Google Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts Reference Guide (Download Cheatsheet in PDF Format)

by Ramesh Natarajan on April 12, 2016

When you get your hands on a chromebook, the first thing that you’ll notice is the keyboard looks different.

Chromebook is missing DELETE and CapsLock Key (along with few other keys) that you are used to seeing in a keyboard.

This tutorial explains everything that you need to know about your Chromebook keyboard shortcuts.

Note: The link to download chromebook keyboard shortcut cheatsheet in PDF format is at the end of this article.

1. Missing Keys in Chromebook Keyboard

Note: The above keyboard is from my Acer Chromebook CB5 laptop (15″ Full HD IPS screen, 4GB RAM, 16GB SSD hard disk).

As you see from the above picture, the following are some of the keys that are missing in the above layout.

The biggest annoynace is that chromebook is missing Delete Key and the CapsLock key. Also, while editing a document (or while browsing), you’ll also miss the PageUp and PageDown key.

The following table gives the alternative keyboard shortcuts for missing keys in the chromebook.

Missing Key	Alternative Shortcut
Delete	Alt + Backspace
CapsLock	Alt + Search (Toggle CapsLock)
PageUp	Alt+ Up Arrow (or) Search + Up Arrow
PageDown	Alt + Down Arrow (or) Search + Down Arrow
Home	Ctrl + Search + Right Arrow
End	Ctrl + Search + Left Arrow
F1 … F12	Search + 1 through Search + = (For Function Keys)

For the CapsLock, when you press Alt + Search, it is really a toggle for CapsLock, and you’ll see in the bottom panel, it will show the following to indicate that CapsLock is On.

It will also display a “Up Arrow” kind of symbol in the taskbar as shown below. When you turn CapsLock off, you will not see this Up-Arrow symbol in the taskbar.

To turn-off the CapsLock, you can either Press “Alt + Search” (or) simply press the “Shift” key.

2. Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts

To get help on keyboard shortcuts, You have to follow these two steps:

Step 1: press “Ctrl + Alt + ?”, which will display the following message saying how to get further help on keyboard shortcuts. Hold Control, Alt, Shift, or Search to see keyboard shortcuts for those modifiers. Use Ctrl+Alt+? or Escape to hide this help
Step 2: Now, when you are seeing the above message, press Ctrl key which will display keyboard shortcuts for Ctrl keys. You can also press Alt to see Alt’s keyboard shortcuts, or press Search key to see Search’s keyboard shortcuts.

3. Ctrl Keybord Shortcuts

The following layout shows the Ctrl key keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl + 1 .. Ctrl + 8	Go to a specific tab in the browser (Ctrl+5 is 5th tab)
Ctrl + 9	Go to the last tab
Ctrl + 0	Reset zoom
Ctrl + –	Zoom out
Ctrl + +	Zoom in
Ctrl + backspace	Delete a word
Ctrl + Tab	Go to the next tab
Ctrl + W	Close current tab
Ctrl + E	Put focus at address bar for search
Ctrl + R	Reload current page
Ctrl + T	Open new tab
Ctrl + U	View page source
Ctrl + O	Open a file in the browser
Ctrl + P	Print current page
Ctrl + A	Select all
Ctrl + S	Save current page
Ctrl + D	Add bookmark
Ctrl + F	Find text on current page
Ctrl + G	Find again (next match of input text)
Ctrl + H	View history
Ctrl + J	View downloads
Ctrl + K	Put focus at address bar for search
Ctrl + L	Select all in address bar
Ctrl + Enter	Adds www and .com to keyword and open website
Ctrl + Z	Undo
Ctrl + X	Cut
Ctrl + C	Copy
Ctrl + N	Open new window
Ctrl + ?	Launch chromebook help manual
Ctrl + Spacebar	Previous language input method
Ctrl + Left arrow	Previous word
Ctrl + Right arrow	Next word

4. Alt Keyboard shortcuts

The following table lists the Alt key keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Description
Alt + 1 .. Alt + 8	Launch shelf items 1 through 8 (pinned items from task bar)
Alt + –	Minimize window
Alt + +	Maximize window (or reset)
Alt + backspace	Delete
Alt + Tab	Previous window (or application)
Alt + E (or Alt + F)	Open chrome browser menu
Alt + [	Dock current window on left side
Alt + ]	Dock current window on right side
Alt + Search	CapsLock toggle
Alt + D	Focus address bar
Alt + Enter	Open typed URL/keyword in new browser tab
Alt + Left arrow	Go backwards
Alt + Right arrow	Go forward
Alt + Up arrow	Page up
Alt + Down arrow	Page down

5. Search Keyboard shortcuts

The following table lists the Search key keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Description
Search + Esc	Launch task manager
Search + 1 .. Search + =	Function keys F1 through F12
Search + backspace	Delete
Search + L	Lock screen
Search + .	Insert
Search + Left arrow	Home
Search + Right arrow	End
Search + Up arrow	Page up
Search + Down arrow	Page down

6. Shift Keyboard shortcuts

The following table lists the Shift key keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Description
Shift + Backspace	Go forward
Shift + Enter	Find previous text
Shift + Spacebar	Scroll up one page

7. Ctrl+Shift Keyboard shortcuts

The following layout shows the Ctrl+Shift keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl + Shift + 0	Reset screen zoom (reset resolution)
Ctrl + Shift + –	Zoom screen out (change resolution)
Ctrl + Shift + +	Zoom screen in (change resolution)
Ctrl + Shift + Backspace	Launch clear browsing data dialog
Ctrl + Shift + Tab	Previous tab
Ctrl + Shift + Q (twice)	Sign out current logged in user
Ctrl + Shift + W	Close current window
Ctrl + Shift + R	Reload page ignoring cache
Ctrl + Shift + T	Reopen last closed tab
Ctrl + Shift + U	Enter unicode characters
Ctrl + Shift + I	Launch developer tools window
Ctrl + Shift + O	Launch bookmark manager
Ctrl + Shift + P	Launch google cloud print
Ctrl + Shift + D	Bookmark all open tabs
Ctrl + Shift + G	Find previous text
Ctrl + Shift + J	Launch javascript console
Ctrl + Shift + C	Launch DOM inspector tool
Ctrl + Shift + V	Paste as plain text
Ctrl + Shift + B	Toggle bookmark bar display
Ctrl + Shift + N	New incognito window
Ctrl + Shift + ?	Launch chromebook help manual
Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar	Next language input method
Ctrl + Shift + Left arrow	Select one word at a time left side
Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow	Select one word at a time right side

8. Ctrl+Alt Keyboard Shortcuts

The following table lists the Ctrl+Alt key keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl + Alt + T	Open New Crosh Shell Terminal
Ctrl + Alt + P	Projection mode for touch HUD
Ctrl + Alt + Z	ChromeVox for spoken feedback (Text to speech)
Ctrl + Alt + <	Previous Logged-in User
Ctrl + Alt + >	Next Logged-in User
Ctrl + Alt + ?	Keyboard overlay (for shortcut help)
Ctrl + Alt + Up arrow	Home
Ctrl + Alt + Down arrow	End

9. Alt+Shift Keyboard Shortcuts

The following table lists the Alt+Shift key keyboard shortcuts:

Shortcut	Description
Alt + Shift + =	Center the selected window
Alt + Shift + Tab	Previous window
Alt + Shift + T	Put the focus on the toolbar
Alt + Shift + I	Launch report issue dialog
Alt + Shift + S	Launch chromebook start menu (on right bottom corner)
Alt + Shift + L	Put the focus on the shelf (task bar)
Alt + Shift + B	Put the focus on the bookmark
Alt + Shift + N	Launch notification center (messages)
Alt + Shift + M	Launch file manager

10. Top Row Special Keys

The 1st row on the top of the google chromebook keyboard contains the following 12 special keys in this sequence.

Shortcut	Description
1st Key	Escape
2nd Key	Go Backwards
3rd Key	Go forward
4th Key	Reload
5th Key	Full Screen
6th Key	Switch between open windows
7th Key	Reduce brightness
8th Key	Increase brightness
9th Key	Mute speaker
10th Key	Decrease volume
11th Key	Increase volume
12th Key	Power On and Off, Lock Screen

The 1st row keys also can be combined with Ctrl, or Alt, or Search, or Shift for some useful functionality as explained below.

Shortcut	Description
Ctrl + 2nd Key (back)	Previous pane
Ctrl + 3rd Key (forward)	Forward next pane
Ctrl + 5th Key (full screen)	Mirror monitors
Ctrl + 6th Key (switch windows)	Take screenshot
Alt + 5th Key (full screen)	Swap primary monitor
Alt + 7th Key	Decrease key brightness
Alt + 8th Key	Increase key brightness
Ctrl + Shift + 4th key (reload)	Rotate screen
Ctrl + Shift + 6th Key (switch windows)	Take screenshot of selected region