What Does CTRL+W Do? - Candid.Technology

What does CTRL+W do?

• by Ambika Rani Ghosh
• Published on 9:00 pm IST | January 28, 2022Updated on 1:44 am IST | May 28, 2022
• 2 min read

There are a plethora of keyboard shortcuts available, which make it a lot easier for us while we are performing multiple tasks simultaneously. One such shortcut key is Ctrl+W.

In this article, we discuss the function of Ctrl+W, alternative shortcut keys for Ctrl+W and what happens when you use it in browsers, Microsoft programs or other software.

Also read: What does Ctrl+Z do?

What is Ctrl+W used for in browsers?

Ctrl+W, also referred to as Control+W, is the keyboard shortcut for closing tabs, windows, documents and programs that are currently running on your PC.

If you are running a browser on your PC and you press the Ctrl+W shortcut key it will immediately close the current tab running on the browser.

Furthermore, if there was only one tab open in the browser, pressing Ctrl+W will close the browser altogether.

This keyboard shortcut works the same way with open files, tabs and documents.

What happens when you press Ctrl+W in a Microsoft program?

If you are working on a Microsoft program, for example, a spreadsheet on Excel, a Word doc or a Powerpoint presentation, pressing Ctrl+W will close the document if you have already saved the changes.

In case you haven’t yet saved the changes, the spreadsheet will pop a dialogue box so that you can save the document before closing it.

Ctrl+W works the same way with all the other Microsoft programs as well as several other softwares.

CTRL + W alternatives

Here are two alternative keyboard shortcuts that function in a similar fashion to Ctrl+W:

• Ctrl+F4
• Alt+F4

Also read: How to type a degree symbol on Chromebook?

Ambika Rani Ghosh

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