Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 - Global shortcut keys

The following shortcut key combinations can be used in various places within the integrated development environment (IDE).

Command Name	Shortcut Keys	Description
Edit.Copy	CTRL + C CTRL + INSERT	Copies the currently selected item to the system clipboard.
Edit.Cut	CTRL + X SHIFT + DELETE	Removes the currently selected item to the system clipboard.
Edit.CycleClipboardRing	CTRL + SHIFT + INS CTRL + SHIFT + V	Pastes an item from the Clipboard Ring tab of the Toolbox at the insertion point in the file and automatically selects the pasted item. You can review each item on the Clipboard by repeatedly pressing the shortcut keys.
Edit.GoToNextLocation	F8	Moves the cursor to the next item, such as a task in the Task List window or a search match in the Find Results window. Each time you press F8, you move to the next item in the list.
Edit.GoToPreviousLocation	SHIFT + F8	Moves the cursor to the previous item in the Task List window or Find Results window.
Edit.GoToReference	SHIFT + F12	Displays the reference of the selection in the code.
Edit.OpenFile	CTRL + SHIFT + G	Displays the Open File dialog box where you can select an existing file to open.
Edit.Paste	CTRL + V SHIFT + INSERT	Inserts the Clipboard contents at the insertion point.
Edit.Redo	CTRL + SHIFT + Z CTRL + Y SHIFT + ALT + BACKSPACE	Restores the previously undone action.
Edit.SelectionCancel	ESC	Closes a menu or dialog box, cancels an operation in progress, or places focus in the current document window. Available only in the .NET Framework Designer.
Edit.Undo	ALT + BACKSPACE CTRL + Z	Reverses the last editing action.
File.Print	CTRL + P	Displays the Print dialog box where you can choose printer settings.
File.SaveAll	CTRL + SHIFT + S	Saves all documents in the current solution and any files in the external files project.
File.SaveSelectedItems	CTRL + S	Saves the selected items in the current project.
Tools.GoToCommandLine	CTRL + /	Places the caret in the Find/Command box on the Standard toolbar.
View.NextTask	CTRL + SHIFT + F12	Moves to the next task in the Task List window.
View.PopBrowseContext	CTRL + SHIFT + 8	Returns to the location from where the last browse operation was performed. Available in the Object Browser or Class View window.
View.ViewCode	F7	Displays the selected item in Code view of the Editor.
View.ViewDesigner	SHIFT + F7	Displays the selected item in Design view of the Editor.
View.WebNavigateBack	ALT + LEFT ARROW	Displays the previous page in the viewing history. Available only in the Web Browser window.
View.WebNavigateForward	ALT + RIGHT ARROW	Displays the next page in the viewing history. Available only in the Web Browser window.

Creating a keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet for Visual Studio 2005

Most people don't know this, but there are actually over 450 keyboard shortcuts in Visual Studio by default. But there is no easy way to find out all the keyboard shortcuts inside Visual Studio. You can find out what all the default keyboard shortcuts are by writing a simple macro to enumerate all of them. The following shows the code for this.

Public Module Module1

    Public Sub ListShortcutsInHTML()

        'Declare a StreamWriter
        Dim sw As System.IO.StreamWriter
        sw = New StreamWriter("c:\\demo\\Shortcuts.html")

        'Write the beginning HTML
        WriteHTMLStart(sw)

        ' Add a row for each keyboard shortcut
        For Each c As Command In DTE.Commands
            If c.Name <> "" Then
                Dim bindings As System.Array
                bindings = CType(c.Bindings, System.Array)
                For i As Integer = 0 To bindings.Length - 1
                    sw.WriteLine("<tr>")
                    sw.WriteLine("<td>" + c.Name + "</td>")
                    sw.WriteLine("<td>" + bindings(i) + "</td>")
                    sw.WriteLine("</tr>")
                Next

            End If
        Next

        'Write the end HTML
        WriteHTMLEnd(sw)

        'Flush and close the stream
        sw.Flush()
        sw.Close()
    End Sub
Public Sub WriteHTMLStart(ByVal sw As System.IO.StreamWriter)
        sw.WriteLine("<html>")
        sw.WriteLine("<head>")
        sw.WriteLine("<title>")

        sw.WriteLine("Visual Studio Keyboard Shortcuts")
        sw.WriteLine("</title>")
        sw.WriteLine("</head>")

        sw.WriteLine("<body>")
        sw.WriteLine("<h1>Visual Studio 2005 Keyboard Shortcuts</h1>")
        sw.WriteLine("<font size=""2"" face=""Verdana"">")
        sw.WriteLine("<table border=""1"">")
        sw.WriteLine("<tr BGCOLOR=""#018FFF""><td
align=""center""><b>Command</b></td><td
align=""center""><b>Shortcut</b></td></tr>")


    End Sub

    Public Sub WriteHTMLEnd(ByVal sw As System.IO.StreamWriter)
        sw.WriteLine("</table>")
        sw.WriteLine("</font>")
        sw.WriteLine("</body>")
        sw.WriteLine("</html>")
    End Sub

End Module

To use this macro, go to Tools, select Macros, and then choose Macros IDE. . . to launch the Macros IDE. Expand the MyMacros project, MyMacros namespace and double-click on Module1. Simply copy Listing 1 to the Macros IDE and run the macro. After running the macro, you would have produced a keyboard shortcuts reference for Visual Studio. Open your output at C:\demo\Shortcuts.html. Figure 1 shows the partial output. Feel free to print it out and post it near your computer as you learn new keyboard shortcuts.