Using the keyboard is the key to working efficiently in your programming environment. Fortunately Visual Studio has excellent support for utilizing the keyboard. Here are a few standard shortcuts that will boost your productivity:
Standard keyboard shortcuts
Editing
* Alt + Mouse select = Block mode mouse text selection
* Shift + Del = Delete current line (also Ctrl + L)
* F12 = Go to definition
* Shift + F12 = Find all references
* Ctrl + R, M = Extract method (using selected text)
* Ctrl + R, R = Rename (class, method, property, variable, etc.)
Search* Ctrl + F = Find in current document
* Ctrl + Shift + F = Find in entire solution (Find in files)
Testing* Ctrl + R, A = Run all tests
Build* Ctrl + Shift + B = Build
* Ctrl + Break = Cancel build
Debugging* F5 = Start debugging
* F9 = Set / toggle breakpoint
* F10 = Step over
* F11 = Step into
Quick Launch*
Ctrl + Q = Quick Launch
(Sets focus in the Quick Launch-field where you easily can access just about any menu item / settings or view in Visual Studio)
Make your own
Missing some key combos? Don't worry, it's easy to create your own..
Just hit
Ctrl + Q to get to the Quick Launch search field, type
k and hit enter. The Keyboard shortcut dialogue will open where you can customize practically any command and their keyboard shortcut.
Here are a few shortcuts that I always setup:
* Alt + Shift + C = Project.AddClass (Adds a class to the current project in the current folder)
* Alt + Shift + F = Project.NewFolder (Adds a folder to the current project. A folder / project in the Solution Explorer must have focus)