Office Keyboard Key

Some new keyboard include an “Office key”. This key is mapped on Windows 10 with May 2019 update applied (version 1903¹) or later. Pressing the office key will open the Office application, if installed, otherwise opens the default browser and navigates to Office.com. The office key can also be combined with other keys such as Office + W to open Microsoft Word, or Office + X to open Microsoft Excel. The full list of supported combinations can by found on this support page by Microsoft.

If you have an older keyboard, the Office key can be emulated by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + WIN + ALT. That means opening Microsoft Word can be accomplished by pressing CTRL + SHIFT + WIN + ALT + W.

I don’t have a use for the office application (i.e. when pressing just the Office key), and found a way to remap this to open the downloads folder.

REG ADD HKCU\Software\Classes\ms-officeapp\Shell\Open\Command /t REG_SZ /d %userprofile%\Downloads\

Note: This path can be changed to any arbitrary path or application, for example Windows Explorer.

REG ADD HKCU\Software\Classes\ms-officeapp\Shell\Open\Command /t REG_SZ /d explorer

Other shortcuts

Other notable shortcuts are:

Note: 🅾️ represents the Office key or the keyboard combination CTRL + SHIFT + WIN + ALT.