Keyboard Shortcut Keys for Visual Studio 2008, 2010, 2012

By: Suresh Dasari Nov 5, 2012

Introduction:

Here I will explain Visual Studio keyboard shortcut keys for 2008, 2010 and 2012.

Description:

In previous articles I explained Detect Browser type in jQuery, Export Gridview data to PDF, Joins in SQL Server, Highlight Gridview records based on search and many articles relating to Gridview, SQL, jQuery, asp.net, C#, VB.NET. Now I will explain Visual Studio keyboard shortcut keys for 2008, 2010 and 2012.

If we know keyboard shortcut keys for visual studio we can easily navigate without using mouse

General Shortcut Keys

ShortCut	Description
Ctrl-X or Shift-Delete or Ctrl-L	Cuts the currently selected item to the clipboard
Ctrl-Del	Delete next "word"
Ctrl-C or Ctrl-Insert	Copies the currently selected item to the clipboard
Ctrl-V or Shift-Insert	Pastes the item from the clipboard at the cursor location
Ctrl-Z or Alt-Backspace	Undo the previous editing action
Ctrl-Space	To see intelligence dialog
Ctrl-Y or Ctrl-Shift-Z	Redo the previous undo action
Ctrl-S	Saves the current selected file
Ctrl-Shift-S	Saves all files and projects
Ctrl-P	Displays the Print dialog
F7	Switches from the design view to the code view in the editor
Shift-F7	Switches from the code view to the design view in the editor
Shift-F8 or F8	Navigate to compile time errors
Alt-Shift-A	Add Existing Item(file) to selected project
Ctrl-Shift-A	Add New Item(file) to selected project
Shift-F9	Display the selected item quick output means contains value while debugging
F12	Moves the cursor to the selected method, variable, class definition.
Shift-F12	Finds the reference to the selected method, variable, class or the item under the cursor
Ctrl-}	Match curly braces, brackets or compiler directives
Ctrl-Shift-}	Select text between matched braces, brackets or compiler directives

Text Navigation Shortcut Keys

ShortCut	Description
Top of Form Ctrl-End	Moves the cursor to the end of the document
Ctrl-Home	Moves the cursor to the start of the document
Ctrl-G	Displays the Go to Line dialog. If the debugger is running, the dialog also lets you specify addresses or function names to go to
Ctrl-]	Moves the cursor to the matching brace in the document. If the cursor is on an opening brace, this will move to the corresponding closing brace and vice versa
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-N	Moves to the next bookmark in the document
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-P	Moves to the previous bookmark
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-I	Displays Quick Info, based on the current language
Ctrl-Down Arrow	Scrolls text down one line but does not move the cursor. This is useful for scrolling more text into view without losing your place. Available only in text editors
Ctrl-Up Arrow	Scrolls text up one line but does not move the cursor. Available only in text editors
Ctrl-Right Arrow	Moves the cursor one word to the right
Ctrl-Left Arrow	Moves the cursor one word to the left
Ctrl-Shift-1	Navigates to the next definition, declaration, or reference of an item. Available in the object browser and Class View window. Also available in source editing windows if you have already used the Edit.GoToReference (Shift-F12) shortcut
Ctrl-Shift-2	Navigates to the previous definition, declaration, or reference of an item

Text Manipulation Shortcut Keys

ShortCut	Description
Shift-Tab	Moves current line or selected lines one tab stop to the left
Backspace or	Deletes one character to the left of the cursor
Shift-Backspace	Deletes one character to the left of the cursor
Ctrl-G	Go to Particular line
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-C	Marks the current line or selected lines of code as a comment, using the correct comment syntax for the programming language
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-U	Removes the comment syntax from the current line or currently selected lines of code
Ctrl-T or	Swaps the characters on either side of the cursor. (For example, AC\|BD becomes AB\|CD.) Available only in text editors
Shift-Enter
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-L	Removes all unnamed bookmarks in the current document
Ctrl-M, Ctrl-O	Automatically determines logical boundaries for creating regions in code, such as procedures, and then hides them. This collapses all such regions in the current document
Alt-Right Arrow or	Displays statement completion based on the current language or autocompletes word if existing text unambiguously identifies a single symbol
Ctrl-Spacebar
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-\	Removes horizontal whitespace in the selection or deletes whitespace adjacent to the cursor if there is no selection
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-F	Applies the indenting and space formatting for the language as specified on the Formatting pane of the language in the Text Editor section of the Options dialog to the selected text.
Ctrl-L	Cuts all selected lines or the current line if nothing has been selected to the clipboard
Ctrl-Shift-L	Deletes all selected lines or the current line if no selection has been made
Ctrl-Enter	Inserts a blank line above the cursor
Ctrl-Shift-Enter	Inserts a blank line below the cursor
Shift-Alt-T	Moves the line containing the cursor below the next line
Ctrl-J	Lists members for statement completion when editing code
Ctrl-U	Changes the selected text to lowercase characters
Ctrl-Shift-U	Changes the selected text to uppercase characters
Ctrl-Shift-Spacebar	Displays a tooltip that contains information for the current parameter, based on the current language
Ctrl-M, Ctrl-U	Removes the outlining information for the currently selected region
Ctrl-M, Ctrl-P	Removes all outlining information from the entire document
Ctrl-R, Ctrl-P	Swaps the anchor and endpoint of the current selection
Ctrl-M, Ctrl-L	Toggles all previously marked hidden text sections between hidden and display states
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-K	Sets or removes a bookmark at the current line
Ctrl-M, Ctrl-M	Toggles the currently selected hidden text section or the section containing the cursor if there is no selection between the hidden and display states
Ctrl-K, Ctrl-H	Sets or removes a shortcut in the tasklist to the current line
Ctrl-R, Ctrl-R	Enables or disables word wrap in an editor
Ctrl-R, Ctrl-W	Shows or hides spaces and tab marks
Ctrl-Delete	Deletes the word to the right of the cursor
Ctrl-Backspace	Deletes the word to the left of the cursor
Ctrl-Shift-T	Transposes the two words that follow the cursor. (For example, \|End Sub would be changed to read Sub End\|.)

Project Related Shortcut Keys

ShortCut	Description
Top of Form Ctrl-Shift-B Bottom of Form	Builds the solution
Ctrl-N	Displays the New File dialog. Note: files created this way are not associated with a project. Use Ctrl-Shift-A to add a new file in a project
Ctrl-Shift-N	Displays the New Project dialog
Ctrl-O	Displays the Open File dialog
Ctrl-Shift-O	Displays the Open Project dialog
Shift-Alt-A	Displays the Add Existing Item dialog
Ctrl-Shift-A	Displays the Add New Item dialog
Ctrl-Alt-Insert	Allows you to override base class methods in a derived class when an overridable method is highlighted in the Class View pane Bottom of Form
Ctrl-M-O	Collapse all the methods, classes, regions in the current code behind or class file
Ctrl-M-P or Ctrl-M-L	Expands all the methods, classes, regions in the current code behind or class file
Ctrl-F	Displays the Find dialog
Ctrl-H	Displays the Replace dialog
Ctrl-Shift-F	Find the reference of selected item into entire solution.
Ctrl-Tab	Move from one opened file to another opened file in visual studio.
F9	Sets or removes a breakpoint at the current line
Ctrl-F9	Enables or disables the breakpoint on the current line of code. The line must already have a breakpoint for this to work
F5	Runs the code with invoking the debugger.
Ctrl-F5	Runs the code without invoking the debugger.
F4 or Alt-Enter	Displays the Properties window, which lists the design-time properties and events for the currently selected item
Ctrl-Alt-S	Displays the Server Explorer window, which allows you to view and manipulate database servers, event logs, message queues, web services, and many other operating system services
Ctrl-Alt-L	Displays the Solution Explorer, which lists the projects and files in the current solution
Ctrl-Alt-X	Displays the Toolbox, which contains controls and other items that can be dragged into editor and designer windows
Ctrl-Alt-I	Displays the Immediate window, where you can find the controls or variables values or can do data manipulation during debugging