Keyboard navigation

Michael Hill mdhillca@gmail.com Julita Inca yrazes@gmail.com Shaun McCance shaunm@gnome.org 2012 Ekaterina Gerasimova kittykat3756@gmail.com Use applications and the desktop without a mouse. Keyboard navigation Shaun McCance

Do NOT use ui:expanded on this page. I know it's tempting, but the target audience for this page is people who cannot use a mouse, and having to expand sections when you're just figuring out how to drive things with the keyboard is a burden.

This page details keyboard navigation for people who cannot use a mouse or other pointing device, or who want to use a keyboard as much as possible. For keyboard shortcuts that are useful to all users, see instead.

If you cannot use a pointing device like a mouse, you can control the mouse pointer using the numeric keypad on your keyboard. See for details.

Navigate user interfaces

Tab and CtrlTab	Move keyboard focus between different controls. Ctrl Tab moves between groups of controls, such as from a sidebar to the main content. CtrlTab can also break out of a control that uses Tab itself, such as a text area. Hold down Shift to move focus in reverse order.
Arrow keys	Move selection between items in a single control, or among a set of related controls. Use the arrow keys to focus buttons in a toolbar, select items in a list or icon view, or select a radio button from a group.
CtrlArrow keys	In a list or icon view, move the keyboard focus to another item without changing which item is selected.
ShiftArrow keys	In a list or icon view, select all items from the currently selected item to the newly focused item. In a tree view, items that have children can be expanded or collapsed, to show or hide their children: expand by pressing Shift→, and collapse by pressing Shift←.
Space	Activate a focused item such as a button, check box, or list item.
CtrlSpace	In a list or icon view, select or deselect the focused item without deselecting other items.
Alt	Hold down the Alt key to reveal accelerators: underlined letters on menu items, buttons, and other controls. Press Alt plus the underlined letter to activate a control, just as if you had clicked on it.
Esc	Exit a menu, popup, switcher, or dialog window.
F10	Open the first menu on the menubar of a window. Use the arrow keys to navigate the menus.
Super F10	Open the application menu on the top bar.
ShiftF10 or Menu	Pop up the context menu for the current selection, as if you had right-clicked.
CtrlF10	In the file manager, pop up the context menu for the current folder, as if you had right-clicked on the background and not on any item.
CtrlPageUp and CtrlPageDown	In a tabbed interface, switch to the tab to the left or right.

Navigate the desktop

AltF6	Cycle through windows in the same application. Hold down the Alt key and press F6 until the window you want is highlighted, then release Alt. This is similar to the Alt` feature.
AltEsc	Cycle through all open windows on a workspace.
SuperV	Open the notification list. Press Esc to close.

Navigate windows

AltF4	Close the current window.
AltF5 or Super↓	Restore a maximized window to its original size. Use AltF10 to maximize. AltF10 both maximizes and restores.
AltF7	Move the current window. Press AltF7, then use the arrow keys to move the window. Press Enter to finish moving the window, or Esc to return it to its original place.
AltF8	Resize the current window. Press AltF8, then use the arrow keys to resize the window. Press Enter to finish resizing the window, or Esc to return it to its original size.
AltF10 or Super↑	Maximize a window. Press AltF10 or Super↓ to restore a maximized window to its original size.
SuperH	Minimize a window.
Super←	Maximize a window vertically along the left side of the screen. Press again to restore the window to its previous size. Press Super→ to switch sides.
Super→	Maximize a window vertically along the right side of the screen. Press again to restore the window to its previous size. Press Super← to switch sides.
AltSpace	Pop up the window menu, as if you had right-clicked on the titlebar.