I am not talking about Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. Everyone knows those. I am talking about the shortcuts that hide in plain sight—the ones that would have saved me hundreds of hours over the past decade if someone had shown me earlier.

Windows Key + V (Clipboard History)

This is the one that changed everything. Instead of Ctrl+V pasting only the last thing you copied, Win+V opens a floating panel showing your last 25 copied items—text, images, screenshots. Click any one to paste it.

I copy multiple things in sequence constantly: a name here, an address there, a tracking number, a phone number. Before Win+V, I was switching back and forth between windows for every single item. Now I copy everything I need first, then paste them all from the history panel. It saves me roughly 15 minutes a day.

Enable it: press Win+V, click “Turn on.” It is off by default. Turn it on right now.

Ctrl + Shift + T (Reopen Closed Tab)

You close a browser tab by accident. Your heart sinks. Instead of going through your history, press Ctrl+Shift+T. The tab comes back, exactly as it was, including any form data you had typed. Press it multiple times to reopen multiple closed tabs in order.

This works in Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Brave. It has saved me from losing half-written emails and half-filled checkout forms more times than I can count.

Alt + Tab and Windows Key + Tab

Alt+Tab switches between your last two active windows. Holding Alt and tapping Tab cycles through all open windows. Win+Tab does the same but with a full-screen visual overview and virtual desktop management.

I used to click the taskbar for everything. Moving to keyboard window switching saved about two seconds per window switch. That sounds trivial until you realize you switch windows hundreds of times per day.

Mac Equivalents

Mac users: no built-in clipboard history like Win+V, but Cmd+Shift+T reopens closed tabs in Safari and Chrome. Cmd+Tab switches apps. Cmd+` (backtick) switches between windows of the same app. Ctrl+Cmd+Space opens the emoji picker anywhere—surprisingly useful.

Pick one of these and start using it today. Win+V alone is worth learning. I promise.