Shortcut Keys (Help Viewer)
Note
This article applies to Visual Studio 2015. If you're looking for the latest Visual Studio documentation, see Visual Studio documentation. We recommend upgrading to the latest version of Visual Studio. Download it here
You can navigate in the Microsoft Help Viewer by using the shortcut keys in the following table:
| Area | Keystroke | Action |
|---|---|---|
| General Application | Space | Use instead of Enter anywhere except in edit fields. |
| General Application | F1 | Open Help about current UI element. |
| General Application | F11 | Toggle between full-screen view and regular view. |
| Toolbar | Backspace -OR- Alt + Left Arrow |
Display the previous page. |
| Toolbar | Alt + Right Arrow | Display the next page. |
| Toolbar | Alt + Home | Display the Help Reviewer Home page. |
| Toolbar | Ctrl + S | Highlight the current topic in the table of contents (on the Contents tab). |
| Toolbar | Ctrl + D | Add the current topic to the Favorites tab. |
| Toolbar | Ctrl + F | Display the Find bar in the topic area so that you can search for text within the current topic. |
| Toolbar | Ctrl + P | Print the current page. |
| Toolbar | Ctrl + F2 | Display a print preview of the current page. |
| Toolbar | Ctrl + O | Display the Viewer Options dialog box. |
| Toolbar | Ctrl + Shift + M | Display the Manage Contents tab. |
| Navigators | Alt + C -OR- Ctrl + Shift + C |
Display the Contents tab. |
| Navigators | Alt + I -OR- Ctrl + Shift + I |
Display the Index tab. |
| Navigators | Alt + F -OR- Ctrl + Shift + F |
Display the Favorites tab. |
| Navigators | Alt + S -OR- Ctrl + E -OR- Ctrl + Shift + S |
Display the Search tab. |
| Navigators | Alt + M -OR- Ctrl + Shift + M |
Display the Manage Content tab. |
| Topic | Shortcut Menu key OR Shift + F10 |
Display the shortcut menu for the current UI element. |
| Topic | Up Arrow | Scroll toward the start of the document one line at a time. |
| Topic | Down Arrow | Scroll toward the end of the document one line at a time. |
| Topic | Page Up | Scroll toward the start of the document one screen at a time. |
| Topic | Page Down | Scroll toward the end of the document one screen at a time. |
| Topic | Home | Move to the start of the document. |
| Topic | End | Move to the end of the document. |
| Topic | Ctrl + F | Find search text on this page. |
| Topic | F5 | Refresh the current page. |
| Topic | Ctrl + P | Print the current page. |
| Topic | Ctrl + F2 | Display a print preview of the current page. |
| Topic | F4 | Display the Properties dialog box for the current page. |
| Topic | Ctrl + T | Open another content tab in the foreground. |
| Topic | Ctrl + Click | Open a link on a new tab in the foreground. |
| Topic | Ctrl + Tab | Switch among tabs from left to right. |
| Topic | Ctrl + Shift + Tab | Switch among tabs from right to left. |
| Topic | Ctrl + W | Close the current tab. |
| Topic | Ctrl + Number | Switch to a specific tab where Number is between 1 and 9 and indicates which tab in sequence. |
| Topic | Ctrl +Alt + F4 | Close other content tabs. |
| Topic | Ctrl + Shift + Plus Sign | Increase zoom by 10%. |
| Topic | Ctrl + Minus Sign | Decrease zoom by 10%. |
| Topic | Ctrl + 0 (zero) | Change zoom to 100%. |
| Index | Tab | Shift focus from keyword entry to keyword list. |
| Index | Ctrl + K | Switch between showing entries that contain the keyword that you specify and entries that start with the keyword that you specify. |
| Favorites | Ctrl + Shift + Del | Clear your browsing history. |
| Favorites | Del | Delete the specified item. |
| Favorites | Ctrl + N | Create a folder within Favorites. |
| Favorites | F2 | Rename the specified favorite or folder. |
| Contents & Index & Search | Ctrl + D | Add the specified topic to the Favorites tab. |
| Contents & Index & Search & Favorites | Ctrl + P | Print the specified topic. |
| Contents & Index & Search & Favorites | Ctrl + F2 | Display a print preview of the specified topic. |
| Contents & Index & Search & Favorites | Ctrl + Click | Open the topic in a new tab. |
| Search | Esc | Clear the search text box. |
| Viewer Options | Alt + T | Change focus to the Text Size list. |
| Viewer Options | Alt + S | Change focus to the Maximum Search Results list. |
| Viewer Options | Alt + H | Change focus to the Maximum History entries saved list. |
| Viewer Options | Alt + E | Select or clear the Include English content in all navigation tabs and F1 requests check box if it is enabled. |
| Viewer Options | Alt + O | Select or clear the Go online to check for content updates check box. |
| Find | Enter | Change focus to the next item. |
| Find | Shift + Enter | Change focus to the previous item. |
| Find | Esc | Hides the Find text box. |
| Status bar | Alt + E | Open the Error dialog box if the status bar shows that an error has occurred. |
| Status bar | Alt + U | Download content if the status bar shows that updates are available |
Window Management
| Keystroke | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + L | Reset the Help Viewer layout to the default layout, and close all topic tabs. |
| Ctrl + Tab | The first keystroke gives focus to the Tab Selection menu. The next keystroke gives focus to the top menu item, and subsequent keystrokes give focus to the menu items in sequence from top to bottom. When a menu item has focus, the Enter key makes that item the active tab. |
| Ctrl + Shift + Tab | The first keystroke gives focus to the Tab Selection menu. The next keystroke gives focus to the bottom menu item, and subsequent keystrokes give focus to the menu items in sequence from bottom to top. When a menu item has focus, the Enter key makes that item the active tab. |
| Alt + I, Alt + S, Alt + C, Alt + F, Alt + M | These shortcut keys don't work when the navigation and content-management tabs are undocked. |
Manage Content
| Keystroke | Action |
|---|---|
| Alt + D | Change the installation source to disk. |
| Alt + O | Change the installation source to online. |
| Tab | Change focus to the Local store path text box. |
| Tab | Change focus to the Move… button. |
| Alt + V | Open the Move Content dialog box. |
| Ctrl + Alt + F | Change focus to the Filter Documentation text box. |
| Tab | Change focus to the documentation list. |
| Up Arrow and Down Arrow | Scroll through the documentation list. |
| Space | Add an item to the Pending changes list. |
| Tab | Change focus to the Pending changes list. |
| Up Arrow and Down Arrow | Scroll through the Pending changes list. |
| Space | Remove an item from the Pending changes list. |
| Alt + T | Apply all pending changes. |