Shortcuts Windows 10 File Explorer for Windows

We present to your attention the shortcuts for the Windows 10 File Explorer for Windows which is used on the operating system Windows, in this hotkeys description 76 of the most popular and important shortcuts are offered. You can also add your changes on our portal if you consider the data insufficiently complete or add a new program from the very beginning.

Manage Windows Explorer

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
Win+E Open Explorer
Alt+F, then N Duplicate Explorer Window via File, New Window
Ctrl+Q Quit/ close Windows Explorer
Alt+D, then Tab (forward)or Alt+Tab (backwards) Set baseline to Address Bar. Then navigate between (1) Address Bar, (2) Ribbon (3) Left Navigation Pane, (4) Folder Content Pane (Main Content Window), and (5) Sort Bar of Content Pane if present.
F5 Refresh Explorer Window
F11 Toggle Full Screen

Address Bar - Basics

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
Alt+D Jump/ focus Address Bar with content selected
Alt+D, then Ctrl+C Copy current path
Alt+D, then c:\ Go to c:\ drive
Alt+D, then c:\(directory name} With help of dropdown and Enter, select sub-directories. Note that the backslash is required for items in sub-directory to be visible.
Alt+D, then Alt+Down Arrow Show previous locations
Alt+D, then Alt+Up Arrow Jump one level up
Alt+D , press and hold Alt then press Left Arrow, Right Arrow Change focus from Address Bar to Folder Content (goes to previous/ next location and then changes focus to Folder Content; only works if a previous item is available)

Address Bar - Environment Variable Shorthands

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
Press Alt+D, then type Variables below and press Enter %SystemDrive% or %HomeDrive%
Typically C:\ %WinDir% or %SystemRoot%
Typically C:\Windows %HomePath%
Typically C:\Users\UserName %AppData%
Typically C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Roaming %LocalAppData%
Typically C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local %Temp% or %Tmp%
Typcially C:\Users\UserName\AppData\Local\Temp %Public%
Typically C:\Users\Public %ProgramFiles%
Typically C:\ProgramFiles %CommonProgramFiles%
Typically C:\Program Files\Common Files %AllUserProfile%
Typically C:\ProgramData %OneDrive%
Typcially C:\Users\UserName\OneDrive

Windows Search Shortcuts

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
Recommend to increase the search bar size. Hover to the left of search field until you see double-pointed arrow. Drag to the left. This will be saved permanently for all new Explorer Windows *.docx
Search for all files with ending .docx term1 AND term2
Search for term1 and term2 combined term1 OR term2
Search for files/ folders containing term1 or term2 term1 -term2
Search for files/ folders containing term1, but not term2
Search for exact phrase term1 date:>1/1/2017
Search for files with timestamp greater Jan 1, 2017. < works equivalent term size:(small/medium/large/etc.)
Search for files by size. After typing size:, options are offered in drop-down Esc
Cancel Search

Left Navigation Pane Shortctus

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
Alt+D, then 2x Tab Jump/ focus Navigation Pane
Arrow Up/Arrow Down One item up/ down
Page Up/Page Down One page up/ down
Home/End Go to first itme/ last item
Ctrl+Arrow Up/Arrow Down Scroll directory tree up/ down without changing focus
Arrow Left/ Right Arrow on tree parent Open/ close directory tree
Shift+Arrow Left Change to parent element in tree when in sub-element

Folder Content (Main Pane) - Navigate Files/ Folders

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
Alt+D, then 3x Tab Jump/ focus Folder Content Pane
Alt+H, then SA Select all items via Home, Select All. Also shorthand for changing focus to Folder Content
Arrow Up/Arrow Down One item up/ down
Page Up/Page Down One page up/ down
Home/End Go to first itme/ last item
Ctrl+Arrow Up/Arrow Down Scroll directory tree up/ down without changing focus
Shift+Arrow Up/Arrow Down Select multiple (adjacent) items
Press and hold Ctrl, Arow Keys, and press Space on multiple items Select multiple (non-adjacent) items
Alt+Arrow Left/Arrow Right Go to previous/ next location
Alt+Up Arrrow Up one level. There is no down one level, but you may use Alt+left to go to previous location
Alt+Enter on item Show properties of file or folder
Shift+F10 on item Open context menu of file or folder

Folder Content (Main Pane) - Manage File/ Folders

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
Ctrl+Shift+N Create new folder
Ctrl+C, Ctrl+X, Ctrl+V Copy, cut, paste
Ctrl+Z Undo an action
Ctrl+Y Redo an action
Delete Delete an item and place it into the Recycle Bin
Shift+Delete Delete an item permanently without placing it into the Recycle Bin
F2 Edit Item. Select name excluding file extension
F2, then Ctrl+A Edit Item. Select name including file extension

Folder Content (Main Pane) - Change Views

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
Alt+D, then 3x Tab Jump/ focus Folder Content Pane (required for changing views with Ctrl+Shift+1…8
Ctrl+Shift+1 Change View to Extra Large Icons
Ctrl+Shift+2 Change View to Large Icons
Ctrl+Shift+3 Change View to Medium Icons
Ctrl+Shift+4 Change View to Small Icons
Ctrl+Shift+5 Change View to List View
Ctrl+Shift+6 Change View to Details View
Ctrl+Shift+7 Change View to Tiles View
Ctrl+Shift+8 Change View to Content View
Alt+V, then SF Change View to Size Fit all items within column width

Folder Content (Main Pane) - Change Item Order

Windows Description Edit Cancel Save & submit
With focus anywhere, Alt+D, then 4x Tab, then Enter Jump/ focus Sort Bar (Content Area Table Header)
With focus on Folder Content Pane, 1x Tab Jump/ focus Sort Bar (Content Area Table Header). Use after changing sort order to change again.
Arrow Left/Right Arrow on Sort Bar Select sort column
Press Enter on Sort Bar Item Change sort order ascending (or descending) by name, date, etc.
After changing sort order, press Tab, then Enter Change sort order descending (or ascending)
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Date of change: 25.01.2019
Page views: 1413
*Some of the keys listed may not work in older versions of the program