The 20 Best Chromebook Keyboard Shortcuts

Unlike Mac and Windows devices, Chromebook keyboards don’t have a dedicated Caps Lock button. Instead, you’ll find the Search/Launcher key.

So, how exactly do you put Caps Lock on Chromebook? By pressing the alt † To search Keys. Press the buttons again to turn off Caps Lock.

If your Chromebook has a Launcher key (circle icon), press the Launcher key † alt to turn Caps Lock on or off.

Not too many Chromebook users know that their device has a special task manager utility. You can force close unresponsive apps and monitor how system resources are being consumed.

Touch To search † esc (or launch † esc) while sitting on the desktop or using an app to open the Task Manager.

Select an app you want to force close and select the Final Process button in the lower right corner.

The Chrome OS has a special “Shortcuts” app where all the system and app shortcuts are compiled. Press Ctrl † alt † † (slash) or Ctrl † alt † † (question mark) keys to launch the Shortcuts app.

You will see different categories (popular shortcuts, tabs and windows, pages and web browser, etc.) in the left sidebar. Select a category to view all shortcuts in that category. Then type a function in the search bar to find its shortcut.

Copied texts, images, and recent screenshots are temporarily saved to your Chromebook’s clipboard. Chrome OS contains the last five copied items in the clipboard.

Press To search † V or launcher † V to open your Chromebook’s clipboard menu. Select an item (text or image) to paste the content into an app’s text editor.

on . to press Ctrl † Shift † W close the current window or app you are using. Press . to reopen the last app or window you closed Ctrl † Shift † t† You can also use this keyboard shortcut to open a recently closed browser tab in Google Chrome.

A single press of the power button on Windows and Mac computers locks the devices. On a Chromebook, you need to hold down the power button and select Lock from the power menu. The To search † l or launcher † l hotkey will lock your Chromebook faster.

Splitting your Chromebook’s screen allows you to organize two apps side by side. To use apps in split screen mode on your Chromebook, you need to place both apps side by side on the screen.

Open the first app you want to use in split screen mode and press alt † † (right square bracket). That links the app windows to the right half of your Chromebook’s screen.

Press alt † †[[[[ (square left) to link the same app or another app to the left half of the screen.

There is a keyboard shortcut for opening web pages in a new tab, directly from your current tab. Type the URL in the address bar of the current tab and press alt † Enter to open the web address in a new tab.

You cannot use the shortcuts in third party web browsers or non-Google web browsers. It only works for the Chrome browser on Chromebooks, Windows and Mac.

alt † Shift † N opens your Chromebook’s status area (“Status Box”) and displays all unread notifications.

Do you find the elements of an app (text, images, etc.) too small? Press Ctrl † † (plus icon) to zoom in and magnify the content of the page or app. Press Ctrl † † (minus) to zoom out on the page.

Not all Android apps support the zoom feature in Chrome OS. These shortcuts work on web browsers, web pages and certain apps like Settings, Files, Calendar, etc.

Press . to reset the zoom level of an app or page to its default value Ctrl † 0 (zero key).

You can resize items on your Chromebook’s screen by adjusting the screen resolution.

Shift † Ctrl † † (plus icon) and Shift † Ctrl † † (minus icon) are the shortcuts to increase and decrease the display size of your Chromebook.

Press on the Shift † Ctrl † 0 (zero) buttons to return the screen resolution to its original size.

14. Go to the beginning or end of a document

Scrolling through a long document with your mouse or trackpad can be exhausting. Use the To search † Ctrl † (left arrow) shortcut to jump to the beginning of the document you are typing.

To go to the end of the document, press Shift † Ctrl † † (arrow to the right).

In Google Chrome, hit the Ctrl † alt † Arrow up ††) keys to jump to the beginning of a web page. Ctrl † alt † Down arrow †) key combination to go to the bottom of a webpage in Chrome.

Use the To search † (left arrow) to move your Chromebook cursor to the beginning of a line in your document. To search † † (right arrow) moves the cursor to the end of the line.

Press Shift † Ctrl † (left arrow) to select the word to the left of the cursor. Otherwise, use the Shift † Ctrl † † (right arrow) to select the next word after the cursor in your document.

When browsing the web in Google Chrome, press alt † E on any page to open the browser’s menu.

You can change your display orientation with the Shift † Ctrl † To spin (or Refresh) Keys. Your Chromebook’s screen rotates 90 degrees every time you press the key combination.

Chromebook keyboards don’t have a dedicated delete key, but you can still use the keyboard to delete a file or folder.

Open the Files app, select the items you want to delete and press alt † backspace†

Ctrl † C and Ctrl † X copies and cuts selected content (texts or images) respectively to your clipboard.

Press Ctrl † V to paste text exactly as copied from source. To use Shift † Ctrl † V to paste copied content as plain text, removing the text from all formatting.