I am continually astonished by the wonders of Windows. Just recently, I made a delightful discovery: by simply holding down the CTRL key, I can pause the Windows Task Manager. And today, I stumbled upon a remarkable keyboard shortcut that allows you to effortlessly launch LinkedIn, Word, and several other Office applications.
If you happen to be using Windows, give this a try: hold down CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + L. You’ll be amused as LinkedIn opens up in your default browser. Renowned Windows researcher Paul Thurrott shared this peculiar keyboard shortcut on Twitter, noting that it is an operating system hotkey.
But why does Windows have this option? It’s because of the “Office key” found on some Microsoft keyboards. The Office key replaced the regular right-side Windows key, letting you launch Office apps by pressing it with another key. Here are the shortcuts:
- LinkedIn: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + L
- Word: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + W
- Excel: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + X
- PowerPoint: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + P
- Outlook: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + O
- Microsoft Teams: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + T
- OneDrive: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + D
- OneNote: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + N
- Yammer: CTRL + SHIFT + ALT + WIN + Y
If you don’t have the app, it will open the Office website instead. The keys are close together, so it’s like mashing buttons in a game.
You can disable these in Windows settings if you want. But if you don’t know about them, there’s no need! Stay tuned for more hidden Windows tricks.
