In Visual Studio, there are so many features and menu options that you can use for different purposes. To navigate in Visual Studio more easily you can use the shortcuts.
The following are the most commonly used Visual Studio shortcuts.
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Go To All | Ctrl+T |
| Go to recent files | Ctrl+T,R |
| Multi-caret multiple insertion points | Ctrl+Alt+click |
| Multi-caret add matching selection | Shift+Alt+Ins |
| Format Document | Ctrl+K,D |
| IntelliSense suggestion mode | Ctrl+Alt+Space (Toggle) |
| Force show IntelliSense | Ctrl+J |
| Quick Actions | Ctrl+. |
| Snippet picker | Ctrl+K,X or ?,Tab (Visual Basic) |
| Surround With | Ctrl+K,S |
| Show Quick Info | Ctrl+K,I |
| Navigate To | Ctrl+, |
| Navigate highlighted references | Ctrl+Shift+Up (Previous) Ctrl+Shift+Down (Next) |
| Editor zoom | Ctrl+Shift+> (In) Ctrl+Shift+< (Out) |
| Block selection | Hold Alt and drag mouse Shift+Alt+Arrow keys |
| Move line up/down | Alt+Up arrow / Alt+Down arrow |
| Duplicate line | Ctrl+E,V |
| Expand selection | Shift+Alt+= |
| Contract selection | Shift+Alt+- |
| Go To Definition | F12 |
| Peek Definition | Alt+F12 |
| Go To Definition stack | Ctrl+Shift+8 (Back) Ctrl+Shift+7 (Forward) |
| Close the Peek Definition window | Esc |
| Promote the Peek Definition window to a regular document tab | Ctrl+Alt+Home |
| Navigate between multiple Peek Definition windows | Ctrl+Alt+- and Ctrl+Alt+= |
| Navigate between multiple Peek results | F8 and Shift+F8 |
| Toggle between the code editor window and the Peek Definition window | Shift+Esc |
| Go to enclosing block | Ctrl+Alt+Up arrow |
| Go to next/previous issue | Alt+PgUp / Alt+PgDn |
| Contextual navigation menu | Alt+` |
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Start debugging | F5 |
| Stop debugging | Shift+F5 |
| Restart debugging | Ctrl+Shift+F5 |
| Step over | F10 |
| Step into | F11 |
| Step out | Shift+F11 |
| Run to cursor | Ctrl+F10 |
| Set next statement | Ctrl+Shift+F10 |
| Set and toggle breakpoint | F9 |
| Disable breakpoint | Ctrl+F9 |
| Immediate window | Ctrl+Alt+I |
| Immediate window command mode | Type > |
| Immediate window - clear buffer | Type cls |
| Immediate window - print value | Type ?varname |
| Task | Shortcut | | Quick Find | Ctrl+F | | Quick Find Next Result | Enter | | Quick Find Previous Result | Shift+Enter | | Quick Find Expand Drop Down | Alt+Down arrow | | Dismiss Find | Esc | | Quick Replace | Ctrl+H | | Quick Replace - Replace Next| Alt+R | | Quick Replace - Replace All | Alt+A | | Find in Files | Ctrl+Shift+F | | Replace in Files | Ctrl+Shift+H |
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Solution Explorer search | Ctrl+; |
| Place focus in search box in any tool window (except editor) | Alt+` when the tool window has focus |
| Search Visual Studio | Ctrl+Q |
| Search box results filter | @opt - Options @cmd - Commands @mru - Most recently used @doc - Open documents |
| Search in Tools Options | Ctrl+E |
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Add buttons | Select the toolbar overflow button |
| Find combo in standard toolbar | Ctrl+D |
| Find textbox command mode | Type > |
| Create new alias | Type alias |
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
| Maximize floating window | Double-click on title bar |
| Maximize/minimize windows | Win+Up arrow / Win+Down arrow |
| Redock floating window | Ctrl+double-click on title bar |
| Move/dock floating windows | Win+Left arrow / Win+Right arrow |
| Close active document | Ctrl+F4 |
| Show open file list | Ctrl+Alt+Down arrow |
| Show all floating windows | Ctrl+Shift+M |
| Show jump list | Win+Alt+N |
| Start new instance | Win+Shift+N |
| Switch between windows | Win+N |