I have always been very vocal about the need for keyboard shortcuts to often used functions in Business Central, but I got surprised the other day, when I counted how many there actually are, check it out:
In this video, Erik takes us through an impressive collection of 38 keyboard shortcuts available in Business Central’s web client. As a self-described “keyboard warrior” who previously criticized BC’s web client for lacking keyboard shortcuts, Erik was surprised to discover just how many exist. He walks through most of them, demonstrates their usage, and offers candid feedback on areas where discoverability and usability could still improve.
A Change of Heart on BC Keyboard Shortcuts
Erik admits he’s been a vocal critic of Business Central’s keyboard shortcuts — or what he assumed was a lack thereof. Coming from the days of the classic NAV client where F-keys ruled and you could work entirely without a mouse, the early web client was a disappointment. But after actually counting, he found 38 keyboard shortcuts, far more than the five to seven he regularly uses. This video is his exploration (and partial public apology) for underestimating the web client’s capabilities.
The Essential Shortcuts Everyone Should Know
Search and Settings
- Alt+Q — Opens the “Tell Me” search box (Tell me what you want to do)
- Alt+T — Opens “My Settings” to switch company, region, language, and other preferences
Window Management and Context Menus
- Alt+Shift+W — Pulls the current page out into its own separate window
- Shift+F10 — Opens the context menu for the currently selected item
Notes
- Alt+O — Adds a note. Erik notes that in BC 20, this now works even when the FactBox pane isn’t already visible, which was a limitation in version 19.
The F12 Family — Three Functions on One Key
The F12 key is surprisingly versatile in Business Central, with three distinct behaviors depending on modifier keys:
- Ctrl+F12 — Toggles between wide and narrow layout view
- Shift+F12 — Opens the Role Explorer for navigation
- Ctrl+Shift+F12 — Enters and exits Focus Mode on line items (such as sales order lines), expanding them to fill the screen
Walking Through the F-Keys
F1 — Help
- Ctrl+F1 — Opens the context-aware Help pane. Rather than searching for help manually, this shortcut shows documentation relevant to the current page (e.g., “About Sales Orders” when on a sales order).
- Ctrl+Alt+F1 — Opens the Page Inspector, which developers use constantly to identify page and table information.
F2 — FactBox
- Alt+F2 — Toggles the FactBox pane on and off
- Shift+Alt+F2 — Switches between Details and Attachments within the FactBox pane
F3 — Search and Filters
- F3 — Jumps to the search box for quick filtering
- Shift+F3 — Opens the filter pane
- Ctrl+Shift+F3 — Opens the filter pane and navigates to the “Filter totals by” section
- Alt+F3 — Filters to the current field’s value
- Shift+Ctrl+Alt+F3 — Clears all filters
F5 — Refresh
- F5 — Refreshes the data on the page (recalculates FactBox statistics, etc.)
- Ctrl+F5 — Full page reload (equivalent to browser refresh)
Erik raises an important usability concern here: when you press F5, the data refreshes but there’s no visual indication that anything happened. Users don’t trust that the refresh occurred, so they end up doing Ctrl+F5 instead. He sees this as an opportunity for improvement — the UI should provide feedback confirming the refresh took place.
F6 — FastTab Navigation
- F6 — Moves forward through FastTabs
- Shift+F6 — Moves backward through FastTabs
- Alt+F6 — Toggles (collapses/expands) the current FastTab
F7 — Sorting
- Alt+F7 — Sorts by the currently selected column
Erik points out another discoverability issue: when you click on a column, there’s no visual indicator that it’s the “selected” column. So while Alt+F7 does sort by the current column, users have no way to confirm which column is active without visual feedback.
F8 — Copy from Above
- F8 — Copies the value from the cell above in line entries. Erik calls this one “older than Windows even” — a classic NAV shortcut that has survived the transition to the web client.
Navigation Shortcuts
Enter Key Variants
You might not think of Enter as a shortcut, but it functions like Tab in Business Central:
- Enter — Moves to the next field (like Tab)
- Shift+Enter — Moves to the previous field (like Shift+Tab)
- Ctrl+Enter — Moves to the next element outside the current context
- Ctrl+Shift+Enter — Navigates through certain contexts
Arrow Key Combinations
- Alt+Down Arrow — Opens the lookup/dropdown for the current field
- Alt+Up Arrow — Shows the tooltip for the current field (though Erik notes this doesn’t work consistently in BC 20)
Other Navigation
- Escape — Closes the current page, dialog, or card. Erik jokes this might be shortcut number 39 since it’s not officially on Microsoft’s list.
- Alt+N — Creates a new record
- Alt+Shift+N — A somewhat obscure shortcut related to confirming and creating a new record on certain pages
The Hidden Gem: Company Badge Information
- Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C — Displays the full company name and environment information from the badge. Wherever you are in BC, you normally just see the short badge text, but this key combination reveals the complete details about which company and environment you’re connected to.
To set up a custom badge, navigate to Company Information and configure the “Company Badge” fields.
Column Header Discoverability Issues
Erik highlights an interesting usability challenge with column headers on list pages. There are two different behaviors depending on exactly where you click:
- Click on the column title text — controls sorting
- Click slightly off the title — opens the column’s context menu with sort and filter options
This behavior is only discoverable via mouse-over, making it easy to miss. The keyboard shortcuts (Alt+F7 for sorting, F3 variants for filtering) provide more reliable access to these features.
Custom Shortcut Keys in AL Extensions
Beyond the built-in shortcuts, developers can define their own keyboard shortcuts on page actions using the ShortcutKey property in AL code. Here’s an example that adds two custom shortcut keys to the Item Card:
namespace DefaultPublisher.ShortCutKeys;
using Microsoft.Inventory.Item;
pageextension 50100 ItemCardExt extends "Item Card"
{
actions
{
addlast(processing)
{
action(Test)
{
Caption = 'Test';
ApplicationArea = all;
ShortcutKey = 'Ctrl+U';
trigger OnAction()
begin
message('hello!');
end;
}
action(Test2)
{
Caption = 'Test 2';
ApplicationArea = all;
ShortcutKey = 'F9';
trigger OnAction()
begin
message('hello 2!');
end;
}
}
}
}
The ShortcutKey property lets you assign key combinations like 'Ctrl+U' or single keys like 'F9' to any page action. This is particularly useful for frequently used actions in custom workflows. Keep in mind that you need to avoid conflicts with browser shortcuts (for example, Ctrl+N opens a new browser window, so BC uses Alt+N instead) and existing BC shortcuts.
The Browser Limitation Reality
Erik acknowledges the fundamental challenge of keyboard shortcuts in a web-based application: the browser itself claims many key combinations. Shortcuts like Ctrl+N (new browser window), Ctrl+W (close tab), and others are off-limits. This forces BC to use Alt-based combinations instead, which are less intuitive than the old NAV client where the application had exclusive access to the entire keyboard.
Quick Reference Summary
Here’s the complete list organized by category:
General
- Alt+Q — Tell Me search
- Alt+T — My Settings
- Alt+N — New record
- Alt+Shift+W — Open in new window
- Escape — Close current page/dialog
- Ctrl+Shift+Alt+C — Show company/environment info
F-Key Shortcuts
- Ctrl+F1 — Help pane
- Ctrl+Alt+F1 — Page Inspector
- Alt+F2 — Toggle FactBox
- Shift+Alt+F2 — Switch FactBox details/attachments
- F3 — Search box
- Shift+F3 — Filter pane
- Ctrl+Shift+F3 — Filter totals
- Alt+F3 — Filter to current value
- Shift+Ctrl+Alt+F3 — Clear all filters
- F5 — Refresh data
- Ctrl+F5 — Full page reload
- F6 — Next FastTab
- Shift+F6 — Previous FastTab
- Alt+F6 — Toggle FastTab collapse/expand
- Alt+F7 — Sort by current column
- F8 — Copy from cell above
- Shift+F10 — Context menu
- Ctrl+F12 — Toggle wide/narrow layout
- Shift+F12 — Role Explorer
- Ctrl+Shift+F12 — Focus Mode
Navigation
- Enter / Shift+Enter — Next / previous field
- Ctrl+Enter / Ctrl+Shift+Enter — Navigate in/out of contexts
- Alt+Down Arrow — Open lookup
- Alt+Up Arrow — Show tooltip
- Alt+O — Add a note
Conclusion
Business Central has come a long way from the early web client days. With 38 (or possibly 39, counting Escape) keyboard shortcuts, there’s genuine depth for keyboard-centric users. While Erik identifies some valid usability concerns — particularly around visual feedback for F5 refresh, column selection indicators, and click-target precision on column headers — the overall keyboard shortcut story in BC is much better than many long-time NAV users might assume. Combined with the ability to define custom shortcut keys in AL extensions, there’s a solid foundation for efficient keyboard-driven workflows.
