use f6 to set the focus to the address bar ... works in ff and ie6)

hacktick on February 14, 2006 9:45 AM

I always found it strange that shortcuts are so well hidden. It seems like the standard UI designers are affraid that we suddenly should use the shortcuts too much or that our eyes will burn out by seeing too many shortcurts. Unless I dont use the application very often, I tend to forget the shorcuts, and I dont want to look them up every second, so then I just skip using them.

Thank you for the links, I will be using the search shortcuts alot now. :)

/P

Peter Palludan on February 14, 2006 10:16 AM

In Windows, the standard keyboard shortcut for closing a document in a MDI applications is CTRL+F4, and that closes the current tab in FF...I'm surprised that shortcut isn't mentioned in today's blog entry.

ALT+TAB changes app focus
CTRL+TAB changes document focus within the app

ALT+F4 closes current app
CTRL+F4 closes current document within the app

Its got great symmetry and feels natural...like SHIFT+INSERT for paste and SHIFT+DELETE for cut, it just makes sense :)

Rick Scott on February 14, 2006 10:51 AM

I agree with Jon Raynor - keyboard shortcuts are too much of a pain to remember for each application. I spend a lot of programming time in UltraEdit and do make heavy use of seven or eight keyboard shortcuts. Beyond that, it's mouse time.

Michael Rainey on February 15, 2006 2:18 AM

If you think about it, you're primarily using the mouse to navigate a page usualy (keyboard navigation tends to lead to the page jumping all over the place as you find links)

I usually have one hand on the mouse and the other resting on the keyboard, but it depends what I'm doing. If you are primarily typing, try to stick to typing because neither hand is free. If you are primarily mousing, your left hand is still free.

keyboard shortcuts are too much of a pain to remember for each application

You don't have to remember them ALL-- just the ones that improve your quality of life.

It also depends how much time you spend in that application. If you're like me, I bet you spend a *lot* of time in the web browser. So plan accordingly..

Jeff Atwood on February 15, 2006 8:32 AM

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