Key Controls Guide for Windows

General OS-level keyboard shortcuts

These shortcuts work in any app on your Windows PC.

  • Ctrl + C: Copy
  • Ctrl + V: Paste
  • Ctrl + X: Cut
  • Ctrl + Z: Undo
  • Ctrl + Y: Redo
  • Ctrl + A: Select All
  • Ctrl + S: Save
  • Ctrl + O: Open
  • Ctrl + N: New document or window
  • Ctrl + W: Close the current tab or document
  • Alt + F4: Close the current window or quit the app
  • Ctrl + F: Find
  • Ctrl + P: Print
  • Win + I: Open Settings
  • Win + S: Open Windows Search
  • Win + Shift + S: Screenshot with Snipping Tool

See the full list of Windows shortcuts on Microsoft's support page.

Window management shortcuts

These shortcuts help you navigate between apps and manage windows.

Switching apps and windows

  • Alt + Tab: Switch between open apps
  • Alt + Esc: Cycle through windows in the order they were opened
  • Win + D: Show or hide the desktop
  • Win + M: Minimize all windows
  • Win + Shift + M: Restore minimized windows

Task View and virtual desktops

  • Win + Tab: Open Task View (view all windows and virtual desktops)
  • Win + Ctrl + D: Create a new virtual desktop
  • Win + Ctrl + Left: Switch to the previous virtual desktop
  • Win + Ctrl + Right: Switch to the next virtual desktop
  • Win + Ctrl + F4: Close the current virtual desktop

Full screen

  • F11: Toggle full screen mode (in most apps)
  • Alt + Enter: Toggle full screen (in some apps)

Window snapping and tiling

Windows 10 and 11 have built-in window snapping:

  • Win + Left: Snap window to the left half of the screen
  • Win + Right: Snap window to the right half of the screen
  • Win + Up: Maximize the window
  • Win + Down: Minimize or restore the window
  • Win + Shift + Up: Stretch window to fill the screen vertically
  • Win + Shift + Left: Move window to the left monitor
  • Win + Shift + Right: Move window to the right monitor

On Windows 11, you can also use Snap Layouts:

  • Win + Z: Open Snap Layouts to choose a window arrangement

Text editing shortcuts

These shortcuts work in most text fields and editors on Windows.

  • Home: Jump to the beginning of the line
  • End: Jump to the end of the line
  • Ctrl + Left: Jump to the previous word
  • Ctrl + Right: Jump to the next word
  • Ctrl + Home: Jump to the beginning of the document
  • Ctrl + End: Jump to the end of the document

Selection

Add Shift to any navigation shortcut above to select text while moving. For example:

  • Shift + Home: Select from cursor to the beginning of the line
  • Shift + End: Select from cursor to the end of the line
  • Ctrl + Shift + Left: Select the previous word
  • Ctrl + Shift + Right: Select the next word

Deleting text

  • Backspace: Delete the character before the cursor
  • Delete: Delete the character after the cursor
  • Ctrl + Backspace: Delete the word before the cursor
  • Ctrl + Delete: Delete the word after the cursor

Code editing shortcuts

These shortcuts work in Cursor and other VS Code-based editors.

Essential editing

  • Ctrl + /: Comment or uncomment the selected lines
  • Ctrl + Shift + K: Delete the current line
  • Alt + Up: Move the current line up
  • Alt + Down: Move the current line down
  • Shift + Alt + Up: Copy the current line up
  • Shift + Alt + Down: Copy the current line down

Find and replace

  • Ctrl + F: Find in the current file
  • Ctrl + H: Find and replace in the current file
  • Ctrl + Shift + F: Search across all files in the workspace
  • Ctrl + Shift + H: Find and replace across all files

Multi-cursor and selection

  • Ctrl + D: Select the next occurrence of the current selection
  • Ctrl + Shift + L: Select all occurrences of the current selection
  • Alt + Click: Add a cursor at the clicked location
  • Ctrl + P: Quick open a file by name
  • Ctrl + Shift + P: Open the command palette
  • Ctrl + B: Toggle the sidebar
  • Ctrl + `: Toggle the integrated terminal
  • F12: Go to definition
  • F2: Rename symbol

See a comprehensive, printable list in the VS Code Windows keyboard shortcuts PDF.

Cursor-specific shortcuts

These shortcuts are specific to Cursor's AI features.

AI Chat and Composer

  • Ctrl + L: Open AI Chat
  • Ctrl + I: Open Composer (multi-file AI edits)
  • Ctrl + Shift + L: Add selected code to Chat as context

Inline editing

  • Ctrl + K: Open inline edit prompt (works in editor and terminal)
  • Ctrl + Enter: Accept AI-generated changes
  • Esc: Reject or cancel generation

AI autocomplete

  • Tab: Accept the autocomplete suggestion
  • Ctrl + Right: Accept only the next word of the suggestion

See more shortcuts in the Cursor keyboard shortcuts documentation.