Fluent Search offers a comprehensive hotkey system that lets you control the app, navigate results, trigger actions on results, and jump into specific Search Apps — all from the keyboard. Setting up a few "muscle memory" shortcuts is often the single biggest productivity boost you can get from Fluent Search.

Types of hotkeys

Fluent Search provides two categories of keyboard shortcuts:

  1. Global Hotkeys — Work from anywhere in Windows, regardless of which application is in focus. These are registered system-wide.
  2. Keyboard Gestures — Work only when the Fluent Search window is active. These control navigation, preview, result actions, and other in-window behaviors.

Default global hotkeys

Action Default Shortcut Description
Open Fluent Search Ctrl + Alt Opens or closes the main search window
In-window search Ctrl + Alt + Shift Searches inside the currently focused application
Screen search Ctrl + M Launches screen search across the entire screen
Screen search (focused window) (configurable) Launches screen search only on the focused window
Quick Menu (configurable) Opens the Quick Menu for pinned tags and recent results

You can also assign global hotkeys to:

  • Individual Search Apps — Open Fluent Search pre-scoped to Files, Browser, Web, or any other Search App
  • Specific Search Tags — Open Fluent Search with a tag already applied
  • App Hotkeys — Launch or switch to a specific application (for example, assign Win + G to Google Chrome)

Win key combinations (such as Win + F, Win + G, Win + Space) are supported as hotkey assignments.

Default keyboard gestures (in-window)

Fluent Search Window

These shortcuts work when the Fluent Search window is focused:

Action Default Shortcut
Navigate results ↑ / ↓
Open / activate result Enter
Insert search tag Tab
Close window / cancel Esc
Focus search tags area Alt + T
Toggle inline preview Alt + P
Open preview in separate window Shift + Enter
Pin / unpin result to home screen Ctrl + Alt + P
Run as administrator Ctrl + Shift + Enter

Result operation hotkeys

Each Search App defines its own set of keyboard shortcuts for acting on results. These work when a result from that app is selected. Here are the most common ones:

Files

Action Shortcut
Open file / folder Ctrl + 1
Open parent folder Ctrl + 2
Open in command line Ctrl + 3
Open with... Ctrl + 4
Copy file Ctrl + 5
Copy file path Ctrl + C
Search in parent folder Ctrl + R
Share Ctrl + Shift + S
Rename F2
Delete (recycle bin) Delete
Permanently delete Shift + Delete

Apps

Action Shortcut
Open app Ctrl + 1
Open app as administrator Ctrl + Shift + Enter
Open app folder Ctrl + 2
Uninstall app Ctrl + 3

Browser

Action Shortcut
Open webpage Ctrl + 1
Copy URL Ctrl + C
Search URL Ctrl + E

Windows / Processes

Action Shortcut
Switch to window Ctrl + 1
Open process folder Ctrl + 2
Open new instance Ctrl + N
Close window Delete
Kill process Shift + Delete
Action Shortcut
Single click 1 (then type label)
Double click 2 (then type label)
Select text 3 (then type label)
Right click 4 (then type label)
Move mouse 5 (then type label)

Configuring hotkeys

To view and modify hotkeys:

  1. Open Fluent Search.
  2. Navigate to Settings → Hotkeys.

From there you can:

  • Reassign any global hotkey — click the shortcut field and press your desired key combination
  • Add Search App hotkeys — assign a hotkey to open Fluent Search scoped to a specific Search App
  • Add Search Tag hotkeys — assign a hotkey to open Fluent Search with a specific tag applied
  • Set App Hotkeys — assign hotkeys to launch or focus specific applications
  • Configure operation hotkeys — change the keyboard shortcuts for result actions within each Search App

Gaming mode (hotkey suppression)

Fluent Search can suppress its hotkeys to avoid accidental popups during gaming, presentations, or remote desktop sessions:

  • Ignore hotkeys in full-screen applications — Automatically disables all global hotkeys when a full-screen window is focused
  • Ignore hotkeys for specific processes — Add process names (for example, game.exe, obs64.exe, mstsc.exe) that should suppress Fluent Search hotkeys

When hotkey suppression is active, Fluent Search completely unregisters the hotkeys (rather than just blocking them), which prevents any input lag. The system tray icon changes to indicate gaming mode is active.

These options are found in Settings → Hotkeys. For more details, see Gaming mode.

Tips

  • Pick unique combinations — avoid shortcuts commonly used by other apps (like Ctrl + Shift + P in VS Code). Good choices include Ctrl + Alt + Space or Win + F.
  • Test across contexts — after changing a hotkey, try it on the desktop, in a browser, in your IDE, and in full-screen mode to confirm it works everywhere you need it.
  • Create "jump in" hotkeys — if you search files frequently, assign a dedicated hotkey that opens Fluent Search already scoped to the Files Search App.
  • Use App Hotkeys for quick switching — assign hotkeys to your most-used applications for instant launch or focus, similar to a dock.
  • If a hotkey stops working — check whether you're in a borderless-fullscreen app (these can count as full-screen for suppression purposes), and review your gaming mode settings.