List of Linux Mint 18 Keyboard Shortcuts For Cinnamon

Add any of the following keyboard shortcuts for the Cinnamon desktop release of Linux Mint 18 into your muscle-memory repertoire to increase your effectiveness while you're working at your Linux-based computer.

Although we're focused on Cinnamon on Mint 18, these hotkeys work with many different distributions that use Cinnamon.

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Toggle Scale: List All Applications on Current Workspace

Press Ctrl+Alt+Down to list the open applications on the current workspace.

When you see the list, let go of the keys and use the arrow keys to cycle through the open windows and press Enter to choose one.

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Toggle Expo: List All Applications on All Workspaces

Press Ctrl+Alt+Up to list all of the open applications on all workspaces.

Click the plus icon to create a new workspace.

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Cycle Through Open Windows

To cycle through the open windows press Alt+Tab. To cycle the other way press Shift+Alt+Tab.

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Open the Run Dialog

Press Alt+F2 to launch the Run dialog box. Use it to run a single command or script name without having to open a separate shell session.

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Troubleshooting Cinnamon

Press the Super(Windows) key and L to bring up the troubleshooting panel.

You'll see six tabs:

Results
Inspect
Memory
Windows
Extensions
Log

The best place to start is the log, as it will provide information on the errors you've encountered.

The super key in Linux is mapped to the Windows key on standard PC keyboards.

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Maximize a Window

Maximize a window by pressing Alt+F10. Revert it to its previous size by pressing Alt+F10 again.

If a window is maximized, restore it to its default size by pressing Alt+F5.

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Close a Window

Close a window by pressing Alt+F4.

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Move a Window

Move a window by pressing Alt+F7 to attach the pointer to the command bar of the window. Drag the window into a better position then click the left mouse button to put it down.

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Show the Desktop

To see the desktop, press Super+D. To return to the window you were looking at previously, press Super+D again.

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Show the Window Menu

Reveal the window menu for an application by pressing Alt+Space.

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Resize a Window

If the window is not maximized, resize it by pressing Alt+F8. Drag with the mouse up and down, left and right to resize the window.

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Tile a Window to the Left, Right, Top, or Bottom

To push the current window to the left side of the screen, press Super+Left Arrow. To snap it to the left, press Ctrl+Super+Left Arrow.

To push the current window to the right side of the screen, press Super+Right Arrow. To snap it to the right, press Ctrl+Super+Right Arrow.

Substitute the Up and Down arrow keys to push or snap the windows to the top or bottom of the screen.

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Move a Window to a Workspace to the Left or Right

If the application you are using is on a workspace that has a workspace to the left of it, press Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow to move it to the workspace to the left.

Press the left arrow more than once to move it left again.

For example, if you are on workspace 3, move the application to workspace 1 by pressing Shift+Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow+Left Arrow.

Substitute the Right arrow key for similar behavior in the opposite direction.

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Move a Window to the Left, Right, Top, or Bottom Monitors

If you use more than one monitor, move the application you are using to the first monitor by pressing Shift+Super+Left Arrow.

Use the Up, Down, or Right arrows to move to other monitors.

You must have specified relative positioning of your monitors within your window manager for this procedure to work.

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Move to the Workspace to the Left or Right

To move to the workspace to the left press the Ctrl+Alt+Left Arrow.

Press the left arrow key multiple times to keep moving left.

Same story with the Right arrow key.

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Log Out

To log out of the system, press Ctrl+Alt+Delete.

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Shut Down the System

To shut down the system, press Ctrl+Alt+End.

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Lock the Screen

To lock the screen, press Ctrl+Alt+L.

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Restart the Cinnamon Desktop

If Cinnamon isn't behaving, then before restarting Linux Mint and before looking at the troubleshooting guides, restart the desktop by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Escape to see if it fixes your problem.

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Take a Screenshot

To take a screenshot, simply press PrtSc (print screen key).

To take a screenshot and copy it to the clipboard press Ctrl+PrtSc.

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Take a Screenshot of Part of the Screen

Take a screenshot of a section of the screen by pressing Shift+PrtSc.

A little crosshair will appear. Click the top left corner of the area you wish to grab and drag down and right to create the rectangle. Click the left mouse button to finish taking the screenshot.

If you hold the Ctrl+Shift+PrtSc, the rectangle copies to the clipboard, ready to paste into LibreOffice or a graphics application like GIMP.

Use Alt+PrtSc instead of the region selector to capture the entire active window.

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