Fedora GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts

To get the very best out of the GNOME desktop environment, within Fedora, you need to learn and remember the keyboard shortcuts required to navigate the system.

This article lists the most useful keyboard shortcuts and how they are used.

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The Super Key

The "super" key is your best friend when navigating modern operating systems.

On a standard laptop, the "super" key sits on the bottom row next to the "alt" key.

When you press the "super" key the "activities" overview will be displayed and you will be able to see all of the open applications zoomed out.

Pressing "ALT" and "F1" together will show the same display.

02

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How To Run A Command Quickly

If you need to run a command quickly, you can press "ALT" and "F2" which displays a "Run Command" dialog.

You can now enter your command into that window and press return.

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Quickly Switch To Other Open Applications

As with Microsoft Windows, you can switch applications using the "ALT" and "TAB" keys.

On some keyboards, the tab key looks like this: |<- ->| and on others, it simply spells the word "TAB".

The GNOME application switcher simply shows the icons and names of the applications as you tab through them.

If you hold down the "shift" and "tab" keys, the application switcher rotates around the icons in reverse order.

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Quickly Switch To Another Window In The Same Application

If you are anything like me then you will end up with half a dozen instances of Firefox open.

You now know that "Alt" and "Tab" switch between applications.

There are two ways to cycle through all of the open instances of the same application.

The first is to press "Alt" and "Tab" until the cursor sits over the icon of the application with many windows that you wish to cycle through. After a pause, a dropdown will appear and you can select the Window with the mouse.

The second and preferred option is to press "Alt" and "Tab" until the cursor sits over the icon of the application you want to cycle through and then press the "super" and "`" keys to toggle through the open instances.

Note that the "`" key is the one just above the tab key. The key for cycling through the open instances is always the key above the tab key regardless of your keyboard layout, therefore it isn't always guaranteed to be the "`" key.

If you have nimble fingers (or as I like to call them ninja fingers) then you can hold the "shift", "`" and "super" key to cycle backward through the open instances of an application.

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Switch Keyboard Focus

This keyboard shortcut isn't essential but a nice to know.

If you want to switch the keyboard focus to the search bar or to an application window you can press "CTRL", "ALT" and "TAB". to show a list of possible areas to switch to.

You can then use the arrow keys to cycle through the possible options.

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Show A List Of All The Applications

If the last one was a nice to have then this one is a real time saver.

To quickly navigate to a full list of all the applications on your system press the "super" key and "A".

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Switch Workspaces

If you have been using Linux for a while you will appreciate the fact that you can use multiple workspaces.

For instance, in one workspace you might have development environments open, in another web browsers and in a third your email client.

To toggle between workspaces press the "super" and the "Page Up" (PGUP) keys to toggle in one direction and the "super", "Page Down" (PGDN) keys to toggle in the other direction.

The alternative but more longwinded away to switch to another workspace is to press the "super" key to show a list of applications and then select the workspace you wish to switch to on the right side of the screen.

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Move Items To A New Workspace

If the workspace you are using is getting cluttered and you wish to move the current application to a new workspace press the "super", "shift" and "page up" button or "super", "shift" and "page down" key.

Alternatively, press the "super" key to bring up the list of applications and drag the application you wish to move to one of the workspaces on the right of the screen.

09

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Show The Message Tray

The message tray provides a list of notifications.

To bring up the message tray press the "super" and "M" key on the keyboard.

Alternatively, move the mouse to the bottom right corner of the screen.

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Lock The Screen

Need to a comfort break or a cup of coffee? Don't want sticky paws all over your keyboard?

Whenever you leave your computer alone get in the habit of pressing "super" and L to lock the screen.

To unlock the screen drag up from the bottom and enter your password.

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Power Off

If you used to be a Windows user then you will remember the three finger salute known as CTRL, ALT, and DELETE.

If you press "CTRL", "ALT" and "DEL" on your keyboard within Fedora a message will appear telling you that your computer will shut down in 60 seconds.

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