Chromebooks have become a favorite amidst students for completing school work, and any parent would want their child to work smarter, not harder. This is where convenient keyboard shortcuts come in, as they can save students time and energy, allowing them to focus on their assignments first and foremost.
Chromebooks are among some of the best laptops for college thanks to their affordable cost and easy-to-use operating system, which makes it convenient for the work expected of most students. Whether it's browsing the web, using Google's suite of apps like Sheets or Docs, or using Android and Google applications to perform tasks, it's lightweight and convenient.
Laptop Mag has reviewed some of the best Chromebooks you can buy, and as a result, we have picked up many tips and tricks to ensure you and your student get the most out of the Chromebook experience. These keyboard shortcuts are game-changing and great to know, as they will improve your student's workflow and ability to get things done.
Best general Chromebook keyboard shortcuts
The first set of Chromebook shortcuts are universal, and can be used on any website or app. They will keep you productive and help you personalize your user experience, alongside convenient features like hiding certain windows, taking screenshots, or zooming in.
- Tab shortcuts: Ctrl + T opens a new tab, Ctrl + Shift + T re-opens the last closed tab, and Ctrl + W closes the currently selected tab.
- Options menu: Alt + E opens the options menu (the three-dot menu in Google Chrome and Google Files). This shortcut does not work while using Android apps.
- Cursor selection and movement: Shift + arrow keys selects text in the direction you move the cursor, and Ctrl + arrow keys moves the cursor one word to the left, right or to the beginning of the line above or below. Using Shift + Ctrl + arrow keys allows you to select larger portions of text quickly.
- Screenshot: Ctrl + Overview (the button that looks like a stack of windows) takes a screenshot of your current full Chromebook screen. Whether you need this for capturing the result you got on a web quiz, how a homework module is misbehaving, or something funny that someone said in a group chat, it's an essential shortcut to know.
- Screen zoom: Ctrl and + zooms in and magnifies the current tab of Chrome, while Ctrl and - zooms out and shrinks the current tab of Chrome. If you want to return quickly to 100% default zoom, you can do so with Ctrl and 0.
- Hide your game/tab: Alt and - will minimize the current window. If you have multiple windows open, hitting Alt and - again will minimize the next open window. If you only have one window open on your Chromebook, hitting Alt and - again will restore that minimized window.
- Split-screening windows: Alt and [ pins the current window to the left side of the screen. Alt and ] pins the current window on the right side of the screen, making it far, far easier to reference your notes while you write your history report or helpful technology articles. Alt and = will make a window full-width again without making it fullscreen, which hides the address bar, tabs, and toolbars.
Best Google Docs and Google Drive shortcuts
There are a ton of Google Drive and Google Docs shortcuts that users can use; we aren't even able to share all of them. There are that many. However, the keyboard shortcuts selected are the ones you need to know. Let's start with the Google Drive shortcuts first.
- Display all the keyboard shortcuts with: Ctrl + /
- Document creation: Shift + T creates a new Doc, Shift + S creates a new Sheet, and Shift + F creates a new Folder. If you're going to be using Google Drive for all your notes, homework, and random daydreaming stories throughout the year, create folders early and often to keep things organized.
- Rename items: Tapping N pops up the window to rename the currently selected item. Naming screenshots, other randomly named images and downloaded attachments will keep things better organized and easy to find in your Google Drive.
- Scroll up, down, left, and right with the j k h l keys if you don't want your fingers leaving the keyboard.
Google Docs keyboard shortcuts
- Clear formatting: Ctrl + \ will clear any weird formatting off of a website or app. On that note, remember that Ctrl + Shift + V is the shortcut for pasting text without formatting.
- Formatting lists: Ctrl + Shift + 7 will toggle on a numbered list or format highlighted text into a numbered list. Ctrl + Shift + 8 will do the same with a bulleted list.
- Word count: Ctrl + Shift + C will bring up the word count screen, showing how many pages, words, and characters are in a highlighted section and the full document, so you know how close you are to that 10,000-word essay your English teacher assigned.
- Voice typing: Ctrl + Shift + S will start voice typing, allowing you to dictate text to your document without having to type it all out.
- Jump to top or bottom: Ctrl + Search + left arrow will take you to the beginning of your document while Ctrl + Search + right arrow will go to the end.
- Insert links: Ctrl + K will open the insert link window in Google Docs, allowing you to create a new hyperlink for text or add a hyperlink to the text you had currently highlighted.
Files Shortcuts
The Files application on Chromebook is like a secret agent very few know about or discuss, but it does some pretty great things. Since it syncs with Google Drive, Chrome Web Store add-ons like OneDrive or Dropbox, and whatever extra cloud storage you may use, it comes in handy as it allows you to updates to those files right from your Chromebook.
To further the convenience, using these keyboard shortcuts will speed up the process.
- Folder creation: Ctrl + E creates a new folder.
- Rename items: Ctrl + Enter to rename the selected item. I find this goes quicker in Files than on the Google Drive site because you don't have to deal with pop-up windows or the window reloading after renaming a file. Ctrl + Enter, type in the new name, tap Enter, then arrow key over to the next item and repeat.
- Delete items: Alt + Backspace to delete an item from a folder. Items deleted from a Google Drive folder in the Files app still go to the Google Drive trash folder, so you can recover them within a number of days if you find you deleted something on accident.
These are just some of the relevant keyboard shortcuts for Chromebook users. Plenty more are available, and you can always display all the keyboard shortcuts for your Chromebook by simply hitting Ctrl + /. Then, a popup menu will appear with the entire list of Google Chromebook keyboard shortcuts you can use.
