September 18th, 2018

Why is Alt+F4 the hotkey for closing a window? Why not Alt+F5 or Alt+F3?

Raymond Chen
Raymond Chen

In a One Dev Question video, I discussed why Alt+F4 is the hotkey for closing a window. That explains why it’s a function key rather than an alphabet key, but why F4 specifically? Why not F5 or F3?

It’s F4 because that was the next key available.

The hotkeys according to CUA were as follows:

  • Alt+F10: Maximize
  • Alt+F9: Minimize
  • Alt+F8: Resize
  • Alt+F7: Move
  • Alt+F6: Switch windows within an app
  • Alt+F5: Restore
  • Alt+F4: Close

Most of these hotkeys died out over time due to disuse. The ones that remain active today are Alt+F6 and Alt+F4.

Wait, what about F11 and F12? Why were they skipped over?

The original IBM PC keyboard didn’t have F11 or F12 function keys. The function keys went up to F10.

Category
Old New Thing
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History

Author

Raymond Chen

Raymond has been involved in the evolution of Windows for more than 30 years. In 2003, he began a Web site known as The Old New Thing which has grown in popularity far beyond his wildest imagination, a development which still gives him the heebie-jeebies. The Web site spawned a book, coincidentally also titled The Old New Thing (Addison Wesley 2007). He occasionally appears on the Windows Dev Docs Twitter account to tell stories which convey no useful information.

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