How to Use the Windows Keyboard Shortcut Alt + Underline

Here's another cool Windows keyboard shortcut for all you productivity fans out there — the Alt+underlined letter shortcut.

Press the Alt key on your keyboard to display an overlay of menu items in the active application. With Alt still depressed, press the letter corresponding to that menu item to act on it as if you had used the mouse to click it.

If you are on an older version of Windows this feature is built-in and automatic, but later versions — such as Windows 10 — do not have this feature turned on by default.

To enable this feature in Windows 10, open the Ease of Access Center and select the link that says Make the keyboard easier to use. On the next screen, scroll down to the sub-heading Make it easier to use keyboard shortcuts and then click the checkbox labeled Underline keyboard shortcuts and access keys.

More recent programs are doing away with the customary menu bar that we're used to seeing in Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows. 

Even some programs in Windows 7 have this more modern, menu-less look. Nevertheless, you can still use the Alt+letter shortcut in Windows 10. For many programs, the letter is no longer underlined, but the feature still works the same way.

One exception? Windows Store apps generally do not offer this feature.