The Chrome keyboard shortcuts that save the most time
A cheat sheet of Chrome's most useful shortcuts for Windows and Mac, and how to add your own for notes, links and text.
Using the mouse for everything is comfortable, but slow. With a few well-learned keyboard shortcuts you can move around Chrome much faster without losing focus.
Here are the most useful ones, grouped by task. On Mac, replace Ctrl with Cmd.
Tab shortcuts
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Open a new tab | Ctrl+T | Cmd+T |
| Close the current tab | Ctrl+W | Cmd+W |
| Reopen the last closed tab | Ctrl+Shift+T | Cmd+Shift+T |
| Go to the next tab | Ctrl+Tab | Ctrl+Tab |
| Go to the previous tab | Ctrl+Shift+Tab | Ctrl+Shift+Tab |
| Go to tab 1 to 8 | Ctrl+1 … Ctrl+8 | Cmd+1 … Cmd+8 |
| Go to the last tab | Ctrl+9 | Cmd+9 |
Navigation and search
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Jump to the address bar | Ctrl+L or Alt+D | Cmd+L |
| Find in page | Ctrl+F | Cmd+F |
| Reload the page | Ctrl+R or F5 | Cmd+R |
| Back / forward | Alt+← / Alt+→ | Cmd+[ / Cmd+] |
| Bookmark the page | Ctrl+D | Cmd+D |
| Show or hide the bookmarks bar | Ctrl+Shift+B | Cmd+Shift+B |
Windows and tools
| Action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| New window | Ctrl+N | Cmd+N |
| Incognito window | Ctrl+Shift+N | Cmd+Shift+N |
| History | Ctrl+H | Cmd+Y |
| Downloads | Ctrl+J | Cmd+Shift+J |
| Clear browsing data | Ctrl+Shift+Delete | Cmd+Shift+Delete |
| Zoom in / out / reset | Ctrl++ / Ctrl+- / Ctrl+0 | Cmd++ / Cmd+- / Cmd+0 |
Extra shortcuts for your notes, links and text
Chrome doesn't include shortcuts to open your notes or insert saved text, but you can add them with an extension. NexoPad comes with these shortcuts out of the box, and you can change them from your browser's extension shortcuts page:
| NexoPad action | Windows / Linux | Mac |
|---|---|---|
| Open NexoPad | Ctrl+Space | Cmd+Space |
| Open snippets directly | Ctrl+Shift+Space | Cmd+Shift+Space |
| Open notes | Alt+S | Alt+S |
| Open the Notebook | Alt+Q | Alt+Q |
| Search everything from any website | Ctrl+K | Cmd+K |
| Search from the address bar | Type sys and press Tab | Type sys and press Tab |
How to learn them effortlessly
- Start with three:
Ctrl+T,Ctrl+WandCtrl+Shift+Talready save you lots of clicks every day. - Add one a week once the previous ones come naturally.
- Keep the cheat sheet handy: save this table in a NexoPad note and open it with
Alt+S. - Combine them with text shortcuts for the messages you repeat: read what a text expander is.
Frequently asked questions
Do these shortcuts work in Edge, Brave or Opera?
Most of them do, because these browsers are built on the same engine as Chrome. Some may vary slightly.
Can I change Chrome's shortcuts?
Chrome's own shortcuts can't be changed, but extension shortcuts can, from the browser's extension shortcuts page.
Does Ctrl+Space clash with another shortcut?
On some systems Ctrl+Space switches the keyboard language, and on Mac Cmd+Space opens Spotlight. If that happens, assign NexoPad a different shortcut from the browser's extension shortcuts page.
Published on October 11, 20266 min read
Try NexoPad for free
Text shortcuts, notes, links and AI in any tab. Install it in under a minute.