How to navigate the Windows 11 taskbar with keyboard shortcuts

The launch of Windows 11 came with many changes to Microsoft's operating system. One of them was a new design of the taskbar which, despite the criticism received, provided a modern and intuitive design. In this post we are going to see How to navigate the Windows 11 taskbar with keyboard shortcuts.

Windows 11 users can navigate and control the taskbar using a number of handy shortcuts. shortcuts. These shortcuts provide an extra agility when interacting with Windows, in addition to increasing our productivityIf you are interested in learning about them so you can focus on the keyboard and forget about the mouse, keep reading this post:

Windows 11 Taskbar: Main Shortcuts

If you have installed Windows 11 On your PC, the shortcuts we present below will be very useful. With them, we will be able to interact more efficiently with the taskbar and other key elements of the operating system, making our workflow more agile. Take good note of all of them:

Open and activate applications

To begin, we are going to point out a basic shortcut to access the different applications that are pinned to the Windows 11 taskbar. The shortcut consists of pressing the key Windows + the number that corresponds to the position of each application on the taskbar. For example: uterine

• Windows + 1: To open the first app pinned to the Windows 11 taskbar.
• Windows + 2: To open the second application…

To open the start menu directly from the keyboard you can use the simplest shortcut of all: simply press the Windows key and then write the name of the application we want to open.

Moving around applications

Once we have any of the applications open, as we have explained in the previous section, there is a shortcut that we can use to move around the bar, from right to left, simply by using the left and right arrow keys. That shortcut es Windows + T.

Another very useful shortcut is Shift + Right click on the taskbar iconThrough it we can open the classic context menu of the application, from which it is also possible to execute certain actions such as closing or opening new windows.

Access desktop view or switch between windows

To perform these two specific actions on the Windows 11 taskbar, these are the shortcuts we can use:

• Windows + D: To show the desktop and minimize all open windows. Using the same shortcut, windows can be restored.
• Windows + Tab: This shortcut opens the task view, with all virtual desktops and open windows visible.

In the case of using Windows 11 on multiple monitors, there is a shortcut that we can use to move a window from one monitor to another. The shortcut is this one: Windows + Shift + Left or Right Arrow, depending on the direction in which we want to move the window.

Maximize or minimize all windows

These are the shortcuts that we must use to execute these actions in the Windows 11 taskbar. As you can see, they are shortcuts that we are going to use a lot during a work session on our PC:

• Windows + CODE: To minimize all open windows.
• Windows + Shift + M: To restore all the windows that we have minimized.

On the other hand, to move the active window between the applications that are open we can use the shortcut Alt + TabIf we hold down the Alt key and press the Tab key we can scroll through the applications, changing applications with each new key press. Very practical.

Open the settings menu

To open the Windows quick context menu from the Windows 11 taskbar we can use the shortcut Windows + X. This way we will have immediate access to the different configuration menus such as the Device Manager, the Windows Terminal, Power Settings and others. That opens up a lot of new options within the system.

We can also access the system elements of the Notification Area (which is usually located in the right corner of the screen) using the shortcut Windows + B. This gives us access to the different icons of battery, network, volume, etc. that we can move around using the arrow keys. Afterwards, we can press Enter. to view the options contained in each of these icons. 

As a summary of everything presented in the post, we can say that all these shortcuts will allow us manage the Windows 11 taskbar more quickly and efficiently. They may seem a bit complicated at first, it's true, but once we get the hang of them we'll get a lot more out of our work sessions when we're sitting in front of the computer. So it's worth getting used to using them.