Gnome Desktop Keyboard Shortcuts

The GNOME Desktop is one of the most popular workstation environments in Linux today. It features a sleek interface that is quick and easy to use right out of the box. Aside from that, GNOME is also flexible enough that you can extend it with third-party plugins and functions.

Essential GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts

While GNOME is mostly a mouse-based desktop environment, it also packs plenty of keyboard shortcuts for some standard features. This means that the environment can cater to both novices still learning the ropes in Linux and the more knowledgeable power user.

This cheatsheet will show you how to maximize your GNOME Desktop experience by highlighting some of its most helpful keyboard shortcuts. Not only that, but it will also show how you can take advantage of some of GNOME’s little-known features.

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Shortcut	Function
Window Navigation	
F10	Select the first Menu Bar entry in the current window.
Left Arrow	Select the next Menu Bar entry in the current window.
Right Arrow	Select the previous Menu Bar entry in the current window.
Down Arrow	Go through the available subitems in the current Menu Bar entry.
Up Arrow	Go back to the previous subitems in the current Menu Bar entry.
Alt + Tab	Cycle through all the open windows in the current session.
Alt + Shift + Tab	Cycle in through all the open windows in reverse.
Alt + Esc	Cycle through all the open windows in the current workspace.
Alt + Shift + Esc	Cycle through all the open windows in the current workspace in reverse.
Win + `	Cycle through all the open windows of a single application.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Left Arrow	Move the currently focused window to the left of the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + Right Arrow	Move the currently focused window to the right of the current workspace.
Win + Shift + Home	Move the currently focused window to the first workspace.
Win + Shift + End	Move the currently focused window to the last workspace.
Window Manipulation
Win + Up Arrow	Maximize the currently focused window.
Win + Down Arrow	Unmaximize the currently focused window.
Win + Left Arrow	Split the left side of the screen with the currently focused window.
Win + Right Arrow	Split the right side of the screen with the currently focused window.
Win + H	Minimize the currently focused window.
Alt + F4	Close the currently focused window.
Alt + F7	Toggle the window’s move mode.
Alt + F8	Toggle the window’s resize mode.
Alt + Space	Open the window’s menu dialog box.
Win + Space	Go to the next available text box in the current window.
Win + Shift + Space	Go back to the last available text box in the current window.
Text Box Editing
Ctrl + A	Select all the text in the currently focused text box.
Ctrl + C	Copy the currently selected text to the clipboard.
Ctrl + X	Cut the currently selected text to the clipboard.
Ctrl + V	Paste the clipboard text to the currently focused text box.
Ctrl + Shift + U	Toggle GNOME’s Unicode entry mode.
Workspace and Monitor Manipulation
Ctrl + Alt + Tab	Cycle through the different focus modes in the current workspace.
Ctrl + Alt + Left Arrow	Move the workspace to the left of the current one.
Ctrl + Alt + Right Arrow	Move the workspace to the right of the current one.
Win + Home	Move the workspace to the first one in the current session.
Win + End	Move the workspace to the last one in the current session.
Win + Shift + Left Arrow	If available, move the focus to the left monitor screen.
Win + Shift + Right Arrow	If available, move the focus to the right monitor screen.
Win + Shift + Up Arrow	If available, move the focus to the top monitor screen.
Win + Shift + Down Arrow	If available, move the focus to the bottom monitor screen.
Screen Capturing
PrtSc	Take a screenshot of the entire screen and save it.
Alt + PrtSc	Take a screenshot of a window and save it.
Shift + PrtSc	Take a screenshot of a custom region in the screen and save it.
Ctrl + PrtSc	Take a screenshot of the entire screen and copy it to the clipboard.
Ctrl + Alt + PrtSc	Take a screenshot of a window and copy it to the clipboard.
Ctrl + Shift + PrtSc	Take a screenshot of a custom region in the screen and copy it to the clipboard.
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + R	Toggle GNOME’s screencasting mode.
System Manipulation
Win	Open GNOME’s Workspace Overview screen.
Win + V	Open the Notification Center dialog box.
Win + N	Select the currently active notification toast window.
Win + A	Open the Application Menu screen.
Win + L	Lock the current GNOME session.
Win + Esc	Restore all keyboard shortcuts to their default setting.
Alt + F2	Open GNOME’s Run Prompt.
Win + Alt + S	Toggle GNOME’s Screen Reader feature.
Win + Alt + 8	Zoom the current screen around the mouse pointer.
Ctrl + Alt + Delete	Log out of the current GNOME session.

_{Image credit: Unsplash. All alterations by Ramces Red.}