Keyboard Shortcuts for the Query Editor and Query Results View

You can use the following icons and keyboard shortcuts to navigate within the query editor or query results view.

Topic Contents

  • Query Editor

  • Query Results List

  • Opening and Closing Query Panels

  • Display Results When You Have No Permission to View a Work Item

Required Permissions

To use the query editor and view work items, you must be a member of the Readers group, or your View work items in this node permission must be set to Allow. To modify a work item, you must be a member of the Contributors group or have the View work items in this node and Edit work items in this node permissions set to Allow. For more information, see Team Foundation Server Permissions.

Generated effect

Key or action

Move the focus up or down

UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW

Move the focus left or right

RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW

Move the focus down

ENTER

Move the focus to the right, one field at a time

TAB

Move the focus to the left, one field at a time

SHIFT+TAB

Copy the selected clause

CTRL+C

Save changes made to the query or work items in the query results list

CTRL+S

Paste the copied clause, and overwrite the selected clause

CTRL+V

Move the focus to the end of the current clause

END

Delete the contents of the current field or the selected clause

DELETE

Highlight consecutive clauses

SHIFT+UP ARROW or SHIFT+DOWN ARROW

Most of the shortcuts that are listed below can be used wherever you have a list of work items, such as the query results view or a list of linked work items within a work item form.

Generated effect

Key or action

Highlight a row

Click the row

Highlight consecutive rows

SHIFT+UP ARROW or SHIFT+DOWN ARROW

Expand the current row

Click Expand

PLUS SIGN key on the numeric keypad, or the equals key on the keyboard

Collapses the current row

Click Collapse

MINUS SIGN key on the numeric keypad or on the keyboard

Save changes made to the query or work items in the query results list

CTRL+S

Sort the list by the values of a column, toggling between ascending and descending

The up-chevron indicates an ascending sort, and the down-chevron indicates a descending sort

Click a column heading

Sort the list based on values in multiple columns

Hold down SHIFT and click the columns in sequence

Resize a column

Drag an edge of a column header

Move a column (Team Explorer only)

Drag the column left or right to a new location.

Select the previous row or the next row

UP ARROW or DOWN ARROW

Scrolls right or left

RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW

Scrolls up or down

PAGE UP or PAGE DOWN

Selects the first row or the last row

HOME or END

Open the selected work item

ENTER key on the keypad or on the keyboard

Opening, Closing, and Navigating within Query Panels

When you open a work item query, there are two panels that may display concurrently: the query editor and query results or the query results and the work item form that is currently selected in the query results view.

Generated effect

Click this icon

Collapse bottom panel

Collapse bottom panel

Collapse left panel

Collapse left panel

Collapse right panel

Collapse right panel

Collapse upper panel

Collapse upper panel

Restore bottom panel

Restore bottom panel

Restore left panel

Restore left panel

Restore right panel

Restore right panel

Restore upper panel

Restore upper panel

Switch to side-by-side, horizontal panels

Split panels horizontally

Switch to stacked (vertical) panels

Split panels vertically

Next work item in results list

Move down in list

Previous work item in results list

Move up in list

Display Results When You Have No Permission to View a Work Item

When query results contain a work item that you do not have required permissions to view, the cells of that work item are blank, except that the work item ID appears, and the title cell indicates <<no access>>.

When you sort a work item list that contains no-access rows, those rows sort as if their cells were blank. For example, if you sort by State, each no-access row appears at the top of the list. This rule applies to the Title field also. If you sorted by Title, no-access rows appear at the top of the list even though the title appears as <<no access>>. The exception to this rule is that if you sort by work item ID no-access rows appear in the expected sequence.

See Also

Tasks

Add, Remove, Reorder, and Sort Columns

List Work Items (Default Flat List)

View and Modify Work Items in a Direct Links View

View and Modify Work Items in a Tree View

Concepts

Finding Bugs, Tasks, and Other Work Items