How to right click using the keyboard
Posted on June 7, 2008 at 5:29 am
Looking for the right click keyboard command? It’s not often you’re left without a mouse, a trackball, or a touch pad, but there are those rare occasions when nothing works! Oddly, my touch pad died the other day, I didn’t have a mouse, and my computer didn’t have a secondary mouse tracking option!
It was quite interesting to sit for hours trying to figure out what combo of keys does what! Anyway, I now have learned several useful keyboard shortcuts so that I can use my computer without the need for a mouse device!
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Image Source: Bristol
So how can you control the computer without your mouse? Well firstly, the easiest thing to do is use the ALT key and the ATL + TAB key combo. ALT + TAB lets you switch between programs and just pressing the ALT key on your keyboard focuses onto the menu options, such as File, Edit, etc.
You can then use the arrow keys to navigate the menus for a program and press Enter to “left click” on an item.
But what if you need to right-click in a Word document or right-click on a file to see it’s properties? The right-click keyboard shortcut is to hold down SHIFT and then press F10. That’s one of my favorite keyboard shortcuts because it comes in VERY handy and sometimes it’s actually easier to use the keyboard than the mouse.
There are some other handy Windows XP keyboard shortcuts that you should know in case you are stuck in a bad situation:
CTRL+ESC: Opens the Start menu (then use ARROW keys to select an item)
ALT+DOWN ARROW: Opens a drop-down list box
ALT+F4: Closes the current program window
ALT+ENTER: Open the properties for the selected object
There are of course many other shortcuts that are equally useful and I have written several posts on this earlier:
Keyboard Shortcut Secrets from MS Word
Essential Microsoft Word shortcuts for more efficient writing
Visually assign Windows keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys with Qliner
Hopefully, you’ll be a keyboard ninja after reading all of that! Enjoy your new keyboard knowledge!
» Filed Under Computer Tips
Related Posts
- Create Custom Keyboard Shortcuts in Word 2007
- Visually assign Windows keyboard shortcuts and hotkeys with Qliner
- More keyboard shortcuts – Windows Logo key shortcuts
- OpenOffice Writer Keyboard Shortcuts
- Revealed at Last: Keyboard Shortcut Secrets from MS Word
Comments
19 Responses to “How to right click using the keyboard”
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How to move your mouse cursor without a mouse Says:
[...] I wrote an article on how to right-click using your keyboard and I hope it was useful. But maybe your computer mouse is broken, or you left it at your [...]
June 26th, 2008 at 5:14 am
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How to switch between worksheets in Excel Says:
[...] can also check out my other posts on keyboard shortcuts, including how to right-click using the keyboard, Windows Logo key shortcuts, essential Microsoft Word shortcuts, Internet Explorer [...]
August 13th, 2008 at 4:56 pm
There is also a button i keyboard which does the same as right click
I love the keyboard shortcuts.
Shift + F10 , I’ll remember that when my mouse is not functioning.
Very useful article. Thanks
Thnkas so much for this. The two “clickers” on my laptop seemed to have died and i can only click using the touchpad at the moment, so i couldnt right click. I was really frustrated before but this info really helped!
Thanks for the shift+F10 tip. I was looking for a way to right click using the keyboard and found this page through a google search. it’s to the point and useful.
Now I’d still really like to know if there’s a keyboard shortcut for creating a new folder (or file) in windows explorer. That would be super useful…
Nice website for tips and tricks
thank u so much this article is very useful!
How do you copy & paste using the keyboard?
Thank you 100 times for Shift+F10! I have been using the Kinesis Advantage keyboard for a few weeks now, it does not have a key to activate right-click and it has been driving me mad.
I have been using Shift+F10 for a few years on my laptop because I have a need to assign the right button to perform a double click. During these same few years, I have been searching for a keyboard shortcut to perform a double click so I can return the right click function to default. (If laptops were built with three buttons, as all mice and trackballs currently are, this problem would not exist)
@Camery, you can copy and paste using the keyboard with CTRL + C and CTRL + V, respectively.
As for right-clicking with the keyboard, it’s great because I rarely use my mouse at all! and it’s really great for laptops since it’s a pain to connect a mouse.
I made a bet with a friend that I could work on my computer for a whole day without touching a mouse and this tip really helps! I didn’t think about right-clicking, but you saved me!
How do you use the right mouse on the keyboard?
The Shift+F10 key shortcut is a very useful tip. I was searching for just this thing for years – but someone could not figure it out. Thanks for sharing.
Very good tip, thank you very much!
Sir, thank you. I’m now for 9hours without mouse and i needed to extract one rar file. With shift+F10 it was possible.