Last Updated on July 24, 2020 by Mathew Diekhake

Instant messenger applications first became popular on smartphones and have since risen in popularity on desktop environments. Once people establish connections with a particular instant messenger app, they then want to be able to use that same app across all of their devices. Now people are choosing to leave their phones on their benchtops and install the desktop versions of the apps instead when they are on computers.

There are a few reasons why people are choosing to use desktop apps over mobile apps for at least some part of their time in front of screens. Being able to use a desktop app helps saves the battery on the phone and it’s also a faster way to type messages. Another advantage that people using desktop have is the use of keyboard shortcuts.

The Windows operating system always has keyboard shortcuts built into the operating system, otherwise known as hotkeys. These combinations are set by default on the operating system and can be used for many things. For example, if you start up a computer running on Windows 10 and press the Windows logo key + X on the keyboard, it opens up the Quick Links menu.

Like Windows, the WhatsApp application also has a dedicated set of keyboard shortcuts available for it that you can press on the keyboard when you have the desktop version of the app open. They are as follows.

WhatsApp For Windows Desktop Keyboard Shortcuts

Start new chat                                                     Ctrl+N

Create new group                                                Ctrl+Shift+N

Open Profile Status                                              Ctrl+P

Undo                                                                   Ctrl+Z

Redo                                                                   Ctrl+Shift+Z

Cut                                                                     Ctrl+X

Copy                                                                   Ctrl+C

Paste                                                                   Ctrl+V

Select all                                                             Ctrl+A

Search                                                                Ctrl+F

Zoom in                                                               Ctrl+Shift+=

Actual size                                                           Ctrl+0

Zoom out                                                             Ctrl+-

Next chat                                                             Ctrl+Shift+]

Previous chat                                                      Ctrl+Shift+[

Archive chat                                                         Ctrl+E

Mute                                                                   Ctrl+Shift+M

Delete chat                                                          Ctrl+Backspace

Mark as unread                                                   Ctrl+Shift+U

Close                                                                  Alt+F4<

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