> Source URL: /resources/key-controls.windows.guide
# Key Controls Guide for Windows

## General OS-level keyboard shortcuts

These shortcuts work in any app on your Windows PC.

- <Kbd>Ctrl + C</Kbd>: Copy
- <Kbd>Ctrl + V</Kbd>: Paste
- <Kbd>Ctrl + X</Kbd>: Cut
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Z</Kbd>: Undo
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Y</Kbd>: Redo
- <Kbd>Ctrl + A</Kbd>: Select All
- <Kbd>Ctrl + S</Kbd>: Save
- <Kbd>Ctrl + O</Kbd>: Open
- <Kbd>Ctrl + N</Kbd>: New document or window
- <Kbd>Ctrl + W</Kbd>: Close the current tab or document
- <Kbd>Alt + F4</Kbd>: Close the current window or quit the app
- <Kbd>Ctrl + F</Kbd>: Find
- <Kbd>Ctrl + P</Kbd>: Print
- <Kbd>Win + I</Kbd>: Open Settings
- <Kbd>Win + S</Kbd>: Open Windows Search
- <Kbd>Win + Shift + S</Kbd>: Screenshot with Snipping Tool

See the full list of Windows shortcuts on [Microsoft's support page](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/keyboard-shortcuts-in-windows-dcc61a57-8ff0-cffe-9796-cb9706c75eec).

## Window management shortcuts

These shortcuts help you navigate between apps and manage windows.

### Switching apps and windows

- <Kbd>Alt + Tab</Kbd>: Switch between open apps
- <Kbd>Alt + Esc</Kbd>: Cycle through windows in the order they were opened
- <Kbd>Win + D</Kbd>: Show or hide the desktop
- <Kbd>Win + M</Kbd>: Minimize all windows
- <Kbd>Win + Shift + M</Kbd>: Restore minimized windows

### Task View and virtual desktops

- <Kbd>Win + Tab</Kbd>: Open Task View (view all windows and virtual desktops)
- <Kbd>Win + Ctrl + D</Kbd>: Create a new virtual desktop
- <Kbd>Win + Ctrl + Left</Kbd>: Switch to the previous virtual desktop
- <Kbd>Win + Ctrl + Right</Kbd>: Switch to the next virtual desktop
- <Kbd>Win + Ctrl + F4</Kbd>: Close the current virtual desktop

### Full screen

- <Kbd>F11</Kbd>: Toggle full screen mode (in most apps)
- <Kbd>Alt + Enter</Kbd>: Toggle full screen (in some apps)

### Window snapping and tiling

Windows 10 and 11 have built-in window snapping:

- <Kbd>Win + Left</Kbd>: Snap window to the left half of the screen
- <Kbd>Win + Right</Kbd>: Snap window to the right half of the screen
- <Kbd>Win + Up</Kbd>: Maximize the window
- <Kbd>Win + Down</Kbd>: Minimize or restore the window
- <Kbd>Win + Shift + Up</Kbd>: Stretch window to fill the screen vertically
- <Kbd>Win + Shift + Left</Kbd>: Move window to the left monitor
- <Kbd>Win + Shift + Right</Kbd>: Move window to the right monitor

On Windows 11, you can also use Snap Layouts:

- <Kbd>Win + Z</Kbd>: Open Snap Layouts to choose a window arrangement

## Text editing shortcuts

These shortcuts work in most text fields and editors on Windows.

### Navigation

- <Kbd>Home</Kbd>: Jump to the beginning of the line
- <Kbd>End</Kbd>: Jump to the end of the line
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Left</Kbd>: Jump to the previous word
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Right</Kbd>: Jump to the next word
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Home</Kbd>: Jump to the beginning of the document
- <Kbd>Ctrl + End</Kbd>: Jump to the end of the document

### Selection

Add <Kbd>Shift</Kbd> to any navigation shortcut above to select text while moving. For example:

- <Kbd>Shift + Home</Kbd>: Select from cursor to the beginning of the line
- <Kbd>Shift + End</Kbd>: Select from cursor to the end of the line
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Shift + Left</Kbd>: Select the previous word
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Shift + Right</Kbd>: Select the next word

### Deleting text

- <Kbd>Backspace</Kbd>: Delete the character before the cursor
- <Kbd>Delete</Kbd>: Delete the character after the cursor
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Backspace</Kbd>: Delete the word before the cursor
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Delete</Kbd>: Delete the word after the cursor

## Code editing shortcuts

These shortcuts work in Cursor and other VS Code-based editors.

### Essential editing

- <Kbd>Ctrl + /</Kbd>: Comment or uncomment the selected lines
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Shift + K</Kbd>: Delete the current line
- <Kbd>Alt + Up</Kbd>: Move the current line up
- <Kbd>Alt + Down</Kbd>: Move the current line down
- <Kbd>Shift + Alt + Up</Kbd>: Copy the current line up
- <Kbd>Shift + Alt + Down</Kbd>: Copy the current line down

### Find and replace

- <Kbd>Ctrl + F</Kbd>: Find in the current file
- <Kbd>Ctrl + H</Kbd>: Find and replace in the current file
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Shift + F</Kbd>: Search across all files in the workspace
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Shift + H</Kbd>: Find and replace across all files

### Multi-cursor and selection

- <Kbd>Ctrl + D</Kbd>: Select the next occurrence of the current selection
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Shift + L</Kbd>: Select all occurrences of the current selection
- <Kbd>Alt + Click</Kbd>: Add a cursor at the clicked location

### Navigation and panels

- <Kbd>Ctrl + P</Kbd>: Quick open a file by name
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Shift + P</Kbd>: Open the command palette
- <Kbd>Ctrl + B</Kbd>: Toggle the sidebar
- <Kbd>Ctrl + `</Kbd>: Toggle the integrated terminal
- <Kbd>F12</Kbd>: Go to definition
- <Kbd>F2</Kbd>: Rename symbol

See a comprehensive, printable list in the [VS Code Windows keyboard shortcuts PDF](https://code.visualstudio.com/shortcuts/keyboard-shortcuts-windows.pdf).

## Cursor-specific shortcuts

These shortcuts are specific to Cursor's AI features.

### AI Chat and Composer

- <Kbd>Ctrl + L</Kbd>: Open AI Chat
- <Kbd>Ctrl + I</Kbd>: Open Composer (multi-file AI edits)
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Shift + L</Kbd>: Add selected code to Chat as context

### Inline editing

- <Kbd>Ctrl + K</Kbd>: Open inline edit prompt (works in editor and terminal)
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Enter</Kbd>: Accept AI-generated changes
- <Kbd>Esc</Kbd>: Reject or cancel generation

### AI autocomplete

- <Kbd>Tab</Kbd>: Accept the autocomplete suggestion
- <Kbd>Ctrl + Right</Kbd>: Accept only the next word of the suggestion

See more shortcuts in the [Cursor keyboard shortcuts documentation](https://docs.cursor.com/advanced/keyboard-shortcuts).


---

## Backlinks

The following sources link to this document:

- [Windows](/resources/key-controls.guide.llm.md)