Most of the time when you press Shift it is just to capitalize a letter or word, but it also gives you access to dozens of different shortcuts in Windows 11 that can speed up your workflow.Some of them are minor adjustments to existing features—like a more efficient delete option—while others completely bypass a half-dozen steps you'd Shift+Delete permanently deletes a file Instant deletion without using the Recycle Bin Normally, pressing the delete key or right-click deleting moves an item to the Recycle bin.However, if you hold Shift and press Delete, it'll bypass the Recycle Bin and delete the target file or folder, though you still have a confirmation dialogue that'll prevent accidental deletion.
I don't use Shift+Delete all that often, but when it is relevant, it is Any time I'm clearing out a ton of large files, like AI models or their output, I'll reach for Shift+Delete, since there is no point in cluttering up the Recycle Bin with stuff I'm definitely not going to want to restore.Related Here's what happens when you force Windows to create a file in the Recycle Bin There is more to the Recycle Bin than meets the eye.Posts By Nick Lewis Shift+clicking selects a continuous range of items Selecting items one-by-one is unnecessarily tedious Selecting and manipulating a few items one-by-one is fine, but once you start working with 10, 20, or even 100 files, it becomes impractical and tedious quickly.
That is where Shift+Clicking comes in.Rather than selecting individual items, Shift+Click allows you to select entire lists.For example, if you had 26 files labeled A.txt through Z.txt, you could Shift+Click A.txt and then Shift-Click Z.txt, and your PC would automatically select every single one of them.
It is ideal any time you need to do something to a lot of files or folders at once.Better yet, Shift+Click selection respects your folder's current sorting options, so if you want to group by week, date modified, or size instead of name, you can do that too.I've frequently used it in that fashion to automatically grab videos above a certain size out of my backup folders so I can move them to a larger but slower drive.
Shift+Clicking works in File Explorer, but a lot of other applications support it too.Windows 11 Pro $29.99 $199 Save $169.01 Get Windows 11 Pro and elevate your PC experience while it's available at a huge 88% discount. $29.99 at StackSocial Expand Collapse Shift+Ctrl+T reopens the last closed browser tab Bring back the tab you accidentally closed Everyone accidentally closes a tab before they mean to.When that happens, all you need to do is press Shift+Ctrl+T—it'll automatically reopen the last tab you closed on most major browsers, including Chrome, Edge, and Firefox.
If you keep pressing it (usually just by holding Shift+Ctrl and tapping T), you'll keep opening tabs you closed.This restores the most recently closed tab in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and almost every other modern browser.If you keep pressing the combination, it will continue to walk backward through your previously closed tabs in reverse order.
Shift+Alt+Tab cycles backward through open windows A faster way to navigate I'm a keyboard-centric user, and I'll frequently use Alt+Tab to switch between applications.However, repeatedly tapping Alt+Tab only cycles through programs in one direction.If you miss your app, you could go all the way back around.
Alternatively, you could just press Shift+Alt+Tab.Adding the Shift key to this combination allows you to move through your open applications in reverse, so you don't have to cycle through a dozen apps just to get back to the app you want.Shift+right-click gives extra context menu options Get back what Windows 11 took from you Windows 11's right-click context menu was famously divisive because it was both a cosmetic practical change.
A ton of options that used to be accessible by default in Windows 10 (and older) weren't available.However, you can Shift-right-click to get an extended context menu that shows a bunch of extra commands.Some of the ones I use frequently are Copy as path and Open PowerShell window, since I tend to be a heavy Terminal user.
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Holding Shift restarts your PC into the Advanced Boot Menu Access UEFI with a few more clicks Traditionally, you accessed your UEFI (BIOS) by restarting your PC and then repeatedly tapping one key—often Delete—while it booted up to access the BIOS.There is an easier option.You can Shift+Click Restart within Windows, and you'll be taken to the Advanced Startup Menu instead of directly restarting.
From there, you can navigate through a few menu items and set your PC to boot directly into the UEFI.You don't need to worry about missing the window to tap the key or a problem caused by fast boot—a few clicks, and you're done.You can create any Shift shortcut you want Windows has a ton of Shift commands built in, but they're not customizable at all using the default Windows operating system.
If you want to add your own personal spin (or new shift shortcuts in general), I'd recommend downloading PowerToys and checking out the Keyboard Manager.You can rebind shortcuts, create new shortcuts, and even restrict those shortcuts to specific applications, so you can get extra use out of the same finite set of keys.It is a great way to customize your workflow and should be
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