We love Chromebooks for how they hit the ground running (and continue running even if they hit the ground). They are one of the fastest ways for students to power up, log on, and get going. And, with this list of Chrome-specific keyboard shortcuts, they are about to get even faster.

Keyboard shortcuts are a time-honored way of eliminating the use of the mouse or trackpad. By holding certain keys together, you can do anything from take a screenshot, lock your Chromebook screen, adjust your screen zoom, switch browser tabs, and more—all without moving your hand from the keyboard. You’ve used shortcuts before if you’ve ever done a Ctrl+X to cut, Ctrl+C to copy, and Ctrl+V to paste; these standard text-editing shortcuts are also accepted by Chromebooks, as well as Ctrl+Z to undo and more.

There are some shortcuts, however, that are unique to the Chromebook, and we’ve listed our favorites below.

• Ctrl + Shift + L locks your Chromebook’s screen.
• Ctrl + Shift + Q pressed once will log you out of your Chromebook. Press it twice to quit.
• Alt + E will open the Chromebook browser menu when the application is open and focused.
• Alt + 1-8 will activate the Chrome OS taskbar (the “shelf”). It works from left to right, so Alt + 1 will launch the first application from the left, Alt + 2 will launch the second one, and so forth.
• Press Ctrl + Switcher/F5 when you want to take a screenshot and save it to your Downloads folder.
• Ctrl + Shift + Switcher/F5 will also take a screenshot, but you’ll need to use your cursor to click and drag which part you’d like to capture.
• Shift + Esc to summon the Task Manager.
• Press Ctrl + Switcher/F5 when you want to take a screenshot and save it to your Downloads folder.
• Ctrl + Shift + Switcher/F5 will also take a screenshot, but you’ll need to use your cursor to click and drag which part you’d like to capture.
• Ctrl + Shift and + or – to increase (+) or decrease (-) the screen scale by controlling its zoom.
• Use Ctrl + Shift and ) to instantly reset the scale of the screen to the default setting.]
• When things go sideways, your screen should, too. Use Ctrl + Shift + Refresh/F3 to turn your screen 90 degrees.
• Ctrl + Immersive Mode/F4 is used to configure display settings when an external monitor is connected.

Browser And Tab Management

If you’re like most of us at Arey Jones, you enjoy browser tabs like potato chips; you can never have just one. Here are a handful of ways to manage your browser with just a few keystrokes. (Hint: These are standard browser shortcuts that work on almost any computer and Chromebook).

• Ctrl + 1-9 will activate your tabs in order (for example, Ctrl + 1 will open the first tab, Ctrl +2 opens the second, etc).
• Ctrl + T opens a fresh tab.
• Ctrl + W closes the current one.
• Ctrl + L (our favorite) will automatically highlight the location bar so you can instantly add a search term or web address.

 If the above are hard to remember, then only learn this one: “Ctrl + Alt + ?”, which opens a Chromebook keyboard shortcut cheat sheet to use at any time.

Want to create your own keyboard shortcuts for Chrome? Try out the Shortcut Manager extension that was created by a Google employee. It’s a little complicated for the novice user, but it will allow you to assign custom keyboard shortcuts, so nothing comes between you and your Chromebook experience.

Do you have a keyboard shortcut you couldn’t live without? Let us know!