The GNOME Desktop is one of the most popular workstation environments in Linux today. It features a sleek interface that is quick and easy to use right out of the box. Aside from that, GNOME is also flexible enough that you can extend it with third-party plugins and functions.
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Essential GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts
While GNOME is mostly a mouse-based desktop environment, it also packs plenty of keyboard shortcuts for some standard features. This means that the environment can cater to both novices still learning the ropes in Linux and the more knowledgeable power user.
This cheatsheet will show you how to maximize your GNOME Desktop experience by highlighting some of its most helpful keyboard shortcuts. Not only that, but it will also show how you can take advantage of some of GNOME’s little-known features.
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| Shortcut | Function |
|---|---|
| Window Navigation | |
| F10 | Select the first Menu Bar entry in the current window. |
| Left Arrow | Select the next Menu Bar entry in the current window. |
| Right Arrow | Select the previous Menu Bar entry in the current window. |
| Down Arrow | Go through the available subitems in the current Menu Bar entry. |
| Up Arrow | Go back to the previous subitems in the current Menu Bar entry. |
| Alt + Tab | Cycle through all the open windows in the current session. |
| Alt + Shift + Tab | Cycle in through all the open windows in reverse. |
| Alt + Esc | Cycle through all the open windows in the current workspace. |
| Alt + Shift + Esc | Cycle through all the open windows in the current workspace in reverse. |
| Win + ` | Cycle through all the open windows of a single application. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left Arrow | Move the currently focused window to the left of the current workspace. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Right Arrow | Move the currently focused window to the right of the current workspace. |
| Win + Shift + Home | Move the currently focused window to the first workspace. |
| Win + Shift + End | Move the currently focused window to the last workspace. |
| Window Manipulation | |
| Win + Up Arrow | Maximize the currently focused window. |
| Win + Down Arrow | Unmaximize the currently focused window. |
| Win + Left Arrow | Split the left side of the screen with the currently focused window. |
| Win + Right Arrow | Split the right side of the screen with the currently focused window. |
| Win + H | Minimize the currently focused window. |
| Alt + F4 | Close the currently focused window. |
| Alt + F7 | Toggle the window’s move mode. |
| Alt + F8 | Toggle the window’s resize mode. |
| Alt + Space | Open the window’s menu dialog box. |
| Win + Space | Go to the next available text box in the current window. |
| Win + Shift + Space | Go back to the last available text box in the current window. |
| Text Box Editing | |
| Ctrl + A | Select all the text in the currently focused text box. |
| Ctrl + C | Copy the currently selected text to the clipboard. |
| Ctrl + X | Cut the currently selected text to the clipboard. |
| Ctrl + V | Paste the clipboard text to the currently focused text box. |
| Ctrl + Shift + U | Toggle GNOME’s Unicode entry mode. |
| Workspace and Monitor Manipulation | |
| Ctrl + Alt + Tab | Cycle through the different focus modes in the current workspace. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow | Move the workspace to the left of the current one. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow | Move the workspace to the right of the current one. |
| Win + Home | Move the workspace to the first one in the current session. |
| Win + End | Move the workspace to the last one in the current session. |
| Win + Shift + Left Arrow | If available, move the focus to the left monitor screen. |
| Win + Shift + Right Arrow | If available, move the focus to the right monitor screen. |
| Win + Shift + Up Arrow | If available, move the focus to the top monitor screen. |
| Win + Shift + Down Arrow | If available, move the focus to the bottom monitor screen. |
| Screen Capturing | |
| PrtSc | Take a screenshot of the entire screen and save it. |
| Alt + PrtSc | Take a screenshot of a window and save it. |
| Shift + PrtSc | Take a screenshot of a custom region in the screen and save it. |
| Ctrl + PrtSc | Take a screenshot of the entire screen and copy it to the clipboard. |
| Ctrl + Alt + PrtSc | Take a screenshot of a window and copy it to the clipboard. |
| Ctrl + Shift + PrtSc | Take a screenshot of a custom region in the screen and copy it to the clipboard. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R | Toggle GNOME’s screencasting mode. |
| System Manipulation | |
| Win | Open GNOME’s Workspace Overview screen. |
| Win + V | Open the Notification Center dialog box. |
| Win + N | Select the currently active notification toast window. |
| Win + A | Open the Application Menu screen. |
| Win + L | Lock the current GNOME session. |
| Win + Esc | Restore all keyboard shortcuts to their default setting. |
| Alt + F2 | Open GNOME’s Run Prompt. |
| Win + Alt + S | Toggle GNOME’s Screen Reader feature. |
| Win + Alt + 8 | Zoom the current screen around the mouse pointer. |
| Ctrl + Alt + Delete | Log out of the current GNOME session. |
Image credit: Unsplash. All alterations by Ramces Red.
