The Chromebook from Google is one of the most popular tech gadgets helping students with their studies and academic activities. The device is quite simplistic and allows students to manage their assignments, research, and term papers conveniently.
However, suppose you know the Chromebook keyboard shortcuts. In that case, it can become easier to perform regular operations like navigating between apps, and tabs, resetting the screen scale, accessing system settings, operating the browser, etc.
Quickly Turn Chromebook On or Off
You can turn your Chromebook On/Off instantly by shutting down the lid. But if the laptop is already open, you must press the power button to power up your device.
Must Know Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts for Students
In Chromebook, there are keyboard shortcuts for almost everything. However, it’s pretty difficult to remember all the keyboard shortcuts. For instance, you might use Google Docs to prepare term papers, assignments, etc.
Likewise, if you want to configure the browser, or system settings, decrease screen scale, take a full or partial Screenshot, etc. There is a keyboard shortcut for all these operations.
So, what keyboard shortcuts should you know? Find out in this post.
The Keyboard Shortcut to Everything – Press ‘Ctrl + Alt + /’
Before we get to the shortcuts, here is a hack that will get you out of trouble every time. You can call the shortcut overview service in Google Chromebook if you don’t remember the shortcuts.
Opening the Shortcut Viewer
You can call the shortcut viewer once you press ‘Ctrl + Alt + /.’
This will open a new window where you can search for different shortcuts.
Press the Search icon to find your shortcut
Search for your desired Chromebook shortcut in the dialog box by typing related terms. Next, press search to view the available shortcut options.
Here are some popular shortcuts you can use in Chrome OS.
Turn Caps Lock On or Off
This one is important, especially when preparing your thesis or reports. To turn the caps lock on or off, you can use any of the following options:
- Press and hold the Search button, and then press the Alt
- Press Launcher, and then press the Alt key
Taking a Screenshot
Screenshots can be pretty critical in some cases. For instance, you might want to capture a specific image from a video or share any particular problem with your Google apps.
If you want to capture a Screenshot of the entire screen, press Ctrl+ Show Windows.
If you want to capture a partial screenshot, you can do it in a couple of ways:
If you have a Screenshot Key:
Press Alt + Screenshot and hold the keys. At the same time, use your mouse or trackpad to drag the box over your desired part of the screen.
If you don’t have a screenshot key:
If you don’t have the screenshot key on your Chromebook, press Ctrl shift Show Windows and hold the keys while you drag and capture the screen with your mouse.
Opening Chrome in Incognito Mode
This hack is useful when you’re using someone else’s computer for browsing. Or, you may want to keep your browsing history private from everyone. In that case, you can open the Chrome browser in incognito mode.
Press ctrl shift N to open a new tab in incognito mode. But remember, if you’re using a system at your school, this shortcut may not prevent the organization from looking into the browsed data.
Shortcut to Quickly Open and Close Tabs
If you want to access different tabs in your browser instantly, here are a few shortcuts that will help:
Press Ctrl + W to close the current account.
To reopen the last closed tab, press Ctrl + Shift + T., This is a valuable trick if you accidentally close an important webpage while browsing.
To view your browsing history, press Ctrl + H.
Creating a Link in Chromebook
There can be multiple options to open a new link in the browser. For instance, you might want to open a new tab or window. Here is how you can do both.
Press Ctrl + Shift and click on the link in a new tab.
To open the link in a new window, press Shift and click the link.
If you want to open the tab in the background, press ctrl and click the link.
Modifying the Display Settings
You can adjust the display settings in your Chromebook and customize your display. Here are a few shortcuts for display settings that you should know.
You can change the screen resolution by pressing Shift + Ctrl + + to increase the screen scale.
Press Shift + Ctrl + – to decrease screen scale.
Also, you can press the launcher key + ctrl + d to increase the screen scale.
Also, Chromebook keyboard shortcuts for screen resolution settings are:
- Ctrl + Shift + 0 to adjust to the default setting or to reset the screen scale.
- Ctrl + Shift + Rotate to rotate screen to 90 degrees
Switching Users
If you’re in the middle of something and your friend wants to use your Chromebook for urgent work, you can protect your privacy by switching users. Since multiple Chromebook users can be on the same device, the switching option becomes useful, especially for students.
Press Alt + Ctrl + . to switch to the following user.
Press Alt + Ctrl + to switch to the previous user.
Open Files App
The files app contains all the summaries of your files on Chrome OS. The key combination to access the files app is Shift + Alt + M. To preview a file, select the file and press Space.
Display Hidden Files
If you want to protect your essential files from getting into the wrong hands, you can hide them in Chromebook. Later, you can view the hidden files by pressing ‘Ctrl + .’
Open Apps from Shelf
The status area provides quick access to your regularly used apps. The keyboard shortcuts to access android apps on the shelf range from Alt + 1 through Alt + 8. You can use the Alt + 9 keys to open the last app on the Chromebook shelf.
Launch Google Meet
Google meet is often used for online classes or video calls. To launch the camera, press Ctrl + E. Furthermore, you can mute the microphone by pressing Ctrl + D.
Open Google Docs and Sheets in Google Drive
To launch Google Docs in Drive, press Shift + T. To open Google sheets, press the Shift key + S.
Split Screen in Half
If you want to view two instead of one window, you can split your screen by pressing Alt + [ or Alt + ] in your current window. If you want to learn how to split screen on Chromebook, check here.
Conclusion
Working with keyboard shortcuts in Chromebook can make it very easy to operate the device. Therefore, it’s worth learning the basic Chrome OS shortcuts.
Many of these shortcuts work on other operating systems, so it’s easier to understand and remember them. Also, you can take Chromebook help to learn more about keyboard shortcut options in the device.