Claude Keyboard Shortcuts and Hidden Features Most People Miss

The fastest Claude keyboard shortcut is in the desktop app on Mac: double-tap the Option key and a Claude chat box opens over whatever app you are using. This guide covers that shortcut, the others Anthropic documents, and the lesser-known features in the Claude apps that save time every day.

We only list shortcuts and features that appear in Anthropic's own help center. Checked in September 2026. Apps and settings change often, so if something looks different on your screen, check Claude's help center for the latest steps.

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Claude Keyboard Shortcuts at a Glance

Here is the short version. Details for each one follow below.

Action	Mac	Windows / Linux	Where
Open quick entry from any app	Double-tap Option (default)	Not available on Windows	Claude Desktop
Alternative quick entry shortcut	Option + Space or your own custom shortcut	Not available on Windows	Claude Desktop
Start voice dictation	Caps Lock (off by default)	Not available on Windows	Claude Desktop
Stop voice dictation	Caps Lock again	Not available on Windows	Claude Desktop
Send a quick entry message	Enter	Not available on Windows	Claude Desktop
See commands and options	Type / in the message box	Type / in the message box	Web, desktop
Cycle permission modes	Shift + Tab	Shift + Tab	Claude Code
Stop Claude mid-response	Esc	Esc	Claude Code
Open the rewind menu	Esc, then Esc again	Esc, then Esc again	Claude Code
Cancel input or exit	Ctrl + C	Ctrl + C	Claude Code
Reverse search	Ctrl + R	Ctrl + R	Claude Code

A note on the web app. Anthropic does not publish an official list of keyboard shortcuts for claude.ai in the browser. You will find lists on other websites, but we could not confirm them against an official source, so we left them out. The / menu is the one browser shortcut Anthropic documents.

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Quick Entry: Claude From Any App (Mac)

Quick entry is a small Claude window you can open from anywhere on your Mac. You do not need to switch to the Claude app first. It is available on all Claude plans, including the free plan, as long as you use Claude Desktop on macOS.

How to turn it on

1. Install and open Claude Desktop. It can keep running in the background.
2. When the app asks about quick entry shortcuts, tick Turn on shortcut and click Continue.
3. Double-tap the Option key to test it.

Later, you can change or turn off the shortcut in Settings > General, under Desktop app.

What you can do with it

• Ask a quick question. Double-tap Option, type, and press Enter. A new chat starts.
• Jump back to a recent chat. Click New chat in the quick entry box to see your five most recent conversations.
• Send a screenshot. After you open quick entry, a "Drag to take a screenshot" prompt appears by your cursor. Drag over part of your screen and the image is attached to your message.
• Share a whole window. Click any app window to attach what is in it. This is useful for error messages, forms, or a spreadsheet you want Claude to look at.

Change the shortcut

If double-tapping Option clashes with another app, go to Settings > General and pick one of these next to Quick access shortcut:

• Double-tap Option (default)
• Option + Space
• A custom keyboard shortcut

Voice dictation with Caps Lock

This one is off by default because it takes over your Caps Lock key. Once you turn it on, press Caps Lock once, speak, and press it again to stop. You see your words appear as you talk. Then click the arrow to send.

You need macOS 12 or later for quick entry and macOS 14 or later for voice dictation. macOS will also ask for Screen Recording, Accessibility, and Speech Recognition permissions. You can review them in System Settings > Privacy & Security.

Windows users: Anthropic's help center says quick entry is currently Mac only. You can still use Claude Desktop on Windows, but without these shortcuts.

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The Slash Menu

In the chat box on the web or desktop, type / or click the + button in the lower left. This opens extra options and commands. The + menu is also where you find Add files or photos. Typing / is faster than reaching for the mouse, and it works the same on Mac and Windows.

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Deep Links: Open Claude With a Prompt Ready

This is one of the least-known features. Claude Desktop on macOS, Windows, and Linux responds to links that start with claude://. You can put these links in a bookmark, a note, a script, or another app.

Start a new chat:

claude://claude.ai/new

Start a new chat with the prompt already filled in:

claude://claude.ai/new?q=Summarize%20this%20week%27s%20release%20notes

The prompt is not sent automatically. It sits in the message box so you can check it and press send. Spaces and symbols must be URL-encoded (a space becomes %20). Very long prompts are cut at roughly 14,000 characters.

You can also open a specific chat or project by its ID. The ID is the long code at the end of the chat or project URL.

claude://claude.ai/chat/{conversation-id}
claude://claude.ai/project/{project-id}

A practical use: make a desktop shortcut or bookmark for each prompt you use every day, like "Rewrite this email in plain English:" or "Turn these notes into a to-do list:". One click opens Claude with the prompt ready.

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Claude Code Shortcuts

If you use Claude Code, in the terminal or inside Claude Desktop, a few keys save a lot of time. These come from Anthropic's official Claude Code cheatsheet.

• Shift + Tab cycles through permission modes. One of them is Plan mode, where Claude explores and suggests a plan but does not edit files or run commands.
• Esc stops Claude in the middle of a response so you can type again.
• Esc, Esc (press it twice) opens the rewind menu, so you can roll back to an earlier point in the session.
• Ctrl + C cancels what you are typing, or exits when the prompt is empty.
• Ctrl + R starts a reverse search.
• Type / on an empty prompt to see every command, such as /clear, /compact, and /model.

Claude Code also lets you change its keyboard shortcuts. Run /keybindings to open the settings file.

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Hidden Features Worth Knowing

These are not keyboard shortcuts, but they are the features we see people miss most often.

Incognito chats

Start a new chat outside a project and look for the ghost icon in the upper right corner. Click it to start an incognito chat. These chats are not saved to your chat history or used to build Claude's memory. They are also not used for training.

Two things to know. Incognito chats cannot be turned into normal chats later, and once you close one, it is gone. Copy anything you need before you close it. Claude can still see your account instructions inside an incognito chat.

Instructions for Claude

Click your initials in the lower left corner, open Settings, and find Instructions for Claude. What you write here applies to all your chats. Good things to add:

• Your job and the kind of work you do
• The terms you use often
• How you like answers (short, with examples, in bullet points)

Projects have their own separate instructions that apply only to chats inside that project. Our free Claude Projects and Artifacts course shows how to set them up.

Memory and past chat search

Claude can remember context from your chats, such as your role, your projects, and how you like to work. You can also say "remember this" to save something on purpose. Manage it all in Settings > Memory, where you can pause memory or reset it.

On paid plans, you can ask Claude to search your old chats. Try "What did we decide about the budget last week?" or "Let's continue where we left off with my resume." You will see the search appear as a step in the chat. You can turn this off in Settings > Memory with the Search and reference chats toggle.

Import memory from another AI

Moving from another AI assistant? Go to Settings > Memory and select Start import. Claude shows you a prompt to paste into your old assistant. Copy what it gives back, paste it into Claude, and click Add to memory. Anthropic calls this feature experimental, so check what Claude saved afterwards.

Effort and thinking settings

Click the model name next to the send button. Besides picking a model, you can set the effort level and turn thinking on or off on many models. Lower effort is faster and uses less of your plan. Higher effort is better for hard problems, like planning a project or checking long documents. Our guide on which Claude model to use explains the model choices. For how much you can use each plan, see our Claude Free vs Pro vs Max comparison.

Voice mode: hands-free or push-to-talk

Voice mode lets you talk to Claude and hear it answer. On the web or desktop, click the sound wave icon in the chat box. In hands-free mode, Claude listens and replies when you pause. If you are somewhere noisy, switch to push-to-talk and hold the button while you speak.

You can switch between typing and talking in the same chat without losing context. To change Claude's voice on the web or desktop, go to Settings > General and scroll to Voice settings.

Dyslexia-friendly font and dark mode

Go to Settings > Appearance. Under Color mode, pick Light, Dark, or Match System. Under Chat font, you can choose Dyslexic Friendly. Few people know this option exists.

Bulk delete and rename chats

On the web, click Chats and tasks in the sidebar. Hover over a chat, click the three dots, and choose Select. Then tick more chats, or click Select all, and delete them in one go. The same menu lets you rename a chat so it is easier to find later.

Manage shared chat links

When you share a chat, the link shows a snapshot of the chat up to that moment. New messages stay private. On free, Pro, and Max plans, go to Settings > Privacy and click Manage next to Shared chats to see every link you have shared and unshare any of them.

Export your data

On the web or desktop, go to Settings > Privacy and click Export data. You get a download link by email. The link expires after 24 hours. You cannot start an export from the mobile apps.

Monthly recap

On the web or desktop, with memory turned on, go to Settings > Reflect to see a summary of how you used Claude over the past month. It shows your main topics and gives tips on using Claude better. It is a beta feature on Free, Pro, and Max plans and is rolling out slowly, so you may not see it yet.

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Mobile Shortcuts and Widgets

Keyboard shortcuts do not apply on phones, but the Claude mobile apps have their own quick ways in.

iPhone (iOS 18 and later)

• Ask Claude from anywhere. Use "Ask Claude" from Siri, Spotlight search, or the Share menu. You can select text in any app and share it to Claude.
• Build a Shortcut. In the Shortcuts app, add the "Ask Claude" action. For example, make a "Summarize with Claude" shortcut and add it to your Share Sheet.
• Home Screen widget. The Claude widget has buttons to start a chat, open dictation, or take a photo for Claude.
• Analyze Photo with Claude. Add this control to Control Center or your Lock Screen to send a photo to Claude without unlocking your phone first.

Android (8.0 and later)

The Claude widget gives you three buttons on your home screen: a new chat, the camera, and voice dictation. Touch and hold an empty spot on your home screen, tap Widgets, and find Claude.

Dictation in 12 languages

Tap the microphone in the chat box to speak instead of type. Dictation turns your speech into text, and Claude replies in text. It is different from voice mode. Dictation works in English, French, German, Hindi, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and Ukrainian. Languages other than English are in beta.

Messages you send through widgets and "Ask Claude" count toward your usage limit like any other chat.

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A Simple Daily Setup

If you only do three things from this guide, do these:

1. Turn on quick entry (Mac) so Claude is one double-tap away.
2. Fill in Instructions for Claude so you stop repeating your background in every chat.
3. Save two or three deep links for the prompts you use most.

If you also use ChatGPT, our guide to ChatGPT keyboard shortcuts and hidden features covers the same ground for OpenAI's app.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Does Claude have keyboard shortcuts in the web browser?

Anthropic does not publish an official list of keyboard shortcuts for claude.ai in the browser. The documented one is typing / in the message box to open commands and options. The best-documented shortcuts are in Claude Desktop on Mac (quick entry) and in Claude Code.

How do I open Claude with a keyboard shortcut on Mac?

Install Claude Desktop, turn on quick entry when the app asks, then double-tap the Option key from any app. You can change it to Option + Space or a custom shortcut in Settings > General, under Desktop app.

Is Claude quick entry available on Windows?

No. Anthropic's help center says quick entry is currently only available on macOS. Windows users can still use Claude Desktop without the quick entry features.

What is the difference between Claude incognito chats and normal chats?

Incognito chats are not saved to your chat history, are not used to build memory, and are not used for training. You start one with the ghost icon on a new chat outside a project. You cannot save an incognito chat later, so copy anything you need before closing it.

Can I start a Claude chat with a prompt already typed in?

Yes, in Claude Desktop. Use a deep link like claude://claude.ai/new?q=Your%20prompt. Claude opens a new chat with the prompt in the message box, ready for you to check and send.

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Want to get more out of Claude? Start with our free Claude for Beginners course. It covers setup, prompting, projects, and custom instructions step by step.