Guide · Updated
How to Learn Keyboard Shortcuts (and Actually Remember Them)
A practical method for learning the keyboard shortcuts that matter and making them stick — pick the right ones, drill them in real work, space your recall — with the ten to learn first for popular apps.
By ShortcutPosters Editorial Team · from 18 official sources
Everyone knows shortcuts make you faster, yet most people use the same five they learned years ago. The problem isn't memory — it's method. You can't learn 200 shortcuts at once, and you won't remember the ones you never use. The trick is to learn a small, high-value set in the app you already live in, drill them where you actually work, and keep a reference in glance distance until the muscle memory takes over.
Here's the approach that works, step by step.
Start here: the shortcuts to learn first
Pick your app: these are its most-used shortcuts, taken from its official documentation. They are the first five-plus-five to learn.
- Show Command Palette⌘⇧P
- Quick Open File⌘P
- Find⌘F
- Save⌘S
- Cut Line⌘X
- Copy Line⌘C
- Move Line Up⌥↑
- Move Line Down⌥↓
- Toggle Line Comment⌘/
- Format Document⇧⌥F
- Quick actions⌘K
- Move toolV
- Frame toolF
- Text toolT
- Rectangle toolR
- Bold⌘B
- Select all⌘A
- Group selection⌘G
- Undo⌘Z
- Redo⌘⇧Z
- Move ToolV
- Brush ToolB
- Undo⌘Z
- Free Transform⌘T
- Save⌘S
- Marquee ToolM
- Crop ToolC
- Type ToolT
- Select All⌘A
- Deselect⌘D
- Copy⌘C
- Paste⌘V
- Undo⌘Z
- Save Workbook⌘S
- Move to Edge of Data Region⌘→
- Extend Selection to Last Cell⌘⇧→
- Cut⌘X
- Edit Active CellF2
- Bold⌘B
- Format Cells Dialog⌘1
- Save⌘S
- Cut⌘X
- Copy⌘C
- Paste⌘V
- Undo⌘Z
- Bold⌘B
- Italic⌘I
- New Document⌘N
- Open⌘O
- Redo⌘Y
- New Tab⌘T
- Close Tab⌘W
- Reopen Closed Tab⌘⇧T
- Back⌘←
- Focus Address Bar⌘L
- Reload Page⌘R
- Find on Page⌘F
- Next Tab⌘⌥→
- Previous Tab⌘⌥←
- New Window⌘N
- Search Inside a Page⌘F
- Open Search or Jump to a Recently Viewed Page⌘P
- Copy a Page's URL⌘L
- Create a New Page⌘N
- Bold Selected Text⌘B
- Italicize Selected Text⌘I
- Go Back a Page⌘[
- Go Forward a Page⌘]
- Toggle Between Dark Mode and Light Mode⌘⇧L
- Underline Selected Text⌘U
- Jump to a Conversation⌘K
- Compose a New Message⌘N
- Create a New Line⇧↵
- Bold Selected Text⌘B
- Italicize Selected Text⌘I
- Start a Search⌘G
- Jump to Recent Unread Message⌘J
- Open the Threads View⌘⇧T
- Open All Unreads View⌘⇧A
- Edit a Message You SentE
Learn the app you live in first
Don't try to learn shortcuts for ten apps. Pick the one you spend the most hours in — your editor, your design tool, your browser — and learn its shortcuts first. The payoff compounds: a shortcut you use a hundred times a day is worth more than ten you use once a week.
Start with navigation, selection and the actions you repeat most. Those are the moves that quietly cost you seconds every minute.
Learn five at a time, in context
Working memory tops out fast, so cap each session at about five new shortcuts. Pick five you'll use today, write them on a sticky note, and force yourself to use the keys instead of the menu for the rest of the day. Looking the shortcut up costs you a second now and saves you minutes later — that friction is the learning.
Context matters more than repetition count. A shortcut drilled while doing real work sticks far better than one memorised from a list, because your brain ties it to the action, not the keycap.
Use spacing, not cramming
Memory is built by recall under a little difficulty, spaced over time — not by re-reading a cheat sheet. Revisit yesterday's five today, then again in a few days. Each time you successfully recall a binding, it gets stickier. A quick daily quiz is a near-perfect tool for this: it forces active recall instead of passive review.
Keep a reference in glance distance
The single highest-leverage habit: keep the full shortcut set visible where you can glance at it without breaking flow — beside your screen, not behind you. When the binding you need is one glance away, you reach for it instead of the mouse, and that repetition is what converts it to muscle memory. After a week or two the reference becomes decoration, which is exactly the point.
That's the whole reason a printed shortcut poster works: it's a zero-friction reference that lives in your peripheral vision all day. Browse the set for the app you're learning and put it where you'll actually see it.
Mac and Windows are not the same
If you switch machines, don't assume the keys transfer. Mac leans on ⌘ where Windows uses Ctrl, and plenty of app-specific bindings differ entirely. Learn the set for the keyboard in front of you — mixing the two is how you end up trusting neither.
The short version
Pick one app. Learn five shortcuts at a time, in real work. Space your recall instead of cramming — a daily quiz helps. Keep the full set in glance distance until you don't need it. Then move to the next app. That's it: small batches, real context, a reference on the wall, and a little spacing. Do that for a month and the shortcuts stop being something you look up and start being how you work.
FAQ
- How many shortcuts should I learn at once?
- About five, used in real work for a few days before you add the next five.
- What is the best way to remember keyboard shortcuts?
- Recall them rather than re-read them: use the key instead of the menu, revisit yesterday's shortcuts today, and test yourself — a short quiz does that well.
- Should I learn Mac or Windows shortcuts?
- The ones for the keyboard you use. Most app shortcuts swap ⌘ for Ctrl, but not all, so learn the set for your machine.