How to Open Google Chrome with Keyboard Shortcut

Windows lets you open Google Chrome with a custom keyboard shortcut for quick and easy access to the browser. Here’s how.

Generally, opening the Chrome browser is nothing hard. You can search for it in the Start menu, double-click the desktop icon, or click the taskbar icon if it is pinned. But, what if you can make it even simpler by assigning a keyboard shortcut? Once assigned, pressing the keyboard shortcut opens the Chrome browser. It’s pretty simple to do and helpful for those who prefer using the keyboard over the mouse.

There are two methods to launch Chrome with a keyboard shortcut: using AutoHotKey and the shortcut field in the icon’s properties. I will show both. You can follow the method of your choice, the result will be the same. Let’s get started.

Open Google Chrome With Keyboard Shortcut Using AutoHotKey

AutoHotKey is a free and open-source automation tool that lets you create custom shortcuts and macros to automate tasks. You can create a custom keyboard shortcut to launch the Google Chrome browser using it. Here’s how.

1. Get AutoHotKey from this page.
2. Double-click the installer and install AutoHotKey.
3. Press the “Windows key” to open the Start menu.
4. Search and open “Notepad“.
5. Paste the following script in the Notepad.
6. Press “Ctrl + Shift + S“.
7. Go to the folder where you want to save the script.
8. Type a name in the “File name” field.
9. Select “All files” from the “File Type” dropdown menu and click “Save”.
10. Open File Explorer and find the script file.
11. Double-click the script file to run it.
12. While the script is running, you can use the “Ctrl + Shift + C” shortcut to open Chrome.

Notes:

• The script assumes that Chrome is in your system path. However, if you’ve installed Chrome in some other folder, replace “chrome.exe” in the script with the full path to “chrome.exe”.
• To customize the shortcut, you can change the “^+c” part of the script. Here’s a list of keys you can use to create your own shortcut.
• It is recommended to add the AutoHotKey script to startup so that you don’t have to launch it manually every time.

Good to know: Best AutoHotKey scripts

Open Google Chrome With Keyboard Shortcut Using Icon Properties

1. Right-click on the Chrome desktop shortcut.
2. Select the “Properties” option.
3. Go to the “Shortcut” tab.
4. Select the “Shortcut” field.
5. Press the shortcut you want to assign.
6. Click “Apply” and “OK“.
7. From now on, pressing the assigned shortcut opens Chrome.

Detailed Steps (With Screenshots)

We need to create the Google Chrome desktop shortcut. This is the shortcut that lets you assign a keyboard shortcut. If you already have the shortcut on your desktop, ignore the first couple of steps and proceed.

To start off, search for “Google Chrome” in the Start menu, right-click on the result, and select the “Open file location” option.

The above action opens the file explorer window. Here, copy (Ctrl + C) the Google Chrome shortcut and paste (Ctrl + V) it on your desktop.

Now, right-click on the Chrome desktop shortcut and select the “Properties” option. This is where you can change a lot of settings related to the program shortcut.

Go to the “Shortcut” tab in the properties window. This is where you can assign a keyboard shortcut to open Chrome. Here, click the “Shortcut” field and press the keyboard shortcut you want to assign. In my case, I’m assigning “Shift + Alt + C“.

Finally, click the “OK” button to save the change.

That is all. From now on you can use the assigned shortcut to open the Chrome browser. It is important to note that you need to make sure that the assigned shortcut is not in conflict with other shortcuts or that you have not assigned a duplicate shortcut. In both these cases, the shortcut might not work and the Chrome browser will not open on key press.

Note: The shortcut may not function when other applications are running, as they could override it. In that case, the AutoHotKey method (the first method) is the only option.

If you have any questions or need help, comment below. I’ll be happy to assist.

Good to know: how to open Chrome using command line.

Update: The tutorial is updated to reflect the changes in Windows and provide an alternative method for those who can’t use the shortcut properties method.