If you’re a teacher, school admin, or just someone who bought a Chromebook and is looking for a quick list of everything you need to know (without reading the user’s manual), here it is.

These are the most commonly used shortcuts that should get you or your students accustomed to using a Chromebook efficiently.

This is a list of common shortcuts, touchpad gestures, and quick Chrome OS tricks to get your students (or yourself) quickly accustomed to Chromebooks.

You’ll see all the basics and shortcuts here. They’re neatly packed into this nice cheat sheet for students in PDF format so you can easily print it out as a handout (or post it on your classroom wall).

Fun fact: “PDF” stands for Portable Document Format.

So when you say “PDF format” or “PDF file,” you’re essentially saying “Portable Document Format format” or “Portable Document Format file.” Both of these are weird.

The proper way to say it is simply “PDF,” as in “I have the file in PDF.”

I ordered them in ranks of “most used” to “least used” so you can quickly skim the cheat sheet PDF and find what you’re looking for.

If you have any feedback or suggestions, please let me know. Feel free to download, print, and distribute this PDF (“PDF file”) freely to your students.

Chromebook Cheat Sheet for Students

Here are the most commonly used keyboard shortcuts at a glance.

Text manipulation shortcuts

These are for quickly editing/formatting text.

Copy selected text

• “CTRL + C”

Paste selected text

• “CTRL + V”

Paste select text without formatting

• “CTRL + SHIFT + V”

Cut selection

• “CTRL + X”

Bold text

• “CTRL + B”

Italicize text

• “CTRL + I”

Underline text

• “CTRL + U”

Undo last action

• “CTRL + Z”

Redo last action

• “CTRL + SHIFT + Z”

Delete backwards

• “ALT + Backspace”

Select all

• “CTRL + A”

Turn on CAPS LOCK

• “ALT + SEARCH”

Turn off CAPS LOCK

• “ALT + SEARCH (toggle)”

Jump to next word

• “CTRL + Right arrow”

Jump to previous word

• “CTRL + Left arrow”

Jump to start of page

• “CTRL + SEARCH KEY + Left arrow”

Jump to end of page

• “CTRL + SEARCH KEY + Right arrow”

Insert hyperlink

• “CTRL + K”

Chrome browser shortcuts

Here are some handy keyboard shortcuts for quickly getting around Chrome.

Reload page

• “CTRL + R”

Reload page without cache

• “CTRL + SHIFT + R”

New tab

• “CTRL + T”

New Chrome window

• “CTRL + N”

New incognito window

• “CTRL + SHIFT + N”

Zoom in

• “CTRL + +”

(That’s CTRL and PLUS.)

Zoom out

• “CTRL + -”

(That’s CTRL and MINUS.)

Reset zoom

• “CTRL + 0”

Search (find) on page

• “CTRL + F”

Jump to next search result

• “CTRL + G”

Jump to previous search result

• “CTRL + SHIFT + G”

Scroll down one screen

• SPACEBAR

Next tab

• “CTRL + TAB”

Previous tab

• “CTRL + SHIFT + TAB”

Close tab

• “CTRL + W”

Open last closed tab

• “CTRL + SHIFT + T”

Open link in new tab

• “ALT + SHIFT + Click link”

Bookmark page

• “CTRL + D”

Bookmark all tabs

• “CTRL + SHIFT + D”

Show all downloads

• “CTRL + J”

Print page

• “CTRL + P”

Page up

• “ALT + Up arrow”
• “SEARCH KEY + Up arrow”

Page down

• “ALT + Down arrow”

• “SEARCH KEY + Down arrow”

Jump to beginning of page

• “CTRL + ALT + Up arrow”

Jump to end of page

• “CTRL + ALT + Down arrow”

Save page

• “CTRL + S”

Window management

Move window to left

• “ALT + [“

Move window to right

• “ALT + ]”

Close app/window

• “CTRL + W”

Chrome OS shortcuts

These let you quickly navigate around your Chromebook.

Sign out of your account

• “CTRL + SHIFT + Q”

Lock screen

• “CTRL + SHIFT + L”

Show Files app (Finder)

• Press FINDER key

OR

• “ALT + SHIFT + M”

Screenshot whole page

• “CTRL + SCREENSHOT KEY”

(It’s the 6th key at the top that looks like a display.)

Screenshot selected area

• “CTRL + SHIFT + SCREENSHOT KEY”

Then choose the area you want to screenshot partially.

Scale resolution down

• “CTRL + SHIFT + -”

(That’s CTRL and SHIFT and MINUS key.)

Scale resolution up

• “CTRL + SHIFT + +”

(That’s CTRL and SHIFT and PLUS key.)

Mousepad gestures

Here are some quick ways to perform actions using just your touchpad.

Right-click

• Touch with two fingers.

OR

• Press ALT and touch with one finger.

See all windows

• Swipe down with three fingers

OR

• Swipe up with three fingers.

Open link in new tab

• Move your cursor over the link, then touch the touchpad with three fingers.

Next or previous tab

• Swipe left or right with three fingers.

Highlight text

• Touch and drag mouse cursor.

Go back

• Swift left with two fingers.

Go forward

• Swipe right with two fingers.

You can adjust your touchpad settings to change how it functions if needed from Chrome settings > Device > Touchpad.

See all shortcuts

You can view ALL the shortcuts at once by pressing “CTRL + ALT + ?”.

This will bring up an on-screen dialog that maps out the various keyboard combinations if you ever forget. It’s like a cheat sheet built into your Chromebook!

Download this cheat sheet

You can download this guide in a printable format, for free, in PDF through this link:

Please let me know if you found it helpful, or if you have any feedback to suggest by leaving a comment!

Other helpful guides for students

Here are some of my other popular guides for students getting used to Chromebooks:

• Storing Chromebooks in the classroom for summer break
• Best remote learning apps
• Preserving the battery
• Best extensions for students
• Copying and pasting images, videos, and URLs
• All Chromebook touchpad gestures
• Setting up WiFi
• Turning on/off touchscreen display
• Cleaning the keyboard and display
• Chrome apps for students and productivity
• Fixing the microphone
• How to video conference on a Chromebook
• Complete beginner’s guide

You can also do a search on this site for whatever you’re looking for. Chances are if it’s a common enough problem, there should be some article about it somewhere on Platypus Platypus.

Did you find this cheat sheet helpful?

I hope you got some use out of this PDF. It contains all the commonly used commands and Chromebook trackpad gestures that can help make your students (or yourself) more efficient.

If you have any feedback suggestions, please post a comment below and let me know! Or if you found this cheat sheet helpful, consider telling a colleague!

Thanks for reading.

• About the Author

About Andy Z.

Andy is a casual-hardcore Chrome OS fan and contributes to the site regularly. He likes computers, tech, sports cars, videogames, and of course, Chromebooks. Thinker. Introvert. Geek. You can find him on Twitter (@platytech), or send him an email (check the "Contact Us" page).