Best Keyboard Shortcuts to Use in Spotify
We at Lifehacker are big fans of keyboard shortcuts, whether for your operating system , your web browser , or any of your web applications . They help you get more done in a shorter period of time, without having to lift your fingers from the keyboard or look away from what you’re looking at (if your muscle memory is fully trained).
In fact, you can find keyboard shortcuts in more places than you might think, including desktop and web apps for Windows and macOS. Of course, desktop clients are easy enough to use without them, but when you need to skip a song or turn down the volume, they can be very useful.
We’re going to mention some of our favorites for Spotify here, but you can see the full list by pressing Ctrl+? (Windows) or Cmd+? (MacOS). Most shortcuts are the same on both operating systems as long as you use Cmd instead of Ctrl (or vice versa), and they should work fine in both the desktop client and the web app player.
Basic playback controls
Start and stop playback: Got a video call? Is someone yelling at you from another room? Press Spacebar to pause the audio, then press it again to continue.
Shuffle and Repeat: If you want to shuffle the current playlist or listen to the same songs again (or both), Ctrl/Cmd+S toggles shuffle mode, and Ctrl/Cmd+R toggles repeat.
Move forward and backward. Navigating playlists is a key part of using Spotify, and the Ctrl/Cmd+Right Arrow and Ctrl/Cmd+Left Arrow keys allow you to skip forward and backward.
Search forward and backward. If you want to move along a track, in Windows you can do this using Shift+Right Arrow or Shift+Left Arrow . On macOS, also hold down the Cmd key.
Increase or decrease volume. If any adjustment to the Spotify audio volume is needed, use Ctrl/Cmd + Up Arrow or Ctrl/Cmd + Down Arrow to increase or decrease it as needed.
I like the current track. Sometimes you’ll want to like the current track in Spotify without having to search for it – use Shift+Alt+B on Windows or Shift+Option+B on macOS.
Playlists and music
Access your playlists: You can use the keyboard shortcut Shift+Alt+1 (Windows) or Shift+Option+1 (macOS) to view your playlists; replace the 1 with a 0 to go to the Your Library screen instead.
Create new playlists. The keyboard shortcut to create a new Spotify playlist is Ctrl/Cmd+N ; if you want to create a new playlist folder, also hold down the Shift key.
Filtering tracks in the current playlist. If you want to select our tracks in the current playlist, use Ctrl/Cmd+F – a search bar will appear at the top of the playlist that you can fill out.
Find something to listen to. If you want to search the entire Spotify catalog, use Ctrl/Cmd+K to open the Quick Search window, then add a search term.
Search inside your library. To perform searches that you want to limit to tracks saved in your Spotify library, use Ctrl+Alt+F (Windows) or Cmd+Option+F (macOS).
Select All: Several screens will appear where you will want to select all the tracks on the screen, be it an album, a playlist or something else – Ctrl/Cmd+A is the shortcut.
Layout and navigation
Open the context menu. If you need to access the context menu of a track, album, or anything else selected in Spotify, you can use Alt+J on Windows or Option+J on macOS.
Check out the queue: Want to know what’s next in Spotify’s queue? Use Alt+Shift+Q (Windows) or Option+Shift+Q (macOS) to see the queue on the right.
Skip to the currently playing track. If you’ve navigated to a playlist that’s currently playing and want to go back, press Alt+Shift+J on Windows or Option+Shift+J on macOS.
See what’s new: If you need something new to listen to, press Shift+Alt+N (Windows) or Shift+Option+N (macOS) and you’ll go straight to Spotify’s new music page.
Switch sidebars: Use Shift+Alt+L and Shift+Alt+R (Windows) or Shift+Option+L and Shift+Option+R (macOS) to show or hide the left and right sidebars in the Spotify app.
Open Spotify settings. If you need to tweak any aspect of your Spotify experience, press Ctrl/Cmd+ (comma) to go straight to the main settings screen.