1. Win+Up/Down Arrow

If you’re looking for a way to maximize and minimize your windows quickly, pressing “Win” and the “Up” arrow on your keyboard will maximize any window. In exchange, using the “Down” arrow will first restore it, if it was maximized, and then minimize it once you press the “Down” arrow again.

2. Win+Left/Right Arrow

Let’s say you want to split a monitor down the middle by arranging windows vertically, one next to another. You can do this easily by pressing “Win” and the “Left” arrow to move the window to the left half of the screen. The “Right” arrow will do the same on the right side of the screen. This is particularly useful on a high-aspect-ratio monitor.

3. Win+T

Unlike “Win+Tab,” this key combination lets you have a tiny preview of each running application and cycles between previews every time you press it. The preview looks something like this:

4. Win+F

Use this key combination to open Windows Search. If you got something quick to search for, though, you can go ahead and use the top right corner of any Explorer window. With Windows Search you can search your entire computer for something that you’ve been looking for. It will scan every volume you have installed on your computer. Don’t underestimate its power!

5. Win+X

If you have the Mobile PC option in your control panel, you can open the Windows Mobility Center using this shortcut. The Mobility Center allows you to check your battery, change power settings, change brightness, adjust the volume, enable projector presentations, and sync with other devices all from one window. It’s a powerful feature for when you’re running on a laptop or a tablet because every single drop of juice from your battery counts.

6. Win+E

If you want to get a quick look into your libraries – as they’re called in Windows 7 – then you can use this key combination to immediately open Windows Explorer. You’ll have instant access to your hard drives and connected devices from this window.

7. Win+Pause/Break

The “Pause/Break” key has often been ignored by many people, but remains a powerful piece of a shortcut in Windows 7 that lets you easily access your system properties window and see what kind of specifications your computer has, who it’s registered to, and what Windows Experience Index the computer has.

8. Win+Ctrl+F

This keyboard shortcut will let you find other computers in your network if you have joined a domain. It’s useful for finding resources that are shared on computers in a very large network. Here’s what the window looks like:

9. Ctrl+Shift+Click Item on Taskbar

Our own JJ has previously mentioned “Shift+Clicking” an item on the taskbar to open a new instance of that window. If you add “Ctrl” to that mix, you get to open a new instance of a window in administrator mode. Give it a shot!

10. Alt+D

While on Windows Explorer, you can quickly switch over to the address bar by using this shortcut. Take note that, while out of Explorer, you’ll just switch to the desktop and minimize all windows. Pressing it again will reverse the process in case you accidentally activate minimization.

11. Alt+Win+1-9

This keyboard shortcut will open the “jumplist” of any application currently open on or pinned to the taskbar. Check below for an example.

12. Alt+Up Arrow

Instead of clicking the “Back” or “Up” button, you can use this key combo to go up a level in Windows Explorer. Note that this only works in Explorer. We don’t guarantee this capability in other applications. To go up a level on Explorer means to go to the parent folder of the directory you currently find yourself in.

13. Shift+Right-Click (On a File)

While you’re in Windows Explorer, have you ever come up with the need to copy a file’s full path? Many people say that such a thing isn’t possible from a context menu unless you use third-party help. No way! Windows comes with such a feature integrated already! If you use this keyboard shortcut, you’ll have “Copy as path” listed in your context menu. Try it!

This will put the file’s full path on your clipboard, so you can paste it at your convenience elsewhere. It comes useful for those of you who write tutorials that involve lots of path names.

14. Shift+Right-Click Folder

So, this will amount to trying the last trick on a folder instead of a file. It adds the ability to open the directory in the command prompt.

15. Win+B

This nifty little shortcut key shoots you directly to the System Tray icon area, located on the far right side of the taskbar, where Windows displays your system time. It’s an easy way to get there when your mouse batteries are dead!

Got Any More?

Bring it on! We’d love to know what other key combos you’ve discovered! Don’t forget that there are already another two articles on MTE regarding Windows 7 keyboard shortcuts. They’re linked here and here.

Related Posts:

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• 8 Useful Shortcut Keys Using The “Windows” Button [Windows 7]
• Free Giveaway: Blu-ray Decrypter
• Ask MTE: Missing Windows Media Center, Thumbnails Missing In Explorer, Remove Games Icon And Many More (Week 16)

The Solution: Need to bind a keyboard shortcut for the left mouse click, and probably move the cursor around.

Apparently, this is very easy in Ubuntu (probably in other Gnome based distro too). Many tutorials will tell you to install xbindkeys and go through complex steps to map the shortcut key.

Here is one quick and dirty way:

1. Go to System Settings. Click on the Universal Access button.

2. Go to the Pointing and Clicking tab.

3. Under the “Mouse Keys” section, turn the “Control the pointer using the keypad” to ON.

That’s it. You can now move your mouse cursor around with the keypad and press ’5′ to activate the left mouse click. For right mouse click, you can use “Shift + F10″.

Note: This is just a quick and dirty trick. Once the option is turned ON, you won’t be able to enter number via the keypad anymore, even when the NumLock button is ON. The good thing is, it can be turned ON/OFF easily.

Image credit: Big Stock Photo

Related Posts:

• How to Assign/Remap Keyboard Shortcuts For Better Productivity [Linux]
• How to Increase Your Screen Resolution Beyond Its Default Settings [Linux]
• Gnome 3.4 Review and Hands-on
• Gnome Pie Is A Slick Application Launcher For Gnome [Linux]

Now, if you have upgraded your Ubuntu to the latest version – 11.04 Natty, you will find that Autokey no longer works. There is either no icon at the system tray or that you can’t create your own shortcut key. In fact, if you check out the Autokey PPA, you will also find that there is no package for Natty. Luckily, there is a simple way to make it work in Ubuntu Natty.

1. In Ubuntu Natty, assuming you are using the Ubuntu Classic (without Unity) desktop, first add the “maverick” version of the autokey PPA.

gksu gedit /etc/apt/sources.list

2. Add the following lines to the end of the file.

deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/cdekter/ppa/ubuntu maverick main 
deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/cdekter/ppa/ubuntu maverick main

3. Save and close the file. Next, in the terminal,

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install autokey-gtk

4. Run Autokey (Applications -> Accessories -> Autokey (GTK)). You should see the Autokey applet in your system tray. Click on it to load the configuration window.

Go to “Edit -> Preferences” and click the “Interface” tab. Select the first choice “X Record – for X.org server v1.5 or v1.7.6 and above”.

5. Restart your computer. It should work correctly the next time you login.

Make Autokey works in Ubuntu Unity

If you are using the Unity desktop, Autokey will work but the icon won’t appear in the system tray.

Here’s what you need to do:

Open a terminal and type:

gsettings set com.canonical.Unity.Panel systray-whitelist "['Autokey']"
setsid unity

That’s it. The icon should appear. You can then follow the above steps to change the interface to “X Record – for X.org server v1.5 or v1.7.6 and above“. Restart the computer and it should work.

Related Posts:

• Autokey: Make Your Own Keyboard Shortcuts In Linux
• Useful Shortcut Keys In Ubuntu
• How to Integrate Skype With Ubuntu Unity
• How to Install Java Runtime In Ubuntu 12.04

Even though there are is a lot written about different ways to use Google’s web-based email, it is ever evolving and always something to talk about. Plus, everyone has different ways of using the features. This makes for endless possibilities for you to turn it into your ultimate email program.

Priority inbox

I have to admit, I was not a fan of the priority inbox at first. The problem came from me always feeling like I was missing emails. The truth was, Google was doing its best to figure out what was important to me. After a good bit of training, it sorts things beautifully.

How it works is, it looks to see who you converse with via email. It also watches to see what you open and what you trash without opening. From this point, it’s kind of guesses. You can help Google out by marking emails as important or not important. After a while your Priority inbox will be scary accurate.

I use this as my inbox on my Android. It helps me get what is important while mobile and lets the other stuff wait till I am in front of the computer.

Multiple Inboxes

If you need to keep track of multiple email accounts, there are a couple ways to make it easier. One of those ways is to use the Gmail Lab feature Multiple Inboxes. In the article, you are shown how to add different addresses as separate inboxes. You can also do the same thing using Operators for labels or a specific incoming email address or anything else you can think of.

This is done by adding is:pending as the search query box. This will pull of the emails you have labeled as Pending into an inbox off to the side of your main inbox.

Canned responses

Canned responses are like out of the office replies. The beauty of them is you can have a bunch of canned responses, not just one. You can type up a whole FAQ email for a product you are selling. Use this canned response in conjunction with a Gmail filter and you may save a lot of repetitive emails.

You can use them as an email template, a FAQ reply, or something you can modify easily like a cover letter for sending your resume. Use your imagination and I am sure you can come up with a 101 uses for canned responses.

Message Sneak Peek

*If you are using Multiple inboxes, this feature does not operate as intended.
By right clicking on a message in your inbox, you will be able to preview the message without opening it. This is great for when you are scanning your email or an important message.

Nested Labels

If you are one that needs to use sub-folders, Nested labels is what you are looking for. Once the Lab feature is enabled, you can create sub-folders and sub-sub-folders and even sub-sub-sub-folders if you’d like.

Click on the box to the right of a label and look for Add sublabel to create a new nested label.

Send & Archive

If you are replying to a message that you have already labeled and archived, you can type up your reply and press the Send and archive button if you have this Lab enabled. By sending an email this way instead of simply pressing send, you will save yourself a step or two by not needing to go back and file away the email thread again.

[feedomit][/feedomit]

Background Send

Background Send is a newer Lab that I just found. It didn’t occur to me how much time I was spending waiting for an email to send. This Lab feature lets you move on to the next task at hand while the email sends in the background. Simple yet very cool.

Custom keyboard shortcuts

If you use Gmail a lot, it may be a good idea to set up some custom keyboard shortcuts to help you make repetitive tasks a little easier. There are a lot of them in the list that can offer a lot of time saving. One of my favorite is “Shift-t” which add the conversation to Tasks. I can easily reference the email that spawned the task.

If you would prefer to have it be Shift-a, you can change it to be easier for you to remember. Don’t try to remember too many new shortcuts at one time or you may get overwhelmed and abandon them all together.

Conclusion

There is no right or wrong combination of Lab features,all that matters is how it works for you. NO matter how many productivity techniques you add to your day, it all comes down to focus. Try a few of these and let us know what you think.

Tell us how you handle the huge pile of emails you get everyday in the comments below.

image Kinologik

Related Posts:

• Your Inbox Needs Help, Use OtherInbox
• FindBigMail Finds Big Size Mails In Your Gmail, Helps You Clean Up Your Email Account
• How to Auto-reply to Email Messages Using Gmail Canned Responses
• How to Add More Control To Your Gmail Inbox With Syphir

There are several ways to manage your keyboard shortcut in Linux. You can do it via Xmodmap (and Xkeycaps), Gnome Keyboard Shortcut or Compiz. In this article, we will focus mainly on Gnome Keyboard Shortcut and Compiz.

Gnome Keyboard Shortcut

The Gnome keyboard shortcut is by far the easiest way to assign/remap a shortcut key in any Gnome-based distro. Go to System -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts.

From here, you can scroll down the list to find the particular keyboard shortcut you want to change, click on the existing shortcut (and see the entry change to “New Shortcut”), and press the new keyboard shortcut that you want to assign to. For example, the default shortcut to launch the Run Application dialog is “Alt + F2“. If I want to change it, I will click on the Alt + F2 entry, follow by the new key, say “Alt + F12“.

In addition, you can also create your own keyboard shortcut and assign it to run an application, a command or a script. Click the “Add” button. It will prompt you to enter the name and command.

After you have added the command, you will see a new entry with the shortcut field “Disabled”. Click on it.

Press the keyboard buttons that you want to assign to launch this command. That’s it.

You can also use the above method to overwrite a default shortcut key. For example, the default behavior of the “Delete” button in your keyboard is to move your file to the trash. You can, however, create a new shortcut and map the “Delete” button to shred the file beyond recovery. It will overwrite the default behavior.

Note: If you want to remove the overwrite, you can remove the shortcut entry and restart your current session (logout and login again). The default behavior will restore.

Compiz

Compiz is slightly more complicated than Gnome Keyboard Shortcut, but it is more versatile and give you more option.

Before we start, make sure you have Compiz Config Setting Manager installed, either from Ubuntu Software Center or from the terminal:

sudo apt-get install compizconfig-settings-manager

Launch Compiz Config Settings Manager (System -> Preferences -> CompizConfig Settings Manager)

Click the “Commands” option.

Enter the command in the command field. It can be an application, a command or even a path to script.

Next, go to the Key Bindings tab. Click the “Disabled” button for the command line that you have entered just now.

Check the “Enabled” checkbox and click the “Grab key combination” button. Press the keyboard shortcut and add any modifier key (Ctrl, Shift or Alt) if necessary. Click OK.

That’s it. What other ways do you use to assign/remap keyboard shortcuts in your distro?

Image credit: Mike Traboe

Related Posts:

• How to Simulate Left Mouse Click With Keyboard Shortcut in Ubuntu [Quick Tip]
• How to Easily Resize Window In Gnome [Quick Tips]
• How to Increase Your Screen Resolution Beyond Its Default Settings [Linux]
• Gnome 3.4 Review and Hands-on

AutoKey is a desktop automation utility for Linux and X11. It allows you to create scripts and assign hotkeys to these scripts, allowing you to execute them on demand in whatever program you are using.

Compatibility with various distro and keyboard layout

Personally I did not test it on all the Linux distro and all the different keyboard layout. However, according to the developer of Autokey:

The core part of AutoKey is sending and receiving keyboard events via the X server. It supports multiple X interfaces and should therefore be compatible with virtually any version of Linux running an X server. Full unicode support is provided and it should in theory work with any keyboard layout.

Theoretically, it should work for all Linux distros and keyboard layout.

Installation

(the following installation instruction is based on Ubuntu)

Open a terminal and type:

sudo add-apt-repository ppa:cdekter/ppa
sudo apt-get update

For Gnome user:

sudo apt-get install autokey-gtk

For KDE users:

sudo apt-get install autokey-qt

Usage

Go to Applications -> Accessories -> Autokey.

You will see on the left pane two folders named My Phrases and Sample Scripts. The My Phrases folder is binded to the hotkey “Ctrl + F7“.

To get a feel of the capability of Autokey, open a text editor and press Ctrl + F7, you should see the context menu with Address option. When you select the Home address field, you should see the address pasted to the text editor.

Usage: creating your own hotkey

To create your own hotkey, go to File -> Create -> New Top Level Folder.

The Top Level Folder is the container for all your phrases and scripts. You can assign a hotkey to it and call it up in any applications. To assign a hotkey, simply highlight the TopLevel Folder entry and click the Set button beside the Hotkey option. You can then choose the modifier key (Ctrl, Shift, Alt or Super) and the shortcut key.

After creating the top level folder, the next thing is to create a phrase or a script.

Phrase

The Phrase is a snippet of text that you use frequently. With a quick press of the shortcut key, you can quickly insert the phrase to the document that you are working at.

Go to File -> Create -> New Phrase. Enter the phrase content in the big text area and assign a shortcut key in the Hotkey option below.

Other than assigning hotkey, you can also use a abbreviation for the phrase. For example, I have set the abbreviation “mte” to the phrase “http://maketecheasier.com”. Now I just need to type “MTE” and it will automatically be replaced with the full URL.

Scripts

For those who have knowledge of scripting, you can add your script, assign a hotkey and get it to run anywhere else. For those who know nuts about scripting, the “Record Marco” function can help you to record simple keyboard events.

Conclusion

For those who spend a lot of time on their keyboard, Autokey is a great tool to help you increase your productivity. The phrase feature improved your typing speed while the script feature help you to get more things done in shorter time. It might take some time to master the scripting, but once that is conquered, I am sure you won’t look back.

Have you tried Autokey? Let us know how did you make use of it to improve your productivity.

Image credit: bargainmoose

Related Posts:

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When you click the SizzlingKeys preferences pane for the first time, you are greeted with this window:

A quick look around makes SizzlingKeys usefulness blatantly apparent. It actually gives you a few advantages that you didn’t have prior to installation. First, you can assign iTunes hot-keys to whatever keys you want, meaning you can make the keys in the home row on your keyboard, or at least close to it, making it much easier to stay in your workflow and change a song than it would be to head all the way to the top of the keyboard to do it. Additionally though, you can now use an external keyboard to control iTunes, and it will be exactly the same as when you’re using your laptop’s keyboard! This is great because it doesn’t make you learn more than one way to do the same thing.  Last, it allows you to have the functionality of your function keys back for all applications!

Feel free to assign some keys and have fun! Not much changes when you click “Start,” but for reference, it should say SizzlingKeys is running, in green, like below:

One more thing that is absolutely worth mentioning is SizzlingKeys’ Extras tab. These are just some fun little capabilities that are baked in to the app, but they are so frequently used amongst many Mac owners I know that a lot of people have apps that enable these things separately. My favorite’s are the “Put computer to sleep” and “Lock computer” hot-keys, which frankly, I probably use more than the iTunes ones! Pretty great deal for a free app!

The last step you probably want to take to completely utilize SizzlingKeys best traits is to disable those media keys, turning them back into standard function keys. To do this, just head in to System Preference and click Keyboard. Then, make sure you’re in the keyboard tab, and check the box labeled “Use all F1, F2, etc. keys as standard function keys“. The window should appear as it does below, until you check the box.

And that’s that! Now you’ve got a new, quick, and easy way to change iTunes tracks, volume, and way more, and you’ve coaxed a little more functionality and flexibility from your standard keyboard!

Have another way to get similar results, or a question or comment?  Tell us below!

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Sometimes the application may need a little nudge, sometimes it needs to be assassinated. Process Assassin is a tiny little application (368 KB) can be run from just about anywhere.

Download

1. Download the zip file containing the application from Process Assassin’s website.

2. You will need to unzip the file to use the application. You can choose a spot where you want it to extract to. I chose my 4 gb USB drive. There will be a picture, the app and a readme doc.

How it works

When you start Process Assassin, you are greeted by a simply laid out window.

You will see 5 tabs across the top and several buttons in each tab. The buttons are labeled with popular applications such as Microsoft Office programs, web browsers, OS apps and others like Launchy, Nero and Thunderbird.

If the application is not running the button is grayed out. Once you start Firefox for example, the button comes to life and allows you to click it.

Let’s say Launchy is being stubborn and unresponsive. If Process Assassin is not running, open it up and navigate to the Other Applications tab. The Launchy button should be lit up. All you have to do is click the button and Launchy is terminated.

Other apps

What if you the program you need to close is not one of the default buttons? Well, in the top right corner, there is a big button that says Assassinate.

When you click the button, an Explorer style window pops up. You will need to navigate to the folder where the .exe file for the unresponsive program is.

When you find the .exe file, highlight it and click the Open button.

When you pull the proverbial “trigger”, the application is instantly closed.

Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts are a big time saver. Process Assassin has two that make killing an application a bit easier.

Ctrl + W – brings the Assassin window to the front of all other open applications. Doing this allows you to click on one if the default application buttons.

Ctrl + A – opens the Assassination explorer window. This is the same as clicking the button in the top right of the Assassin window.

Conclusion

The application does exactly what it says it does. The simplicity of it makes using it a snap. When you are already a bit stressed because you have to close an application and probably redo a some of the work you just did, it is a good thing you have a straightforward app to use.

A similar application was reviewed a while ago here on MTE. Take a look at Kill, it is a remake of a Linux app.

What other applications do you use to kill an unresponsive program?

intro image: kevindooley

Related Posts:

• A Quicker Way to Kill Non-Responsive Programs in Windows
• The Ultimate List of Shortcut Keys That Will Make Your Life Easier [Windows 7]
• How to Simulate Left Mouse Click With Keyboard Shortcut in Ubuntu [Quick Tip]
• How to Make Autokey Works In Ubuntu Natty [Quick Tips]

1. Control + F3

Press Control + F3 (If you are on a laptop you’ll need to hold the Fn key as well) to highlight the Dock. You can then use the arrow keys to navigate to the Window you want to un-minimize and press Enter. This is the best free and native solution, but it is a little clumsy (especially on laptops) and potentially involves a lot of keystrokes if you have a large Dock.

2. Spotlight

Press Command + Space to bring up Spotlight. Type the name of the Application you want to bring back from the dock and highlight the name of the app under the “Applications” header and press Enter (often it will also be the “Top Hit”). Note that this only seems to work consistently with Apple Apps (iTunes, Mail, etc.). Third-party app support for this method is inconsistent- for example with Firefox it will only un-minimize the last window you minimized.

3.Command + Tab

Press Command + Tab to bring up the application-switch box. Command-Tab to the application you want, and before you release the Command button, hold Option. Release both keys. This method will only open the last window you minimized, and support for third-party apps is inconsistent.

4. Quicksilver

Download Quicksilver (free) from Blacktree Software.

The default for entering a command is Control + Space, after which you type in the name of the Application you want to un-minimize. Again this has its limitations- there is no option to choose which window you want to open and it only un-minimizes the last window you minimized.

5. Witch

The best solution is unfortunately not freeware, but if you really want to put this issue to rest, Witch from ManyTricks (the same developers that brought you Name Mangler) is by far the best solution. Witch is like Command-Tab but for windows instead of applications, and can cycle between all the windows you might have minimized at a given time regardless of what Application they belong to. While we don’t usually recommend non-freeware programs, the $16 cost is well worth it if you use a lot of windows and don’t like to leave your keyboard.

Do you have any other ways of un-minimizing a window once it’s trapped in the Dock? Leave a comment!

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• Change Sidebar Categories in Finder and iTunes
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The Shortcuts

I have decided to provide the keyboard shortcuts in an order which will allow you to start Firefox, navigate a couple of your favorite websites using multiple tabs, then close Firefox once you are done.  The first step is to actually open Firefox as you normally would (with your mouse).  Although there are plenty of ways to open applications without the use of a mouse, we are concentrating specifically on Firefox keyboard shortcuts.

Alt + D / Ctrl + L

Selects the location bar. This will allow you to go directly into the location bar (sometimes referred to as the address bar) and type in the website address that you wish to navigate to, such as http://www.maketecheasier.com.

CTRL + Enter (.com) / Shift + Enter (.net) / CTRL + Shift + Enter (.org)

Once at the location bar we are used to typing an entire URL, such as www.maketecheasier.com. These three shortcuts make life a bit easier because they will complete the .com, .net, or .org addresses for you. For example, typing maketecheasier in the location bar, then pressing CTRL + Enter will automatically complete the address www.maketecheasier.com and load the website.

ALT + Enter

Opens the address in a new tab. This will allow you to open up the website in a new tab opposed to interrupting the page that you are current viewing.

CTRL + R

Reloads the current page. Did your Internet connection get interrupted or is the website simply responding a bit slower than usual? Try pressing the ESC key to stop loading the page, then this shortcut will attempt to reload (or refresh) the page with hopefully better results.

F11

Full screen. If the menu, toolbars and Windows (or Linux) taskbars are getting in the way, then toggling full screen mode is a great idea. Press it once to enable it, then press it again to disable it.

Tab

Once you have arrived at your favorite website and spotted a link that you would like to follow, the Tab key will help you jump over to and select that link, then pressing Enter is the equivalent of clicking on the link with the left mouse button.

CTRL + F

Find a specific word on the page. If know that there is a specific word on the page will take you directly to the paragraph or link that you are interested in reading, this shortcut will allow your to search for that word. Once you have started searching, use F3 or CTRL + G to find the next instance of that word, until you have found the correct one.

CTRL + T

Opens a new tab. If you are like me, you will be browsing multiple websites at once for multiple reasons. This shortcut will allow you to open a new tab, and combined with the location bar shortcut navigate to a different website.

CTRL + Tab

Selects the next tab. Now that you have probably opened up about five tabs to research a couple of different issues, you may need to navigate back and forth between the tabs. This shortcut allows you to move to the next tab to the right. However, you can actually navigate left and right by using CTRL + PG UP and CTRL + PG DN, respectively. Even better, you can CTRL + (1 to 8) to select a specific tab (as long as you have no more than 8 tabs open) since CTRL + 9 takes you directly to the last tab on the right.

ALT + Left Arrow / ALT + Right Arrow

Equivalent to clicking on the Back and Forward buttons to navigate within a website. Basically, once you have tabbed over to a link and explored it, you can use these shortcuts to go back to the page were arrived from or forward again.

CTRL + D

Bookmarks the current page. This shortcut will help you bookmark the page that you are currently view, which gives you the ability to access it in the future. If necessary, use CTRL + P to quickly print the current page and take it with you on the road.

ALT + Home

Guess what? This shortcut takes you back to your home page, which is the page that opens when you first launch Firefox. Maybe your home page is your favorite search engine or maybe it is your favorite technical website; this shortcut will take you there.

CTRL + W

Closes the current tab. Once you have read a couple of paragraphs and bookmarked the page, you may want to close the current tab by using this shortcut.

CTRL + Shift + T

Undo closing of a tab. Did you close the wrong tab by mistake. This shortcut will get it back for instantly and reloads the last page that was in that tab.

CTRL + Shift + DEL

Clears your private data. If you are like me and like keeping your browsing history, cache and cookies clean, then this shortcut will help you keep your Firefox sessions clean.

ALT + F4

Closes the window. This final shortcut will close the entire Firefox session once you have closed all of your tabs and are done browsing the Internet.

Download

The above listed shortcut keys are some of the more useful one that you can use for everyday tasks. However, we know that you won’t be satisfied with an uncompleted list, that’s why we have prepared for you a Firefox shortcut keys cheatsheet where you can print out and reference to easily.

The cheatsheet covers all the shortcut keys for the various OS. It’s free of charge, download the Complete Firefox Shortcut Keys Guide now.

Photo credit: psd

Related Posts:

• The Ultimate List of Shortcut Keys That Will Make Your Life Easier [Windows 7]
• How to Simulate Left Mouse Click With Keyboard Shortcut in Ubuntu [Quick Tip]
• How to Make Autokey Works In Ubuntu Natty [Quick Tips]
• More Useful Gmail Productivity Tips

General keyboard shortcuts

Ctrl + A = Select all
Ctrl + C = Copy the highlighted content to clipboard
Ctrl + V = Paste the clipboard content
Ctrl + N = New (Create a new document, not in terminal)
Ctrl + O = Open a document
Ctrl + S = Save the current document
Ctrl + P = Print the current document
Ctrl + W = Close the close document
Ctrl + Q = Quit the current application

Keyboard shortcuts for GNOME desktop

Ctrl + Alt + F1 = Switch to the first virtual terminal
Ctrl + Alt + F2(F3)(F4)(F5)(F6) = Select the different virtual terminals
Ctrl + Alt + F7 = Restore back to the current terminal session with X
Ctrl + Alt + Backspace = Restart GNOME
Alt + Tab = Switch between open programs
Ctrl + Alt + L = Lock the screen.
Alt + F1 = opens the Applications menu
Alt + F2 = opens the Run Application dialog box.
Alt + F3 = opens the Deskbar Applet
Alt + F4 = closes the current window.
Alt + F5 = unmaximizes the current window.
Alt + F7 = move the current window
Alt + F8 = resizes the current window.
Alt + F9 = minimizes the current window.
Alt + F10 =  maximizes the current window.
Alt + Space = opens the window menu.
Ctrl + Alt + + = Switch to next X resolution
Ctrl + Alt + - = Switch to previous X resolution
Ctrl + Alt + Left/Right = move to the next/previous workspace

Keyboard shortcuts for Terminal

Ctrl + A = Move cursor to beginning of line
Ctrl + E = Move cursor to end of line
Ctrl + C = kills the current process.
Ctrl + Z = sends the current process to the background.
Ctrl + D = logs you out.
Ctrl + R = finds the last command matching the entered letters.
Enter a letter, followed by Tab + Tab = lists the available commands beginning with those letters.
Ctrl + U = deletes the current line.
Ctrl + K = deletes the command from the cursor right.
Ctrl + W = deletes the word before the cursor.
Ctrl + L = clears the terminal output
Shift + Ctrl + C = copy the highlighted command to the clipboard.
Shift + Ctrl + V (or Shift + Insert) = pastes the contents of the clipboard.
Alt + F = moves forward one word.
Alt + B = moves backward one word.
Arrow Up/Down = browse command history
Shift + PageUp / PageDown = Scroll terminal output

Keyboard shortcuts for Compiz

Alt + Tab = switch between open windows
Win + Tab = switch between open windows with Shift Switcher or Ring Switcher effect
Win + E = Expo, show all workspace
Ctrl + Alt + Down = Film Effect
Ctrl + Alt + Left mouse button = Rotate Desktop Cube
Alt + Shift + Up = Scale Windows
Ctrl + Alt + D = Show Desktop
Win + Left mouse button = take screenshot on selected area
Win + Mousewheel = Zoom In/Out
Alt + Mousewheel = Transparent Window
Alt + F8 = Resize Window
Alt + F7 = Move Window
Win + P = Add Helper
F9 = show widget layer
Shift + F9 = show water effects
Win + Shift + Left mouse button = Fire Effects
Win + Shift + C = Clear Fire Effects
Win + Left mouse button = Annotate: Draw
Win + 1 = Start annotation
Win + 3 = End annotation
Win + S = selects windows for grouping
Win + T = Group Windows together
Win + U = Ungroup Windows
Win + Left/Right = Flip Windows

Keyboard shortcut for Nautilus

Shift + Ctrl + N = Create New Folder
Ctrl + T = Delete selected file(s) to trash
Alt + ENTER = Show File/Folder Properties
Ctrl + 1 = Toggle View As Icons
Ctrl + 2 = Toggle View As List
Shift + Right = Open Directory (Only in List View)
Shift + Left = Close Directory (Only in List View)
Ctrl + S = Select Pattern
F2 = Rename File
Ctrl + A = Select all files and folders
Ctrl + W = Close Window
Ctrl + Shift + W = Close All Nautilus Windows
Ctrl + R = Reload Nautilus Window
Alt + Up = Open parent directory
Alt + Left = Back
Alt + Right = Forward
Alt + Home = go to Home folder
Ctrl + L = go to location bar
F9 = Show sidepane
Ctrl + H = Show Hidden Files
Ctrl + + = Zoom In
Ctrl + - = Zoom Out
Ctrl + 0 = Normal Size

(For those who want to configure your own keyboard shortcuts, you can do it at System->Preferences->Keyboard Shortcuts.)

Which one is your favorite keyboard shortcuts? Is there anymore shortcut that I have left out? Let me know in the comment and I will add it in.

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