First Published 22 Nov 2022 Last Updated 19 Aug 2025
A thread at (the sadly now defunct) UtterAccess forum: Shift+Enter Does Not Save the Current Record prompted me to write this article back in 2022.
It appears that several experienced developers, including myself, were not aware that Shift+Enter could be used to save the current record
Whilst I expect that all developers will know standard Windows shortcuts such as Ctrl+X (cut), Ctrl+C (copy) and Ctrl+V (paste), there are several hundred Access keyboard shortcuts.
It is very unlikely that any Access developer knows, let alone uses, all of them!
Here is a list of some of the most useful keyboard shortcuts that I do use regularly! I've included Shift+Enter though it appears to be not 100% reliable!
NOTE:
A plus sign (+) in a shortcut means that you need to press multiple keys at the same time.
| Where | To do this | Press |
|---|---|---|
| Access Workspace | Go to the File menu | Alt+F |
| Access Workspace | Go to the Home tab | Alt+H |
| Access Workspace | Display the shortcut menu for the selected item. | Shift+F10 or the Windows Menu key |
| Access Workspace | Open a new database | Ctrl+N |
| Access Workspace | Open an existing database | Ctrl+O or Ctrl+F12 |
| Access Workspace | Save a database object | Ctrl+S or Shift+F12 |
| Access Workspace | Open the Save As dialog | F12 or Alt+F,S |
| Access Workspace | Show or hide the Navigation Pane | F11 |
| Design view | Show or hide a property sheet | F4 |
| Datasheet view | Move to the next or previous field | Tab key or Shift+Tab |
| Datasheets, forms & reports | Open the Print dialog box | Ctrl+P |
| Datasheet or Form View | Open the Find tab in the Find and Replace dialog box | Ctrl+F |
| Datasheet or Form View | Open the Replace tab in the Find and Replace dialog box | Ctrl+H |
| Access Workspace | Open the Help window | F1 |
| Access Workspace | Quit Access | Alt+F4 |
| File menu | Return to your database | Esc |
| Access Workspace | Close the active database window | Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 |
| Access Workspace | Toggle the Visual Basic Editor | Alt+F11 |
| Access Workspace | Open the VBE Immediate window | Ctrl+G |
| Access Workspace | Show the program icon menu AKA the control menu | Alt+Space |
| Text boxes, combo boxes, and list boxes | Move to the start of the entry | Home |
| Text boxes, combo boxes, and list boxes | Move to the end of the entry | End |
| Text boxes, combo boxes, and list boxes | Open a zoom box | Shift+F2 |
| Navigation pane | Rename a selected object | F2 |
| Navigation pane | Open the selected object in Design View | Ctrl+Enter |
| Form Design view | Switch to Form View | F5 |
| Datasheet view | Select all records | Ctrl+A |
| Handling text | Cut | Ctrl+X |
| Handling text | Copy | Ctrl+C |
| Handling text | Paste | Ctrl+V |
| Handling text | Delete all characters to the right of the insertion point | Ctrl+Delete |
| Datasheet or Form view | Insert the current date | Ctrl+Semicolon (;) |
| Datasheet or Form view | Insert the current time | Ctrl+Shift+Colon (:) |
| Datasheet or Form view | Copy the same field from the previous record (fill down) | Ctrl+Apostrophe (') |
| Datasheet or Form view | Add a new record | Ctrl+Plus (+) |
| Datasheet | Delete the current record | Ctrl+Minus (-) |
| Datasheet or Form view | Save the current record | Shift+Enter |
| Datasheet or Form view | Insert a new line in short/long text field | Ctrl+Enter |
| Access workspace | Copy screenshot of entire screen to clipboard | Print Screen (PrtScn) |
| Access workspace | Copy screenshot of active windowto clipboard | Alt+ Print Screen (PrtScn) |
How many of those did you know and use regularly?
Do let me know any important shortcuts you use that I have forgotten . . .
I expect I have left out some of the shortcuts that I do use regularly . . . and I am certain there are others I should be using to save time
NOTE:
A (hopefully) complete list of Access shortcuts is available at: Keyboard shortcuts for Access
A similar list of shortcut keys for use in the Visual Basic Editor (VBE) is also available at VBE Shortcut keys. The site has a lot of useful info about the VBE.
Thanks to Xevi Batlle for providing that link.
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Colin Riddington Mendip Data Systems Last Updated 19 Aug 2025
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