Mac, Windows & Linux keyboard shortcuts.
Every shortcut worth knowing, in one place. Switch platform, search, and tap any row to copy the combo.
Why keyboard shortcuts are worth the effort
The gap between someone who feels fast at a computer and someone who doesn't is rarely typing speed — it's how often their hands leave the keyboard. Every time you reach for the mouse to copy text, switch windows or find a menu item, you pay a small tax in time and focus. Individually those moments are tiny, but across a day of real work they add up to a surprising amount, and the constant context-switching between keyboard and mouse quietly breaks your concentration. Learning even a dozen shortcuts well is one of the highest-return habits available to anyone who works at a screen, because you use them hundreds of times a day for years.
Start with the universal ones
The good news is that the most valuable shortcuts are nearly identical across every program. Copy, cut and paste (Ctrl/⌘ + C, X, V), undo and redo (Ctrl/⌘ + Z and Shift + Z or Y), select all (Ctrl/⌘ + A), save (Ctrl/⌘ + S) and find (Ctrl/⌘ + F) work in your browser, your editor, your email and almost everything else. If you only ever internalise these, you've already eliminated most of your mouse trips. The single biggest pattern to remember: on a Mac the Command (⌘) key plays the role that Ctrl plays on Windows and Linux, so most "Ctrl + key" shortcuts become "⌘ + key" when you move to macOS.
Then layer in window and tab management
Once the basics are automatic, the next tier pays off the most: moving between things. Switching apps (⌘ + Tab on Mac, Alt + Tab on Windows), cycling browser tabs (Ctrl + Tab), reopening a tab you just closed (Ctrl/⌘ + Shift + T) and snapping or arranging windows are the shortcuts that change how it feels to juggle several things at once. Taking a screenshot is another everyday win that almost nobody does by keyboard until they learn it — ⌘ + Shift + 4 on Mac, ⊞ + Shift + S on Windows.
How to actually remember them
Don't try to memorise a whole table at once. Pick three or four shortcuts you know you'd use today, force yourself to use them instead of the mouse even when it feels slower, and let them become muscle memory over a few days before adding more. Keep this page open and search it (press /) the moment you catch yourself reaching for the mouse — within a couple of weeks the ones that matter for your work will stick. Working in a specific app? Jump to the VS Code, Excel, Word, Chrome or Gmail cheatsheets, or see the dedicated Mac and Windows lists.