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.
Daniel Nylander
po@danielnylander.se 2012

# Keyboard navigation

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 Ctrl Tab | Move keyboard focus between different controls. Ctrl Tab moves between groups of controls, such as from a sidebar to the main content. Ctrl Tab 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. In a tree view, use the left and right arrow keys to collapse and expand items with children.
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.
Space | Activate a focused item such as a button, check box, or list item.
Ctrl Space | 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.
Shift F10 or Menu | Pop up the context menu for the current selection, as if you had right-clicked.
Ctrl F10 | 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.
Ctrl PageUp and Ctrl PageDown | In a tabbed interface, switch to the tab to the left or right.

# Navigate the desktop

Alt F6 | 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.
Alt Esc | Cycle through all open windows on a workspace.
Super M | Open the message tray. Press Esc to close.

# Navigate windows

Alt F4 | Close the current window.
Alt F5 or Super↓ | Restore a maximized window to its original size. Use Alt F10 to maximize. Alt F10 both maximizes and restores.
Alt F7 | Move the current window. Press Alt F7, 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.
Alt F8 | Resize the current window. Press Alt F8, 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.
Alt F10 or Super↑ | Maximize a window. Press Alt F10 or Super↓ to restore a maximized window to its original size.
Super H | 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.
Alt Space | Pop up the window menu, as if you had right-clicked on the titlebar.