Questions about keyboard shortcuts: both which ones to use and how to create custom shortcuts.

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277
votes
11answers
246k views

What are Unity's keyboard and mouse shortcuts?

In Unity, are there any pre-defined shortcuts, e.g. to open the dash or unhide the launcher?
113
votes
4answers
27k views

How do I modify or disable the HUD's use of the Alt key?

A number of games, Emacs, and the terminal make extensive use of the Alt key. Can Unity be configured to respect this key, rather than launching the HUD with it?
56
votes
7answers
34k views

How do I remap certain keys?

I'm searching for a way to remap certain keys in ubuntu. i.e. i'd like to change PgUp to Home or PgDown to End. Does a built-in command or a tool exist reassign keys in Ubuntu/GNOME?
52
votes
12answers
36k views

How do I deactivate F1 and F10 keybindings in gnome-terminal?

How can I turn off the F1 (help) and F10 (notifications menu) key bindings? First one I need for screen utility and second to exit mc in console. There are no such key bindings in the Keyboard ...
37
votes
3answers
6k views

What is the “Grave” button?

The quick help of Unity (long press on the Super button) shows that Switch windows of current application can be triggered by Alt+Grave keyboard shortcut. What is Grave? Here it is:
37
votes
1answer
29k views

What is the “show desktop” keyboard shortcut?

I just upgraded to 11.10 from 11.04. Previously the shortcut to show the desktop was Super key + D (same as in Windows), But now it is not working. What is the new shortcut?
36
votes
3answers
2k views

What does “Ctrl + Alt + F12” do?

I accidentally pressed Ctrl+Alt+F12 and my display turned to black... I then had to make a reboot.. What did it do to my system? Also what does Alt+ F8 to F10 do?
27
votes
5answers
6k views

How to make keyboard work like OSX System Wide?

I switch back and forth between two computers constantly: OSX Snow Leopard Ubuntu 10.10 I'd like to be able to make Ubuntu use the same keyboard shortcuts as OSX System Wide, for the following ...
24
votes
14answers
33k views

Shut down computer from keyboard

Is there a keyboard shortcut available to shutdown the computer? I know I can use the Power button, but I would like to be able to it from the keyboard. If such a shortcut does not exist already, ...
22
votes
12answers
15k views

Can not paste into terminal

When I copy something from another window then my terminal and want to paste it into my terminal (on the command line) the paste option in Edit is grayed out. Ctrl+V does not work. I try to copy form ...
22
votes
4answers
962 views

How can I change what keys on my keyboard do? (How can I create custom keyboard commands/shortcuts?)

I want to change the key bindings on some of the keys on my keyboard. I want some to run commands and others to activate different keys. What applications can I use to do this? Index: ...
22
votes
4answers
6k views

Restore the Ctrl + Alt + Num Pad 4 and 6 window positioning commands?

Using Unity in Ubuntu 12.04, the Ctrl + Alt + Num Pad combination for positioning windows no longer works completely consistently: Ctrl + Alt + 4 (move window to left half of screen) was changed to ...
22
votes
3answers
4k views

How to disable the alt-hotkey behavior on gnome terminal?

This is not just gnome terminal, but pretty much all gnome windows: When you hold the "alt" key, you can press the first letter of one of the menu items. This will let you scroll that menu without ...
21
votes
2answers
5k views

Quickly place a window to another screen using only the keyboard

I know that using Alt-F7, I can use the keyboard to move the window around. I can also use the "Grid" plugin of Compiz to position quickly the window around my current monitor. The grid plugin doesn't ...
21
votes
1answer
2k views

How do I turn off the alt-shift-uparrow keybinding in GNOME?

After upgrading from 10.10 to 11.04, the key sequence ALT-shift-uparrow now seems to have a window-manager level definition. It seems that this is a new unity key sequence. However, I'm using ...
20
votes
20answers
2k views

What are some useful keyboard short cuts?

I would like to learn some useful keyboard shortcuts. I have become a ninja of keyboard shortcuts on windows. Any must have tips for Ubuntu? Feel free to include Ubuntu defaults or custom ones you ...
19
votes
3answers
2k views

How can I enable Ctrl+Alt+Backspace?

Ctrl+Alt+← can usually be set to restart X, however I can't find the option to allow this (it is disabled by default). I have looked in System->Preferences->Keyboard and ...
19
votes
4answers
6k views

How do I remap the caps lock key?

In the past the past I used to use xmodmap to prevent the Caps Lock button from working, and then tell Launchy to handle the key press instead. I can't seem to do this anymore. What is the best way ...
19
votes
5answers
2k views

How can I make the volume change in smaller increments?

When I press the volume up/down keys on my keyboard, the volume changes too much. How can I make the step size smaller so that I have finer control?
18
votes
3answers
19k views

How do I quickly switch between workspaces in unity?

I'm using Ubuntu 11.10 with Unity and would like to switch between workspaces with a keyboard shortcut. Is there any way to achieve this?
18
votes
1answer
2k views

I accidentally hit Ctl Alt F<num>. How do I return to the GUI?

I'm using 12.04, I accidentally used Ctl-Alt-F9 and got a black full screen with command line cursor (Terminal). How can I go back to the normal Unity screen?
18
votes
5answers
2k views

Set Ctrl+Alt+T to open a maximized terminal

I use the Ctrl+Alt+T shortcut to open a terminal, but I cannot see how I can get it maximized. When I start it manually, I can simply do a gnome-terminal --maximize, but that does not apply for the ...
18
votes
2answers
3k views

How to emulate winkey+arrow Windows 7's maximise shortcut keys?

In Windows 7 (not sure about other versions) you have these shortcuts: winkey+up maximize current window winkey+down unmaximize winkey+right maximize height, set width as half of the screen and ...
17
votes
2answers
34k views

GNOME 3 Shell keyboard/mouse shortcuts

What keyboard or mouse shortcuts for GNOME 3 exist ?
16
votes
5answers
7k views

How can I restore default keyboard shortcuts?

I have customized some of the shortcuts in System ▸ Preferences ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts. How can I restore individual shortcuts to their default settings? I do not want to reset all of the shortcuts, ...
16
votes
2answers
10k views

Keyboard shortcut for “open a terminal here”

How can I create a keyboard shortcut so that when I press F12 in nautilus (or desktop), I get a terminal in the current directory?
16
votes
1answer
207 views

Is there a fancy vertical notification OSD that works for both ALSA and pulseaudio?

Is there a fancy way to get the volume notification OSD to work with both pulseaudio and ALSA? Right now the standard desktop ones only work with pulseaudio for me. How about a vertical OSD that I can ...
15
votes
1answer
3k views

Keyboard shortcut to move windows between monitors?

I remember there used to be a setting under Compiz that set a keyboard shortcut for moving applications between physical (but combined as a single xscreen) screens, similar to moving between logical ...
15
votes
3answers
4k views

How do I disable the Super key?

I want to disable the Super key, when I press Super nothing should happen. How can I do that?
15
votes
0answers
1k views

Why don't Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V work in a terminal? [duplicate]

Possible Duplicate: Making Ctrl+C copy text in gnome-terminal? Ctrl+C an Ctrl+V work well under my Ubuntu except in a terminal: If I want to past something into a terminal, I need to right ...
14
votes
4answers
26k views

What is the equivalent of 'Control-Alt-Delete'?

On Windows anytime the system hangs Ctrl-Alt-Del brings up the Start Up Manager, from which you can end the program or process causing the hang. Is there any command like this on Ubuntu?
14
votes
2answers
3k views

How do I disable the sleep button on my keyboard?

I have a "power button" on my keyboard that enables standby or hibernate. I can't find the mapping of this key anywhere in "sytem settings>Keyboard", "system>power management", "compiz config> or ...
14
votes
1answer
3k views

How can I suspend using a keyboard shortcut, without administrator privileges?

How can I set up a keyboard shortcut that I can use instead of clicking this menu item? I have read about various terminal commands for suspending which I could easily assign to a keyboard ...
14
votes
2answers
3k views

How do I disable the Unity keyboard shortcut overlay?

Is it possible to disable keyboard shortcut overlay in Ubuntu 12.04?
14
votes
5answers
4k views

No Alt+F2 in Ubuntu Netbook 10.10?

I am stumped. I upgraded from 10.04 to 10.10 Beta 3 and for some reason I can't get Alt-F2 to do anything. Is this a known bug or am I just not doing the right thing?
13
votes
2answers
5k views

Force Alt + Tab switcher to display applications from active workspace

After upgrading to 11.10, the behavior of applications switcher (Alt + Tab) has changed. Now it displays applications across all workspaces. I have a lot of windows opened when working. I'm grouping ...
13
votes
3answers
4k views

Can I define keyboard shortcuts using the Super key?

In 10.04, I had a lot of keyboard shortcuts defined using Super/Mod4 and one single other key, Super+O ran Opera Super+W opened Nautilus pointing to my Work folder, etc. In 11.04, these do not ...
13
votes
2answers
3k views

How can I change Unity's super-t binding to something else?

First, I've tried searching several threads to find the answer, but I couldn't find one that solved my problem, so I'm opening a new one here. I just installed Ubuntu 11.04 with the new Unity ...
13
votes
2answers
1k views

How do I disable the Help F1 key?

When the Gnome desktop has focus, hitting F1 brings up "Ubuntu Desktop Guide". How do I disable this keyboard shortcut? UPDATE: This problem seems to be gone in Ubuntu 12.04 (hitting F1 while the ...
13
votes
2answers
331 views

Messaging Menu Keyboard Shortcut

In previous versions of Ubuntu, Super+M would open the messaging menu. In 11.04, the Super key is captured by the launcher. I have yet to find a way to quickly open the messaging menu from the ...
12
votes
1answer
353 views

What's the history about the Shift + Arrow keys in terminal?

I'm wondering why Shift + Arrow Key result in one of the A, B, C or D letters. Why not other letters? Why any letter at all?
12
votes
1answer
316 views

How can I display keyboard shortcuts as I press them?

I'm going to be giving a short "talk" about efficient note taking with LyX. As such it'll be important to focus on keyboard shortcuts. Since people can't see me type, however, I want a tool that ...
12
votes
8answers
3k views

How can I reach over 100% volume with a keyboard shortcut?

sometimes the sound of videos isn't enough for me. so i reach the sound indicator , over sound preferences and change it to a level higher than 100%. the question is how can i do it from the keyboard? ...
11
votes
2answers
439 views

How can I tell if the Pause/Break key is working?

How can I tell if the Pause/Break key is working in Ubuntu? The tilde (~) key is not working without holding the right-alt key. Maybe something similar works for the Pause key. It seems to work in ...
11
votes
4answers
530 views

What commands will change my screen's brightness?

I'm trying to re-keybind some of my function keys as I never use them for multimedia purposes, however I'm not sure as to what command I'd need to put it to increase/reduce the brightness, I'm talking ...
11
votes
2answers
260 views

What should I call this key?

Microsoft calls it the Windows key. Compiz calls it the Super key. freedesktop.org uses Win and Super interchangeably. GNOME ambiguously calls it Meta, Super, or an OS-logo shift key. What should I ...
11
votes
3answers
3k views

After upgrading to 11.10, when pressing Ctrl+F, Xterm is popping up

Yesterday I upgraded from 11.04 to 11.10. I can't use CTRL+F key combination anymore. It is remap to launch Xterm. Does anyone know how to remove this mapping? I have never mapped to this key ...
11
votes
3answers
1k views

How to list Compiz keybindings in use?

Other than looking though each active plugin and manually searching for keybindings / keyboard-shortcuts in use by compiz, is there a 'simple' way to gather this information? i.e. Some panel that ...
11
votes
1answer
1k views

is there a keyboard shortcut for minimizing all windows except the active one? possible to create one?

When opening programs like GIMP, I find having background windows open distracting because GIMP has three separate windows associated with it. It's a burden to have to go to every other non-Gimp ...
11
votes
2answers
2k views

Keyboard shortcut for pasting the primary selection

Is there a standard or conventional keyboard shortcut for pasting the primary selection? I'd like to select some text and go to another app to paste without trashing my clipboard contents. I'd ...

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