Essential Keyboard commands for Gnome Desktop. Rakesh 'arky' Ambati arky@gnu.org.in Gnome Desktop Keybindings Global Keyboard Shortcuts Alt+F1

Open the Main Applications Menu

Alt+F2

Open the Run Application dialog.

Print Screen

Take a screenshot of the entire screen.

Alt+ Print Screen

Take a screenshot of the window that currently has focus.

F1

If the focused element is an application window or dialog, this keyboard shortcut opens the Help for the application.

Ctrl+F1

If the focused element is a panel or application window, this keyboard shortcut switches the display of tooltips for the window or panel objects on and off.

Shift+F10

Open a popup menu for the element that has focus (if a popup menu exists for that element).

Tab

Give focus to the next element or control.

Shift+Tab

Reverse the navigation direction and give focus to the previous element or control.

Ctrl+Tab

Give focus to the next element or control if the Tab key has a specific purpose in a control.

arrow keys

Navigate within an element or control.

spacebar

Activate the element or control that has focus.For example, if the current control is a button, this action is the equivalent of clicking on the button with a mouse.

Esc

Close a window, menu, or drawer.

F7

Switch to caret navigation mode. Caret navigation mode enables you to use the keyboard to select text.

Ctrl+Alt +D

Temporarily hide all windows and give focus to the desktop background.

Ctrl+Alt +Tab

Display a popup window with icons that represent the desktop background and the panels. Press and hold Ctrl+Alt and continue to press Tab to switch the focus between the desktop background and the panels.

Navigating Windows Alt+Tab

Display a popup window with icons that represent each window.

Alt+Esc

Raise each window in turn until you reach the window you want.

Alt+F6

Cycle between windows belonging to the current application (eg, a multiple document interface application like Text Editor).

Alt+ spacebar

Open the Window menu.

Alt+F4

Close the window.

Alt+F9

Minimize the window.

Alt+F10

Maximize the window.

Alt+F5

Restore a maximized window to its original size.

Alt+F7

Start the move operation.

arrow keys

Move the window 10 pixels at a time in the direction of the arrow key.

Ctrl + arrow keys

Move the window one pixel at a time in the direction of the arrow key.

Shift + arrow keys

Move the window in the direction of the arrow key and align it with the edge of the nearest window, panel or screen edge.

spacebar

Complete the move operation, leaving the window in the current position.

Esc

Cancel the move operation, restoring the window to its original position.

Alt+F8

Start the resize operation.

arrow keys

Resize the window in the direction of the arrow key.

spacebar

Complete the resize operation, leaving the window at the current size.

Esc

Cancel the resize operation, restoring the window to its original size.

F6

Give focus to the next pane.The system gives focus to the control that last had focus in the pane.

F8

Give focus to the first resize handle in the window.The resize handle is displayed between the panes and enables you to resize the panes.Press F8 again to give focus to the next resize handle.

Navigating Applications F10

Open the first menu on the application menubar.

Alt + access key

Open the menu that is associated with the access key.

access keys

Select the menu item that is associated with the access key.

left arrow and right arrow

Switch focus between the menus on the menubar.

up arrow and down arrow

Move focus into a menu.

Esc

Close the open menu and give focus to the control that had focus before the menubar.

Ctrl+O

Open the file selector dialog.

Ctrl+S

Open the Save dialog.

Ctrl+L

Open a Location dialog, enabling you to type the name of a file that you want to open or save.

Ctrl+P

Open a Print dialog, if available.

Ctrl+C

Copy highlighted text to the global, application-spanning clipboard.

Ctrl+X

Cut highlighted text to the global, application-spanning clipboard.

Ctrl+V

Paste text from the global, application-spanning clipboard to the current cursor position.

Alt+access key

Activate or select a control.

Tab

Give focus to the next control.

Ctrl+Page Up

Move to the next page/tabbed section of the dialog.

Ctrl+Page Down

Move to the previous page/tabbed section of the dialog.

Esc

Cancel/dismiss the dialog.

Return

Perform the default action for the dialog.

Navigating Folders arrow keys

Select the next or previous file or folder in the direction of the arrow key.

Ctrl + arrow keys

Give focus to the next or previous file or folder but do not select the item.

spacebar

Open the focused file or folder.

Ctrl + spacebar

Select the item that currently has focus.

Home

Select the first file or folder within the current folder.

End

Select the last file or folder within the current folder.

backspace

Open the current folder's parent folder.

Shift-F10

Open a file or folder popup menu.

Ctrl-F10

Open the enclosing folder's popup menu (equivalent to right-clicking on the view pane background).

F6

Switch focus between the side pane and the view pane.

Shift+F10

Open the side pane popup menu.

Caret Navigation Mode F7

Switch to caret navigation mode [Yelp-only].

left arrow

Move one character to the left.

right arrow

Move one character to the right.

up arrow

Move up one line.

down arrow

Move down one line.

Ctrl + left arrow

Move to the beginning of the previous word.

Ctrl + right arrow

Move to the end of the next word.

Page Up

Scroll up one page of content.

Page Down

Scroll down one page of content.

Home

Move to the beginning of the current line.

End

Move to the end of the current line.

Shift + arrow keys

Move from the current position to the destination position, selecting all text between the two positions.

Tab

Move focus to the next focusable control.

Shift+Tab

Move focus to the previous focusable control.

Enter

Activate a button, link or other control.