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Access menus without mousing

By Ed Bott

Using menus to manage files can slow you down, as you shift between keyboard and mouse to get things done. Windows power users know that you don't need a mouse to gain access to menus. The secret is to use the Alt key.

After opening File Explorer (Windows Explorer in Windows 7), tap the Alt key. In Windows 7, that action reveals the usually hidden menu, with the first letter of each top-level menu item underlined. In Windows 10/8.x, tapping the Alt key displays small labels over each tab in the File Explorer ribbon.

From there, you can use those hints to walk through a sequence of commands from the menus or ribbons just by typing a series of keys. For example, in Windows 10's File Explorer, tap Alt, then V, then P to show the View tab and select the Preview pane option. (That series of commands is a toggle, so tap Alt, V, P to show or hide the preview pane.)

If you still use Windows 7, these keyboard options open conventional menus in Windows Explorer. The options are slightly different than in later Windows versions, but the principle is the same. Tap Alt, then V, then D, for example, to choose View | Details from the menu bar.

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