Windows – the new Windows 10 search shortcut

keyboard shortcutswindowswindows 10

Using +F you used to be able to open a search dialog.

I recommended WinKey+F this as an alternative to the start menu search, which didn't work anymore for a blind person using a screen reader. He told me that after trying this, he got "something about signing in and when I hit enter, nothing happens". Starting a Windows 10 VM and trying myself, it turns out they changed this to the "Feedback Hub".

What is the new shortcut? I tried +F3, F3 by itself on the desktop, and Ctrl+F on the desktop.

An alternative I just thought of while writing this post is two steps: +E to open explorer, then Ctrl+F to focus the search. This seems to work when trying it. Is this how you are supposed to do it now?

Best Answer

In Windows 10, Microsoft has changed shortcut for search to Windows+S. It opens Search tab in Start menu. Alternatively, you can use Search bar in Taskbar or Cortana.

If you want search in Windows Explorer, you can do the following:

Press Windows+E to launch Explorer¹.
Press Ctrl+E to put focus to Search field.
Type search request.

¹ Explorer in Windows 10 opens Recently Used folders and files. I'm not sure whether searching here will find all the files in your computer. You might want to configure Explorer to open This Computer folder by default.

Related Solutions

Windows – the keyboard shortcut to open the file search dialog for selected folder in Windows XP

Click Change preferences in the search sidebar, then Change files and folders search behavior, choose Advanced then click OK.

Macos – How to make a shortcut that starts a new terminal window on mac os x 10.9.1 mavericks

You can create a service like this:

Then give it a shortcut from System Preferences.

There is a delay of maybe 0.1 - 1 s before Automator services are run, and at least on my installations of 10.7 and 10.8, the shortcuts for services didn't always work until I hovered over the services menu from the menu bar. You might also use FastScripts to assign a shortcut to the script, or use a private.xml like this with KeyRemap4MacBook:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SHELL_TERMINAL</name>
    <url type="shell">osascript -e 'tell app "Terminal"' -e 'do script ""' -e activate -e end</url>
  </vkopenurldef>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F5, ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_SHELL_TERMINAL</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

If others look for a way to open Terminal and only create a new window if there are no existing windows, you can use a private.xml like this with KeyRemap4MacBook:

<?xml version="1.0"?>
<root>
  <vkopenurldef>
    <name>KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_TERMINAL</name>
    <url>file:///Applications/Utilities/Terminal.app</url>
  </vkopenurldef>
  <item>
    <name>test</name>
    <identifier>test</identifier>
    <autogen>__KeyToKey__ KeyCode::F5, ModifierFlag::NONE, KeyCode::VK_OPEN_URL_TERMINAL</autogen>
  </item>
</root>

Or if you have bought the Powerpack for Alfred 2, you can create a workflow like this:

Best Answer

Related Solutions

Windows – the keyboard shortcut to open the file search dialog for selected folder in Windows XP

Macos – How to make a shortcut that starts a new terminal window on mac os x 10.9.1 mavericks

Related Question