Chromebooks are great laptops. They can give you most of the things you need most of the time, all without the need to worry about viruses or complicated interfaces. And they can be inexpensive, too.
They may be simple and easy to use, but that doesn’t mean they don’t have a few tricks up their sleeves. Here’s a selection of common keyboard shortcuts you can use on your Chromebooks to get stuff done that bit faster.
Shortcuts for controlling browser tabs
Navigating your way around lots of browser tabs can be a bit confusing at times, so try using these helpful shortcuts to keep things under control. These also work in many browsers regardless of the operating system, so you can use these on Windows as well. And that holds true for many of the other shortcuts you’ll find here.
- Open a new tab: Ctrl + t
- Reopen the last tab or window you closed: Shift + Ctrl + t
- Close the current tab: Ctrl + w
- Move to next open tab: Ctrl + Tab
- Move to previous open tab: Ctrl + Shift + Tab
- Go to tabs 1 – 8 in the open window: Ctrl + 1, Ctrl +2, etc.
- Go to the last tab in the open window: Ctrl + 9
- Open a link in a new tab in the background: Ctrl + click on link
- Open a link in a new tab go to it immediately: Ctrl + Shift + click on link
Shortcuts for controlling windows
- Open a new window: Ctrl + n
- Open a new window in Incognito mode: Ctrl + Shift + n
- Reopen the last tab or window you closed: Shift + Ctrl + t
- Switch between windows: Alt + Tab (hold down Alt and use Tab to move between windows)
- Open a link in a new window: Shift + click on link
- Maximise a window: Alt + =
- Minimise a window: Alt + –
Shortcuts for navigating and controlling pages
Moving around on a page or changing the way it looks will often involve various mouse clicks. So, use these shortcuts instead
- Zoom in: Ctrl and +
- Zoom out: Ctrl and –
- Reset Zoom level to normal: Ctrl + 0 (zero)
- Bookmark a page: Ctrl + d
- Bookmark all open pages in a new folder: Ctrl + Shift + d
- Scroll down a web page: Space-bar
- Go to the top of the page: Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow
- Go to the bottom of the page: Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow
- Page up: Alt + Up arrow
- Page down: Alt + Down arrow
- Reload a page: Ctrl + r
- Search the open page: Ctrl + f
- Go to next match in search: Ctrl + g
- Go to previous match in search: Ctrl + Shift + g
Working with text
- Turn on/off Caps Lock: Search (magnifying glass icon) + Alt or Launcher (circle icon) + Alt
- Select all: Ctrl + a
- Copy text: Ctrl + c
- Paste text: Ctrl + v
- Cut text: Ctrl + x
- Paste text without formatting: Ctrl + Shift + v
- Undo last action: Ctrl + z
- Redo last action: Ctrl + Shift + z
- Select text to the end of the line: Search (or Launcher) + Shift + Right arrow
- Move to the end of the next word: Ctrl + Right arrow
- Move to the start of the previous word: Ctrl + Left arrow
- Delete previous word: Ctrl + Backspace
- Insert an emoji: Search (or Launcher) + Shift + Space-bar
ChromeOS also has a range of accessibility settings and shortcuts, all of which you can find on the Google Chromebook Help pages.
If you’re still yet to sample the delights of a ChromeOS powered laptop, take a look at our guide to the best Chromebooks and best Chromebook deals so you start off in the right place.
Author: Martyn Casserly, Contributor
Martyn has been involved with tech ever since the arrival of his ZX Spectrum back in the early 80s. He covers iOS, Android, Windows and macOS, writing tutorials, buying guides and reviews for Macworld and its sister site Tech Advisor.