I know I very rarely post anything, but these are special circumstances. ;) I got a new laptop a couple of weeks ago (very exciting!)… and it came with Windows 8. It was… interesting. It’s growing on me, mainly due to figuring out a number of tricks to making it usable. Tricks which are completely undocumented in Windows. Apparently, the makers of Win 8 have forgotten that there are people who a) are power-users, and/or b) just don’t like using the mouse for every single little thing, especially if it isn’t even a mouse, but a touchpad!
So here they are. I’m writing this, mainly for my own reference so I don’t have to trial-and-error them again and again if I forget! But I thought other people may have use for them as well. :)
The most useful/necessary keyboard shortcuts (for me, at least):
Shortcuts that can’t be split into “Actual Windows” or “Metro”:
- Alt+Tab still switches between apps, just like in all other versions of Windows.
- Ctrl+Esc, as well as the Win key (by itself), switch back and forth between Actual Windows and Metro.
- Alt+F4 still exits anything. Metro apps, traditional Windows apps, anything. And, what I didn’t realize until yesterday, is that if you happen to be on the Desktop and you hit Alt+F4, it brings up a shutdown screen! Yes! You can shut down/restart/put to sleep from your keyboard!
- Win+l (that’s L for Lock) locks your computer.
- The Menu Key (the key that looks vaguely like a right-click menu, usually located between Alt and Ctrl on the right side of the space bar) still does the same thing as right-clicking on the selected item. Which can be very useful, in Metro as well as in Desktop.
- Alt+Back arrow sometimes goes back to where you were in Metro apps. And sometimes not. Often, if it doesn’t work, try the Esc key or the Win key instead.
Shortcuts for “Actual Windows”: these will, for the most part, bring up the desktop (even if you were in a Metro app) and then do their thing:
- Ctrl+Shift+Esc still brings up the Task Manager. And it’s cooler! :)
- Win+# : You know the taskbar at the bottom of your Desktop? Where the Start Menu should really be for all the power users who would rather work with menus than with a sea of icons? Well, it turns out that if an icon is in your taskbar (or, at least, if it’s one of the first 9 or 10), then you can access it by counting its position, then hitting Win+that number. This is particularly useful on my Gateway laptop because it came with a “shutdown” app pre-installed, and they put the icon in my taskbar. It’s the third icon, so Win+3 brings it up. In some ways, this is better than Alt+F4, mainly because I don’t have to be at my desktop… it works from anywhere.
- Win+e brings up My Computer.
- Win+r brings up the Run dialogue.
- Win+x brings up a very useful menu of Power User utilities.
- Win+m, as before, minimizes all apps and shows you the Desktop.
Shortcuts for “Metro”: again, these will, for the most part, bring up Metro (even if you were in a Desktop app) and then do their thing. Some will just show a Metro menu on the right side, though. The “charms”-related keys will bring up the Start Screen if you were in a Desktop app, and otherwise, will perform the charm within the Metro app that you’re in.
- Win+q brings up the Search charm.
- Win+i brings up the Settings charm. If you hit it while in a Desktop app, it’ll also allow you to access the Control Panel.
- Win+c brings up the Charms bar and the clock.
Other Keyboard Shortcuts (for completeness):
- Win+d (Actual Windows) brings up the Desktop, wherever you are.
- Win+f (Metro) File search. I prefer Windows Explorer, but this could come in handy sometimes.
- Win+h (Metro) brings up the Share charm.
- Win+k (Metro) brings up Devices.
- Win+t (Actual Windows) sets the focus on your Taskbar. Pressing it repeatedly scrolls through each icon on your taskbar. Hitting Enter then will open the selected icon.
- Win+b (Actual Windows) sets the focus on the… I forget the name. The part of the taskbar that shows the clock.
- Win+w (Metro) Brings up a Metro screen for… searching your settings? Like searching devices and such, it looks like.
- Win+u (Actual Windows) brings up the Ease of Access Center.
- Win+p (Metro) brings up a “Project to Second Screen” menu.
- Win++ (plus sign) (Actual Windows) magnifies the display. Win+- will then get the size back to normal. Then, I think you have to click the magnifying glass to exit.
- Win+z (only Metro): Brings up a bar where you can then look at All Apps, it seems. Only appears if you’re in the Metro screen to begin with.
- Win+Arrow Key – do not use! :) Changes the orientation of your screen. To fix it, hit Win+Up Arrow.
Other Useful Tips for Metro:
In Metro, from the start screen, you can just start typing until the app you want is at the top of the list, and then hit enter to open it. Pretty slick, actually.
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If you have a big chunk of icons that you’d like sorted into groups, you can create new groups by dragging one icon to a blank space between two existing groups, or to a blank space to the right or left of all of the icons. You should, at some point, see a shaded vertical bar which indicates that if you drop the icon there, it will create a new group. Then you can add other icons to that group… one at a time. :(
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You can actually organize and name your groupings of icons, to give them some semblance of order. They did include that functionality; they just made it impossible to figure out, unless you happen to read about it online. Here’s what you do:
- Go to the Metro Start Screen.
- Move the mouse so that you can see the horizontal scroll bar at the bottom. See that little button to the right of the scroll bar? The one that just looks like a minus sign and has no little pop-up or anything when you move your mouse over it, so you have no way of knowing what it’s supposed to do? Click it.
- This brings up a “groupings” view. Here, you can edit entire groups of icons. You can right-click and give groups names, and you can rearrange groups.
- Hit the Win key when you’re done to exit.
