Save 15 Keystrokes - Use Ctrl+Enter to Complete URL
I know what you are thinking. You want to open http://www.howtogeek.com, but it's such a hassle to type in the http:// and the www and the .com. Here's your shortcut method.
On modern browsers, such as IE7 and Firefox, hitting Ctrl + Enter will automatically fill in the www. and the .com part of the URL. Let's see an example:
Just type in howtogeek into the address bar in your browser:
Now hit Ctrl + Enter together:
You saved yourself 15 keystrokes!
More Keystroke combinations:
- Ctrl + Enter - Auto-complete *.com address
- Shift + Enter - Auto-complete *.net address
- Ctrl + Shift + Enter - Auto-complete *.org address
If you add Alt to any of those key combinations, it will auto-complete and open the new address in a new tab as well. Alt+Ctrl+Enter will auto-complete a *.com address in a new tab, for instance.
The Geek is the founder of How-To Geek and a geek enthusiast. When he's not coming up with great how-to articles, he's probably writing at his personal blog. This article was written on 01/13/07 and tagged with: Ubuntu, Windows, Firefox, Windows Vista, Desktop Customization
Hmmm. That's been around since at least IE5. But I never see even computer-savvy users using it. It's a good tip though.
And it works in Opera9 too and with a great degree of configurability. Here is how it is by default Control+Enter defined in Opera shortcuts:
Autocomplete server name, "http://www", "com"
Assigning other terminations and other keyboard shortcuts it's a piece of cake
and if you press SHIFT+ENTER, it puts:
"http://www." ".net"
Jordy,
Thanks for the tip, I wasn't aware of that one!
by the last. if you add ALT in all those shortcuts. it opens in another TAB
I've always used this shortcut, ever since I learned about it, no one else I know uses it,a nd they always ask how I auto add the www. and .com
is it possible to customise what goes on the end? ie: instead of ".com" or ".net" can it be made to put on ".com.au" etc.
I know it is customisable in myIE2 but haven't seen it in any other browsers
I know you can customise what goes on at the end of the address in Opera (v 9.02):
Tools > Preferences > Advanced Tab > Shortcuts
Select 'Opera Standard' in keyboard setup and click Edit. Cick advanced (at the bottom) and then choose Address Dropdown Widget.
The first shortcut will be Enter+Ctrl, and under description it says 'Autocomplete server name, "http://www", "com"' change the .com as you please.
You can add new shortcuts (click New), provided you use the same format as the Enter Ctrl one.
ALT+Enter opens a new tab in IE7, Then add in CTRL, to make CTRL+ALT+Enter to make new tab and append suffixes. Also to get to the address bar in IE7 use ALT+D. ALT+Tab no longer works in IE7.
I meant to say CLTR+TAB
In IE7 for a site that has two parts for example www.research.ibm.com when I write research.ibm and hit ctrl+Enter it only adds .com and not the www.
Does anyone know how to solve this?
I found a solution
1. Create the following registry key: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar\QuickComplete.
2. Create the following registry value in the key above: QuickComplete REG_SZ http://www.%s.whatever
3. Whatever is in the address bar will be inserted where the '%s' is. This example would complete 'microsoft' to 'http://www.microsoft.whatever'.
4. Please note that the QuickComplete string is currently limited to 64 characters.
You can actually change the www and .com to whatever you like (handy when you live in .co.nz!!!)
Go to about:config filter on prefix (for www) and suffix (for .com) and change the value of those preferences
…. now i just have to save myself all the keystrokes i just used typing this message.
also in IE7 Crtl+Click opens a link in a new tab….kinda like Safari…
IE7 is such a Safari rip off.
never used the crtl+enter it was always a hassle for me to hit the crtl key, it has always been faster for me to type it out then to hunt a key i never use unless my other hand is on a mouse.
i want to replace my firefox shortcut for shift-enter appending ".net" to instead append ".co.uk". anyone know how to do this? Thanks for the tip about using "about:config" to change the ctrl-enter being ".com" but i want to keep that one.
my tips:
- you can open in a new tab with middle-click too.
- you can also move focus to address bar with F6
- for anyone that doesn't know, stick "about:config" in your firefox address bar to edit all sorts of parameters such as whether a image gets resized etc.
Don't be so lazy
you all forgot ctrl+shift+enter for .org
Does anyone know what could have caused the ctrl+enter to stop working? For some reason this command is now placing the site info into my google search bar (I have google toolbar loaded) and automatically returning google results!?!? To clarify, if I type microsoft, hit ctrl+enter… "microsoft" appears in the google search box, and google results are displayed.
I'm using IE 7 and have had Google Toolbar loaded for a long time.
More detail on Ctrl+enter not working
After hitting ctrl+enter, the address bar value reads: http://www.google.com/search?q=microsoft
I've also already got the quickcomplete registry entry in place, but whatever is causing this is overriding it.
Have known about this since i've known about internet. I have been looking for a .com.au shortcut however. In *shudder* IE. You could press ctrl + enter then quickly type .au and press enter again. In firefox you cannot do this though as the address bar loses focus. Very annoying to an aussie
I don't know if this works in Firefox 2, but the nightly build of Firefox 3 have a nice feature. The URL bar is heavy powered up, for example:
When searching, you can write: "google howtogeek", or "wiki h-bomb" even "imdb lotr". Sometimes you might only write "commodore 64″ and you will be sent directly to Wikipedia.
Also, when you want to visit digg, nintendo, howtogeek - there is no need to write any of the heavy stuff "http://www..net/com/org". Just write howtogeek and press enter.
And don't forget the super-powerful search. Search for any browsed or favorited page right into the URL.
When using search forms, you might also want to use the feature "Add a keyword for this search". For example, i give the keyword "y" for youtube.com. This gives me the ability to write in the URL-bar "y you suck at photoshop". Very nice indeed.
Hope everyone now want to participate in the development for Firefox. Be aware of the nightly builds is quite buggy though. (And, I'm glad Firefox have a in-built spell-checker for forms)
xD i didn't know of these things.. even if it was obvious to try them out xD