Software & Apps Windows How to Use the Windows Keyboard Shortcut Alt + Underline Navigate menus in Windows without using your mouse by Keith Ward Writer Keith Ward is a former Lifewire writer with over 25 years' experience writing about Microsoft products and creating and Windows tutorials. our editorial process LinkedIn Keith Ward Updated on July 16, 2020 The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts The Ultimate Guide to Keyboard Shortcuts Introduction Windows Timesavers The Best Windows 10 Keyboard Shortcuts Essential Keyboard Shortcuts for Better Productivity How to Use the Shortcut Alt + Underline Shortcut to Create New Folders Essential Shortcuts for iTunes Mac, iOS & iPad Quick Tricks The Best Mac Shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts for Finder Mac Startup Keyboard Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Apple's iOS Shortcuts App iPad Keyboard Tips and Smart Keyboard Shortcuts Android & iPhone Shortcuts The Best Android Shortcuts You Should Be Using Create and Use iPhone X Shortcuts Email Shortcuts The 30 Best Gmail Keyboard Shortcuts for 2020 How to Use Yahoo Mail Keyboard Shortcuts The Complete Apple Mail Shortcut List Shortcuts in iOS Mail Delete Shortcut Keys for Popular Email Programs How to Use Outlook.com Keyboard Shortcuts Create Text Snippets With Shortcuts in Mac OS X Mail Online & Browser Shortcuts Top 36 Shortcuts for Edge and IE 11 Keyboard Shortcuts: Google Chrome for Windows Create Web Page Shortcuts in Chrome for Windows Control Safari Windows With Keyboard Shortcuts Shortcuts for Safari Toolbars Shortcuts for Safari on OS X & Sierra Excel Shortcuts The 23 Best Excel Shortcuts Shortcut Excel's Fill Down Command Shortcut the Current Date/Time Formatting Numbers Adding Worksheets Shortcut to Saving Your Work Creating a Chart MAX Function Shortcut More Office Shortcuts Top 10 Microsoft Word Shortcuts The 5 Best Hidden Word Shortcuts Add Shortcut Keys to AutoText Entries Uppercase Shortcut Key How to Reset Keyboard Shortcuts in Word Shortcut to Speed Up PowerPoint Presentations Other Useful Shortcuts The Best Google Docs Shortcuts 18 Shortcuts for Linux Mint 18 Cinnamon Changing Linux Mint Cinnamon Shortcuts Fedora GNOME Keyboard Shortcuts Maya Keyboard Shortcuts Create or Reassign Keyboard Shortcuts in MS Office Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Photoshop CC Time-Saving Fill Tool Shortcuts in Photoshop The 5 Most Useful GIMP Keyboard Shortcuts How to Use the GIMP Keyboard Shortcut Editor Shortcuts to Type a Tilde Mark Tweet Share Email Here's a Windows keyboard shortcut that may boost your productivity. By holding the Alt key on your keyboard, you can open menus and select items without using your mouse. In most applications with menus, you'll notice that some letters have underlines (e.g., the "F" in "File"). To open these menus without clicking them, press the underlined letter while holding the Alt key. These instructions apply to Windows 7, 8, XP, 10, and Vista. Corbis via Getty Images / Getty Images Activating Underlined Keys in Newer Windows Versions If you're on an older version of Windows, this feature is automatic, but later versions don't have this feature on by default. Here's how to activate the feature if it isn't already on. Open the Start menu by clicking its icon or pressing the Windows key on your keyboard. Click the Settings icon. Click Ease of Access. Scroll down to the Interaction heading and select Keyboard. Under the Change how keyboard shortcuts work heading, click the switch below Underline access keys when available to turn it on. Close the window to save your changes. Now, keys you can use with the Alt key in menus will have underlines. Hold Alt plus the underlined letter to open them. Keep holding down Alt to keep making selections within menus. For example, hold Alt and press F to open a File menu. Keep holding Alt and press W to open a new window. Modern Apps 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. In many applications, the letters don't have underlines, but the feature still works the same way. Windows Store apps generally do not offer this feature. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Email Address Sign up There was an error. Please try again. You're in! Thanks for signing up. There was an error. Please try again. Thank you for signing up. Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit