Here are the 10 Chromebook shortcuts you should learn, all applicable whether you’re a new user or a long-time fan.
These Chromebook keyboard shortcuts help speed up a raft of oft-repeated and repetitive tasks, and allow you to work more efficiently and confidently.
And just like Windows and macOS, Chrome OS has a whole bunch of useful keyboard shortcuts built-in, ready to use, with no set-up or configuration required.
Whether you want to access extra features on your Chromebook or just save some time, here are the keyboard shortcuts are worth knowing about.
Essential Chromebook Shortcuts
1. Take a Screenshot on a Chromebook
We’ve shown you how to take a screenshot on a Chromebook before and it couldn’t be any easier!
The Chromebook screenshot shortcut is simple to learn: just hold down the Ctrl key and the window switcher key at the same time to instantly take a screenshot of your screen:
To screenshot a specific section of your screen you can add the shift key. This shortcut will let you take a partial screenshot — just use the crosshairs that appear after you press this shortcut to ‘select’ the region you want to snap:
2. Open File Manager
The Chrome OS file manager is an important too, and pinning it to the app shelf at the bottom of the screen make it easy to get to, But it’s much FASTER to open the file manager with a keyboard shortcut:
3. Open Task Manager
Experiencing browser slowdowns or screen freezes is never good, and it often means a rogue extension or webpage is sucking up resources in the background.
You can easily identify the culprit using the Chrome OS task manager, which you can open at any time by pressing:
4. Launch Apps Quicker
You probably keep number of applications pinned on the Chrome OS Shelf (the bar at the bottom of the screen) so that you can easily open them at any time.
Did you know you can also ope these using the keyboard too?
Just hold down the Alt key and press a number 1 to 8 to launch the relevant app (the first app in from the left – count the Chrome icon as 0 – is 1, the next 2, and so on until you reach 8).
5. Lock the Screen
If you’re going to leave your computer unattended for a short period (say, whilst you go grab a coffee refill) you should lock your screen to prevent others meddling with your session.
To do lock the screen in Chrome OS just press the following key combo:
6. Open the Chrome Menu
Out of all these Chromebook keyboard shortcuts this is the one I use the most often.
Now, opening the “Hotdog” menu in Chrome isn’t exactly hard, but if you’ve hooked your device up to a huge monitor it can take a fair bit of scrolling.
So save some time and open the Chrome menu using this shortcut:
7. Turn Caps Lock On & Off
Chromebooks don’t come with a dedicated Caps Lock key like many Windows laptops do — so how do you enable caps lock on a Chromebook?
Pretty easily, it turns out. You can Caps Lock on (or turn it off again should you find yourself accidentally RANTING IN CAPITAL LETTERS) using the Alt + search keys:
8. Immediately Logout
In a rush to quit your session? Some finger gymnastics can get you out in a snap:
9. Mirror Monitor
Connect your Chromebook to an external monitor (or TV) and you can extend your workspace — but what if you want to mirror it instead, so that what you see on the external monitor is the same as what’s on the Chromebook display?
Use the ‘Mirror Monitor’ shortcut, of course!
10. Show Keyboard Shortcut Overlay
A little bit meta, but the most important keyboard shortcut for Chromebooks is the one that shows more keyboard shortcuts for Chromebooks!
