Did you know that you could use the keyboard to open items in your taskbar? It’s pretty simple.

Windows doesn’t always require us to use the mouse to perform operations. Of course, you know that already.
[Amost] everyone knows the keyboard shortcuts to perform copy/paste (Ctrl + c to copy and Ctrl + v to paste).

Apparently, there are a lot more.

I am planning to write a few posts on various keyboard shortcuts.

Let’s begin with the Taskbar.
There are two ways to access the Taskbar items using the keyboard.

1. Traverse using Windows logo key + T

You could use Windows Logo Key + T to move through the Taskbar items.
One thing to note is that you should not release the Windows Logo Key until you have reached the Taskbar item that you need to open. When you release the Windows Logo Key, the selected Taskbar item will open up.

You could use Windows Logo Key + Shift + T to traverse back through the Taskbar items.

2. Open the Taskbar item at a position using Windows Logo Key + [Taskbar item Position number]

This is an easier keyboard shortcut, where you can open an item on the Taskbar based on its position.
Windows Logo Key + 1 will open the first item on the Taskbar.
Windows Logo Key + 2 will open the second item on the Taskbar.
So on and so forth.

  • What if it is already open?
    It will minimize it.

Say, if the first item in the Taskbar is already open and is in focus and you press Windows Logo Key + 1, it will minimize the same.

  • What if there are multiple windows open for the first Taskbar item?
    You could switch between those. It won’t minimize the window though.

For instance, if you have your browser as the first item in the Taskbar.
It is common that we open multiple browser windows. Now, when you press Windows Logo Key + 1, it will display all the browser windows open, and you can traverse through all of them and open whichever is required. For this, you have to hold the Windows Logo Key and keep pressing the position number (1 in this example) and release the Windows Logo Key when you have reached the item that you want open.
Please note that, when there are multiple windows of the same Taskbar item, this method will not minimize the window.

  • What if I need to open a new window when there is a window open already?
    Use Windows Logo Key + Shift + [position]

Like I mentioned above, in some cases (like a browser), we tend to use multiple browser windows. If the first item in the Taskbar is a browser, Windows Logo Key + Shift + 1 will open a new browser window. There is no limit on this. You can open as many windows as you want with this.

  • Can I right click?
    Yes, use Windows Logo Key + Alt + [position]

Sometimes, we right-click the Taskbar items so that we could access the context menu. This is normally used to open the browser in private mode, open some previously used files, so on and so forth, based on what the application supports. All you need to do is to use Windows Logo Key + Alt + [position]. For instance, to access the context menu of the first Taskbar item, use Windows Logo Key + Alt + 1.

  • I have only 1 through 0 numbers on my keyboard, so how many Taskbar items can I use this for?
    Its Simple. 10

This works only for Taskbar items from 1st through the 10th Taskbar item.
To open the 10th item, use Windows Logo Key + 0.
Any items beyond that cannot be accessed with this method. Try using Windows Logo Key + T for that, as mentioned above.

  • Any other suggestions
    Pin frequently used Taskbar items to the Taskbar

You can pin frequently used items to the taskbar by going to Start Menu and right click on the application and click on Pin to taskbar. This will then turn out to be muscle memory, which makes it very easy to access those applications.

This works for other versions of Windows as well.
You can find more windows shortcuts at the Microsoft documentation here.