Shortcut tips for Visual Studio
You can navigate in Visual Studio more easily by using the shortcuts in this article. These shortcuts include keyboard and mouse shortcuts as well as text you can enter to help accomplish a task more easily.
For a comprehensive list of command shortcuts and a printable keyboard shortcut cheat sheet, see Keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio.
Window management
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Maximize floating window | Double-click on title bar |
| Maximize/minimize windows | Win+Up arrow / Win+Down arrow |
| Redock floating window | Ctrl+double-click on title bar |
| Move/dock floating windows | Win+Left arrow / Win+Right arrow |
| Close active document | Ctrl+F4 |
| Show open file list | Ctrl+Alt+Down arrow |
| Show all floating windows | Ctrl+Shift+M |
| Show jump list | Win+Alt+N |
| Start new instance | Win+Shift+N |
| Switch between windows | Win+N |
Search
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Solution Explorer search | Ctrl+; |
| Place focus in search box in any tool window (except editor) | Alt+` when the tool window has focus |
| Search Visual Studio | Ctrl+Q |
| Search box results filter | @opt - Options @cmd - Commands @mru - Most recently used @doc - Open documents |
| Search in Tools Options | Ctrl+E |
Find in the editor
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Quick Find | Ctrl+F |
| Quick Find Next Result | Enter |
| Quick Find Previous Result | Shift+Enter |
| Quick Find Expand Drop Down | Alt+Down arrow |
| Dismiss Find | Esc |
| Quick Replace | Ctrl+H |
| Quick Replace - Replace Next | Alt+R |
| Quick Replace - Replace All | Alt+A |
| Find in Files | Ctrl+Shift+F |
| Replace in Files | Ctrl+Shift+H |
Code editor
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Go To All | Ctrl+T |
| Go to recent files | Ctrl+1,R |
| Multi-caret multiple insertion points | Ctrl+Alt+click |
| Multi-caret add matching selection | Shift+Alt+Ins |
| Format Document | Ctrl+K,D |
| IntelliSense suggestion mode | Ctrl+Alt+Space (Toggle) |
| Force show IntelliSense | Ctrl+J |
| Quick Actions | Ctrl+. |
| Snippet picker | Ctrl+K,X or ?,Tab (Visual Basic) |
| Surround With | Ctrl+K,S |
| Show Quick Info | Ctrl+K,I |
| Navigate To | Ctrl+, |
| Navigate highlighted references | Ctrl+Shift+Up (Previous) Ctrl+Shift+Down (Next) |
| Editor zoom | Ctrl+Shift+> (In) Ctrl+Shift+< (Out) |
| Block selection | Hold Alt and drag mouse Shift+Alt+Arrow keys |
| Move line up/down | Alt+Up arrow / Alt+Down arrow |
| Duplicate line | Ctrl+E,V |
| Expand selection | Shift+Alt+= |
| Contract selection | Shift+Alt+- |
| Go To Definition | F12 |
| Peek Definition | Alt+F12 |
| Go To Definition stack | Ctrl+Shift+8 (Back) Ctrl+Shift+7 (Forward) |
| Close the Peek Definition window | Esc |
| Promote the Peek Definition window to a regular document tab | Ctrl+Alt+Home |
| Navigate between multiple Peek Definition windows | Ctrl+Alt+- and Ctrl+Alt+= |
| Navigate between multiple Peek results | F8 and Shift+F8 |
| Toggle between the code editor window and the Peek Definition window | Shift+Esc |
| Go to enclosing block | Ctrl+Alt+Up arrow |
| Go to next/previous issue | Alt+PgUp / Alt+PgDn |
| Contextual navigation menu | Alt+` |
Toolbars
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Add buttons | Select the toolbar overflow button |
| Find combo in standard toolbar | Ctrl+D |
| Find textbox command mode | Type > |
| Create new alias | Type alias <new alias> <command> in the Command window |
Debugging
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Start debugging | F5 |
| Stop debugging | Shift+F5 |
| Restart debugging | Ctrl+Shift+F5 |
| Step over | F10 |
| Step into | F11 |
| Step out | Shift+F11 |
| Run to cursor | Ctrl+F10 |
| Set next statement | Ctrl+Shift+F10 |
| Set and toggle breakpoint | F9 |
| Disable breakpoint | Ctrl+F9 |
| Immediate window | Ctrl+Alt+I |
| Immediate window command mode | Type > |
| Immediate window - clear buffer | Type cls |
| Immediate window - print value | Type ?varname |