These days, considering how much time we spend living inside a web browser, you’d think that we would have become uber-efficient browser navigators by now. But the truth is that the vast majority of us aren’t taking advantage of a huge productivity booster when using browsers: keyboard shortcuts! Something as simple as using the close tab shortcut could save you as much as 8 days over the entire work year.
To save you from combing through huge reference tables to find the keyboard shortcuts that matter, I have put together a list of the 8 shortcuts I think are most important (see below—assuming you are using a recent version of Chrome or Firefox). Also, if you want to actually drill yourself on these shortcuts (and others), we have built a web/mobile Keyboard Shortcuts Genius app (NNL) using the Brainscape adaptive flashcards platform.
Top 8 Chrome, Firefox, & Internet Explorer Shortcuts (Mac)
- Toggle tabs: Ctrl + Tab
- Go to Tab # X: Cmd + [0-9]
- Highlight the URL bar: Cmd + L
- Open new tab: Cmd + T
- Open link in new tab: Cmd + click
- Duplicate current tab: (while holding Cmd) L then C then T then V then Enter
- Close current tab: Cmd + W
- Back/Forward: Cmd + L/R arrows
Top 8 Chrome, Firefox, & Internet Explorer Shortcuts (PC)
- Toggle tabs: Ctrl + Tab
- Go to Tab # X: Ctrl + [0-9]
- Highlight the URL bar: Alt + D
- Open new tab: Ctrl + T
- Open link in new tab: Ctrl + click
- Duplicate current tab: (while holding Cmd) L then C then T then V then Enter
- Close tab shortcut: Ctrl + W
- Back/Forward: Alt + L/R arrows
Imagine the time you save (and could use for more entertaining activities) if you could cut the time you spent closing tabs in half by using the close tab shortcut? Learn all these and much more with Brainscape's Keyboard Shortcuts flashcards.