Azure DevOps Keyboard Shortcuts Every Developer Should Know

There’s a keyboard shortcut overlay built into every page of Azure DevOps. Press ? on any page and a modal pops up showing every available shortcut for that context. It’s been there for years. Most developers have never pressed it.

That’s a shame, because some of these shortcuts genuinely save time — especially if you spend half your day bouncing between boards, pull requests, and work items. Here’s a curated list of the ones worth committing to muscle memory, organized by where you’ll use them.

How chord shortcuts work

Before we dive in, a quick note on how Azure DevOps handles multi-key shortcuts. Some shortcuts are chords: you press one key, release it, then press another. For example, g then h means “go home.” You don’t hold them down together like Ctrl+S — you press g, let go, then press h. Azure DevOps briefly listens for the second key after you press the first.

It feels odd the first couple of times. After a day or two, it’s second nature.

Global shortcuts

These work on every page in Azure DevOps.

Shortcut	Action
`?`	Show the keyboard shortcuts panel
`/` or `s`	Focus the global search box

The ? shortcut is your cheat sheet. If you forget everything else in this post, remember that one. The search shortcuts (/ and s) both do the same thing — focus the search bar at the top of the page so you can find work items, code, or people without touching your mouse.

These are all chord shortcuts. Press g, release, then press the second key.

Shortcut	Action
`g` then `h`	Go to the project home page
`g` then `b`	Go to Boards (Backlogs)
`g` then `w`	Go to Boards (Work Items)
`g` then `c`	Go to Code (Repos)
`g` then `p`	Go to Pull Requests
`g` then `t`	Go to Test Plans
`g` then `s`	Go to Project Settings

The navigation chords are the single biggest time-saver in this list. Instead of clicking through the left sidebar or hunting for the right hub, you just press two keys and you’re there. Once you internalize g,b for boards and g,c for code, the sidebar becomes something you barely look at.

Boards and backlogs

When you’re on a board or backlog view, these shortcuts help you move through items without the mouse.

Shortcut	Action
`n`	Open the “new item” dialog
`Home`	Jump to the first item
`End`	Jump to the last item
`Up` / `Down`	Move through items
`Left` / `Right`	Collapse or expand a tree node
`Enter`	Open the selected item

The n shortcut is particularly useful during grooming or triage sessions. Instead of clicking “New Work Item” at the top of the board, you just hit n, type a title, and keep moving. Combined with arrow keys to navigate the backlog, you can burn through a triage meeting without your hand leaving the keyboard.

Work item forms

Once you’ve opened a work item, these shortcuts handle the most common actions.

Shortcut	Action
`Ctrl+S`	Save the work item
`Ctrl+Shift+S`	Save and close the work item
`Alt+C`	Copy the work item URL

Ctrl+S vs. Ctrl+Shift+S is the kind of small distinction that matters. If you’re updating five work items in a row, Ctrl+Shift+S saves and takes you back to the list so you can open the next one. If you’re making multiple edits to the same item and want to save incrementally, Ctrl+S keeps you on the form.

And Alt+C to copy the work item URL is a quiet hero. Every time you paste a work item link into a Slack message or a PR description, that shortcut saves you a right-click-copy-link-address dance.

Code and pull requests

The code and pull request views have their own set of shortcuts for reviewing changes and navigating files.

Shortcut	Action
`e`	Edit the current file (in Repos)
`t`	Toggle the file tree panel
`c`	Add a comment (in PR diff view)
`]`	Next file in the diff
`[`	Previous file in the diff
`Ctrl+Home`	Jump to the first difference
`Ctrl+End`	Jump to the last difference

The t shortcut toggles the file tree in pull request views, which is useful when you’re reviewing a large PR and want more horizontal space for the diff. Press t to collapse it, review, press t again to navigate to a different file.

Using [ and ] to step through files in a PR diff keeps you in flow. No scrolling back to the file list, no clicking — just bracket your way through the review.

A few tips for building the habit

Start with ?. Seriously. Press it right now if you have Azure DevOps open. Skim what’s available for the page you’re on.
Pick two or three shortcuts and force yourself to use them for a week. g,b and g,c for navigation plus Ctrl+Shift+S for saving work items is a solid starting trio.
Don’t try to memorize the full list. You’ll naturally add more as the first few become automatic.

The shortcuts are contextual, so Azure DevOps only shows you what’s relevant to the page you’re on. A board page has different shortcuts than a PR page. The ? overlay always reflects your current context.

If you like keyboard-driven workflows

If reaching for shortcuts instead of your mouse is how you prefer to work, TicketHop was built with the same mindset. Press Ctrl+K (or Cmd+K on Mac) from any Azure DevOps page to open it, type # followed by a work item ID to jump straight to it, or just start typing to search your recent items. No clicking through menus, no digging through browser history.

It’s a small Chrome extension that automatically tracks your Azure DevOps work items as you browse and lets you add private notes, organize items into lists, and sync across devices with end-to-end encryption. The whole thing is designed to stay out of your way until you need it.

Install TicketHop — it’s free and takes about ten seconds to set up.