Shortcut Keys (Help Viewer)

Note

This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here

You can navigate in the Microsoft Help Viewer by using the shortcut keys in the following table:

Area Keystroke Action
General Application Space Use instead of Enter anywhere except in edit fields.
General Application F1 Open Help about current UI element.
General Application F11 Toggle between full-screen view and regular view.
Toolbar Backspace

-OR-

Alt + Left Arrow
Display the previous page.
Toolbar Alt + Right Arrow Display the next page.
Toolbar Alt + Home Display the Help Reviewer Home page.
Toolbar Ctrl + S Highlight the current topic in the table of contents (on the Contents tab).
Toolbar Ctrl + D Add the current topic to the Favorites tab.
Toolbar Ctrl + F Display the Find bar in the topic area so that you can search for text within the current topic.
Toolbar Ctrl + P Print the current page.
Toolbar Ctrl + F2 Display a print preview of the current page.
Toolbar Ctrl + O Display the Viewer Options dialog box.
Toolbar Ctrl + Shift + M Display the Manage Contents tab.
Navigators Alt + C

-OR-

Ctrl + Shift + C
Display the Contents tab.
Navigators Alt + I

-OR-

Ctrl + Shift + I
Display the Index tab.
Navigators Alt + F

-OR-

Ctrl + Shift + F
Display the Favorites tab.
Navigators Alt + S

-OR-

Ctrl + E

-OR-

Ctrl + Shift + S
Display the Search tab.
Navigators Alt + M

-OR-

Ctrl + Shift + M
Display the Manage Content tab.
Topic Shortcut Menu key

OR

Shift + F10
Display the shortcut menu for the current UI element.
Topic Up Arrow Scroll toward the start of the document one line at a time.
Topic Down Arrow Scroll toward the end of the document one line at a time.
Topic Page Up Scroll toward the start of the document one screen at a time.
Topic Page Down Scroll toward the end of the document one screen at a time.
Topic Home Move to the start of the document.
Topic End Move to the end of the document.
Topic Ctrl + F Find search text on this page.
Topic F5 Refresh the current page.
Topic Ctrl + P Print the current page.
Topic Ctrl + F2 Display a print preview of the current page.
Topic F4 Display the Properties dialog box for the current page.
Topic Ctrl + T Open another content tab in the foreground.
Topic Ctrl + Click Open a link on a new tab in the foreground.
Topic Ctrl + Tab Switch among tabs from left to right.
Topic Ctrl + Shift + Tab Switch among tabs from right to left.
Topic Ctrl + W Close the current tab.
Topic Ctrl + Number Switch to a specific tab where Number is between 1 and 9 and indicates which tab in sequence.
Topic Ctrl +Alt + F4 Close other content tabs.
Topic Ctrl + Shift + Plus Sign Increase zoom by 10%.
Topic Ctrl + Minus Sign Decrease zoom by 10%.
Topic Ctrl + 0 (zero) Change zoom to 100%.
Index Tab Shift focus from keyword entry to keyword list.
Index Ctrl + K Switch between showing entries that contain the keyword that you specify and entries that start with the keyword that you specify.
Favorites Ctrl + Shift + Del Clear your browsing history.
Favorites Del Delete the specified item.
Favorites Ctrl + N Create a folder within Favorites.
Favorites F2 Rename the specified favorite or folder.
Contents & Index & Search Ctrl + D Add the specified topic to the Favorites tab.
Contents & Index & Search & Favorites Ctrl + P Print the specified topic.
Contents & Index & Search & Favorites Ctrl + F2 Display a print preview of the specified topic.
Contents & Index & Search & Favorites Ctrl + Click Open the topic in a new tab.
Search Esc Clear the search text box.
Viewer Options Alt + T Change focus to the Text Size list.
Viewer Options Alt + S Change focus to the Maximum Search Results list.
Viewer Options Alt + H Change focus to the Maximum History entries saved list.
Viewer Options Alt + E Select or clear the Include English content in all navigation tabs and F1 requests check box if it is enabled.
Viewer Options Alt + O Select or clear the Go online to check for content updates check box.
Find Enter Change focus to the next item.
Find Shift + Enter Change focus to the previous item.
Find Esc Hides the Find text box.
Status bar Alt + E Open the Error dialog box if the status bar shows that an error has occurred.
Status bar Alt + U Download content if the status bar shows that updates are available

Window Management

Keystroke Action
Ctrl + L Reset the Help Viewer layout to the default layout, and close all topic tabs.
Ctrl + Tab The first keystroke gives focus to the Tab Selection menu. The next keystroke gives focus to the top menu item, and subsequent keystrokes give focus to the menu items in sequence from top to bottom. When a menu item has focus, the Enter key makes that item the active tab.
Ctrl + Shift + Tab The first keystroke gives focus to the Tab Selection menu. The next keystroke gives focus to the bottom menu item, and subsequent keystrokes give focus to the menu items in sequence from bottom to top. When a menu item has focus, the Enter key makes that item the active tab.
Alt + I, Alt + S, Alt + C, Alt + F, Alt + M These shortcut keys don't work when the navigation and content-management tabs are undocked.

Manage Content

Keystroke Action
Alt + D Change the installation source to disk.
Alt + O Change the installation source to online.
Tab Change focus to the Local store path text box.
Tab Change focus to the Moveā€¦ button.
Alt + V Open the Move Content dialog box.
Ctrl + Alt + F Change focus to the Filter Documentation text box.
Tab Change focus to the documentation list.
Up Arrow and Down Arrow Scroll through the documentation list.
Space Add an item to the Pending changes list.
Tab Change focus to the Pending changes list.
Up Arrow and Down Arrow Scroll through the Pending changes list.
Space Remove an item from the Pending changes list.
Alt + T Apply all pending changes.