The ribbons in Windows, whether in File Explorer or
specific programs like MS-Word or others, are really just
another variant on a menu system that has as its intention
making the most commonly used items “front and center” for fast
access.
Many of the things you already know for using a
menu-driven system still apply for accessing the ribbons. In the old-style menus
you hit ALT plus the appropriate letter to drop down that menu. In the ribbon system
you hit ALT plus the appropriate letter to open a specific tab
that shows the ribbon you need to access.
Every blessed option on a ribbon has a direct
keyboard shortcut to activate it, so it is worth learning what
your own “greatest hits” generally are and what their keyboard
shortcuts are to save yourself a lot of time. That being said, we
all occasionally have to use a feature that we seldom use, so on
occasion a brute force “tab by tab” search, either through a
whole ribbon or within select groups on a given ribbon might be
needed.
One big difference between using the old-style menu
system and ribbons is that the up, down, left, and right arrow
keys were your primary navigation keys for menus. They are not for
ribbon navigation. Your
primary navigation key is the TAB key, along with CTRL+Right
Arrow (or Left Arrow) if you wish to jump from ribbon group to
ribbon group.
What follows will use File Explorer as the
program and its various buttons and ribbons. This is from a system
running Windows 10, Version 1607 (the Anniversary Update), Build
14393.187. I do not
recall having customized File Explorer in any way, so this
should apply to File Explorer in its “out of the box” state. The principles of
navigation of the ribbon apply in any program that uses one, but
the buttons and ribbons in other programs obviously differ.
Just like it always has been with menus, so it
remains with tabs/ribbons, that pressing ALT throws focus to the
controls. Of
course, controls are context sensitive and so which are
available versus which are not, directly depends on the item or
items you have selected in the File Explorer window. The primary choices
after hitting ALT are:
·
F for the File Tab, which does not have a ribbon
but does have a number of controls
·
H for the Home Tab, which is by far and away the
one that gets the most use
·
S for the Share Tab
·
V for the View Tab
·
1 for the properties dialog if you have a file or
folder selected. Can
also be invoked using ALT+Enter instead
·
2 for the New Folder button. Can also be invoked
using CTRL+Shift+N instead
·
E to invoke the Windows Help function for File
Explorer. Opens a
web browser window in whatever browser you’ve set up as your
default.
The Structure of Tabs & Ribbons
Most Tabs have a single ribbon, though some have
none and are more of a “menu-like” structure with a collection
of controls that are not split into groups/toolbars. The File Tab is like
this. Since the
Home Tab and its ribbon get the heavy-duty workload the vast
majority of the time I will focus on it as my primary in-depth
example. The
following will presume that you’ve already hit ALT followed by H
and have the Home Tab open.
To move directly in to the ribbon hit the down
arrow key once, or hit the TAB key four times, as it traverses
some controls on the window prior to entering the ribbon. You will now be
sitting in the Clipboard group/toolbar of the ribbon on the Pin
to Quick Access control (which will be inactive unless you have
a file or folder selected in the main pane of the window). The Home Ribbon is
broken in to 5 toolbars/control groups, left to right these are:
1. Clipboard
2. Organize
3. New
4. Open
5. Select
Almost every control has a keyboard shortcut to
invoke it. The
exceptions are those that involve selection from a table/list
for a setting, and these have a keyboard shortcut to take you
straight into the selection for that control; and you can use
TAB to traverse those selections.
You can use the TAB key to do a control-by-control
traversal of the entire ribbon.
The screen reader will announce when you have traversed
from one toolbar/control group into the next. You can also do a
quick jump from wherever you might be within a given toolbar to
the first control of the next (or previous) toolbar using
CTRL+Right Arrow (Left Arrow).
When you are moving from control to control via the TAB
key you will have the control announced along with the keyboard
sequence (coupled with the ALT followed by letter that you’ve
already entered) that would be used to invoke it directly.
Clipboard
Toolbar/Control Group
Contains the following controls, I will note the
direct keyboard sequence that would follow the ALT followed by H
if you wish to invoke it directly within square brackets. Some are single
characters while others are two characters that must be typed
rapidly:
·
Pin to Quick Access – if a file or folder is
selected will be active and will do precisely what its name
states. [PI]
·
Copy [CO]
You can also use the CTRL+C keyboard shortcut to copy
(which I always do).
·
Paste [V] You
can also use the CTRL+V keyboard shortcut to paste (which I
always do).
·
Cut [T] You
can also use the CTRL+X keyboard shortcut to cut (again, which I
always do).
·
Copy Path [CP] Copies the full path to the file(s)
or folder(s) selected to the clipboard
·
Paste Shortcut [PS]
If you did a previous copy on a file, using Paste
Shortcut will do what it says, paste a shortcut (symbolic link)
to the original file in the folder you’re sitting in rather than
an actual duplicate copy of the file.
Short List of Commonly Used Key Sequences for
Ribbon Navigation
·
ALT plus appropriate letter: Throw focus on a
specific tab that contains the ribbon you need to use. For example, in
MS-Word, ALT+F for File Tab or ALT+H for Home Tab.
·
Down Arrow, struck once. In File Explorer this
puts you into the ribbon without having to go through a couple
of controls that are part of the File Explorer window itself. You can also use this
in any other program as well, but often TAB will work. I want
people to be aware of this exception primarily for File Explorer
since it requires four TAB presses to achieve what a single down
arrow press does.
·
TAB – this is your primary control to control
navigation key. It’s
great if you don’t know where something happens to be and need
to listen for the control and its shortcut character or
characters.
·
CTRL+Right Arrow (or Left Arrow) move to the next
(or previous) group of controls.
In the old menu system many menu items had submenus and
in the ribbon system most controls are grouped together based on
their functions, but all are visible. If you know that the
group you’re in definitely isn’t what you’re looking for, you
can quickly jump to the next or previous group rather than
having to tab your way through each and every control.
Learning the actual keyboard shortcuts for
functions that you use all the time will save you a lot of time
and effort. For
instance, if you use bullet lists in your Microsoft Word
documents on a routine basis it’s a lot easier to hit, ALT+H,U,
then down arrow through the bullet styles to choose the one you
want than to hit ALT+H, CTRL+Right Arrow three times to get to
the Paragraph control grouping, Enter to open the bullet list
dialog (which happens to be the first control in the Paragraph
group), then down arrowing through the bullet styles. Also using keyboard
shortcuts like CTRL+B to toggle bold type on/off, CTRL+I for
italic, and CTRL+U for underline, is much faster than hunting
for these in the Font Group via ribbon navigation.