Windows Terminal Keyboard Shortcuts
Windows Terminal's shortcut set is mostly concerned with managing tabs and split panes across potentially several different shell profiles running simultaneously — a PowerShell tab next to a WSL Ubuntu tab next to a plain Command Prompt tab, all in one window. This is a relatively new application by Microsoft's standards, replacing the much more limited classic Console Host, and its shortcuts were designed with explicit awareness of how developers actually use multiple terminal sessions side by side rather than one shell at a time. Command Palette, a searchable list of every available action similar in spirit to VS Code's own command palette, gives a discoverable alternative to memorizing every keybinding, particularly useful for less-frequent actions like renaming a tab or duplicating the current pane that don't justify their own dedicated shortcut. Because Windows Terminal supports quake-mode style dropdown activation from a global hotkey configured outside the app itself, it's possible to summon a terminal instantly from anywhere in Windows the same way some Linux desktop environments have long supported for their own default terminal applications. Searching scrollback output and cycling between tabs both matter for anyone running several long-lived shell sessions simultaneously, since finding a specific earlier command's output or output line without scrolling manually, and stepping through several open tabs one after another instead of aiming directly at a specific numbered profile, are both routine parts of a developer's actual multi-terminal workflow.
Tabs Panes
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open new tab (default profile) | Ctrl+Shift+T | — | Opens a new tab using your configured default shell profile, distinct from the dropdown arrow next to the tab bar which lets you choose a specific profile instead. |
| Open new tab with specific profile | Ctrl+Shift+Number (1-9, matching profile order) | — | Opens a new tab using the profile at that numbered position in your profiles list, letting you jump straight to, say, a WSL tab without navigating the dropdown menu first. |
| Split pane vertically | Alt+Shift+Plus | — | Divides the current tab into two panes stacked side by side, each running its own independent shell, so two terminal sessions stay visible without tabbing back and forth between them. |
| Split pane horizontally | Alt+Shift+Minus | — | Splits the current tab into two stacked panes, the horizontal counterpart to the vertical split, useful depending on your monitor's aspect ratio and how much horizontal vs vertical space you have available. |
| Move focus between panes | Alt+Arrow keys | — | Moves keyboard focus to the adjacent pane in the direction pressed, without needing to click into a specific pane with the mouse first. |
| Close current pane | Ctrl+Shift+W | — | Ends the active split pane and the surviving panes in that tab automatically reflow to claim its freed-up space; close the last remaining pane and the tab itself goes with it. Windows Terminal shows a confirmation dialog before closing a pane running a process it doesn't recognize as safely interruptible (like an active SSH session or a long-running build), a safeguard that can be disabled in settings for anyone who finds the extra prompt more annoying than useful. |
| Rename current tab | Double-click tab title, or via Command Palette | — | Renames the currently focused tab's title, useful for distinguishing between several open tabs running different projects or shell sessions at a glance. |
| Duplicate current tab | Ctrl+Shift+D | — | Opens a new tab using the same profile and starting directory as the current one, faster than manually navigating to the same folder again in a fresh default tab. |
| Switch to next/previous tab | Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab | — | Cycles between open tabs sequentially, useful for stepping through several shell sessions in order rather than jumping to a specific numbered profile tab directly. |
| Close current tab | Ctrl+Shift+W (with all panes closed) or right-click > Close Tab | — | Closes the entire current tab including all its panes, distinct from closing just the focused pane which leaves the tab open if other panes remain. |
Shell Control
| Action | Windows | Mac | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Copy selected text | Ctrl+Shift+C | — | Copies the currently selected terminal text to the clipboard — note this is Ctrl+Shift+C rather than the plain Ctrl+C most apps use, since Ctrl+C alone is reserved in terminal context for sending an interrupt signal to the running process. |
| Paste from clipboard | Ctrl+Shift+V | — | Pastes clipboard content into the active shell, similarly using Shift to avoid colliding with Ctrl+V's potential conflict in some shell contexts, though pasting is less universally reserved than Ctrl+C. |
| Open Settings (settings.json) | Ctrl+, | — | Opens the Settings UI (or the raw settings.json file directly with an additional modifier in some configurations), where profiles, color schemes, and keybindings themselves are configured. |
| Increase font size | Ctrl+= (Ctrl+Plus) | — | Increases the terminal's text size for the current session, useful for screen sharing or simply improving readability without permanently changing your saved profile settings. |
| Open Command Palette | Ctrl+Shift+P | — | Brings up a fuzzy-searchable list of every action the terminal supports, useful for tracking down a less-common command like renaming a tab without first memorizing its bound key. |
| Find text in current pane | Ctrl+Shift+F | — | Opens a search bar to find text within the current pane's scrollback buffer, useful for locating a specific line of output in a long build log or command history without manually scrolling. |
Frequently Asked Questions
Copy needs the extra Shift in Ctrl+Shift+C here — what's the reasoning for not just using plain Ctrl+C?
In terminal applications, Ctrl+C is universally reserved as the interrupt signal sent to whatever process is currently running in the shell (stopping a script, killing a hung command, etc.), a convention dating back decades in Unix and DOS terminal traditions. Windows Terminal preserves that convention and instead uses Ctrl+Shift+C specifically for clipboard copy, avoiding the conflict entirely.
Can I customize these shortcuts?
Yes — every keybinding in Windows Terminal is defined in the settings.json configuration file (or via the Settings UI's Actions page in newer versions) and can be reassigned to whatever combination you prefer, including adding entirely custom actions like opening a specific profile with a specific working directory bound to one key.
Why does Ctrl+Shift+Number sometimes open the wrong shell profile?
The number corresponds to the profile's position in your configured profiles list, not a fixed assignment to a specific shell type — if you've reordered, added, or removed profiles in settings, the numbering shifts accordingly. Checking your current profile order in Settings explains any mismatch between the number you pressed and the shell that actually opened.
Is there a way to see every available action without memorizing all the keybindings?
Yes — Ctrl+Shift+P opens a searchable Command Palette listing every action the terminal supports, the same basic idea as VS Code's command palette. It's especially useful for something you do rarely, like renaming a tab, where memorizing a dedicated shortcut isn't worth the effort.
Can Windows Terminal be configured to pop up instantly from anywhere, like a quake-style dropdown terminal?
Yes, Windows Terminal supports a global quake-mode-style summon feature configured through a system-wide hotkey outside the app itself, letting you instantly bring up a terminal window from anywhere in Windows, similar to long-standing dropdown terminal features in some Linux desktop environments.
Does duplicating a tab preserve the current working directory?
Yes — the new tab inherits both the profile and the exact working directory the original tab was sitting in, so you land in the same folder instantly instead of opening a blank default tab and cd-ing back there by hand.
Is Windows Terminal preinstalled on Windows, or does it need to be downloaded separately?
Windows Terminal ships preinstalled on newer Windows versions and is otherwise freely available through the Microsoft Store, having replaced the older, more limited Console Host as the modern default terminal experience on current Windows releases.
Can I search through a long build log's output without scrolling manually?
Yes — Ctrl+Shift+F opens a search field scoped to the active pane's scrollback, and typing a fragment of the error text jumps straight to matching lines buried anywhere in potentially thousands of lines of accumulated output, far quicker than eyeballing a scrollback for one specific failure.