# When do you press the keys one after the other and when do you press them simultaneously to trigger a shortcut?
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-do-you-press-the-keys-one-after-the-other-and-when-do-you-press-them-simultaneously-to-trigger-a-shortcut/385289
**Category:** UX
**Tags:** keyboard-shortcuts
**Created:** [10 oktober 2025 om 22:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-do-you-press-the-keys-one-after-the-other-and-when-do-you-press-them-simultaneously-to-trigger-a-shortcut/385289 "2025-10-10T22:33:52Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [10 oktober 2025 om 22:33 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-do-you-press-the-keys-one-after-the-other-and-when-do-you-press-them-simultaneously-to-trigger-a-shortcut/385289/1 "2025-10-10T22:33:53Z")
Maybe I’m just too stupid to figure it out. How do I know that to “jump to home”, I have to press g, release it, and then press h, but to “insert current time” I have to press all buttons Ctrl Shift . at the same time?
I looked at an old screenshot I took:
> [@Incorrect capitalization in German plugin shortcuts: "UmschAlt"](https://meta.discourse.org/t/incorrect-capitalization-in-german-plugin-shortcuts-umschalt/323738/1):
>
> 
Apparently, there used to be commas or plus signs in between to indicate the difference. These no longer seem to be there. How can you tell the difference now?
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### Author:  [@pfaffman](https://meta.discourse.org/u/pfaffman)
#### Post date: [10 oktober 2025 om 23:25 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-do-you-press-the-keys-one-after-the-other-and-when-do-you-press-them-simultaneously-to-trigger-a-shortcut/385289/2 "2025-10-10T23:25:20Z")
Control, alt, and shift are modifiers. If you press and release them, in, say, your word processor, nothing happens.
If the key does something by itself, then you press and release it.
Edit: oh, but I get that the documentation should be clearer.
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### Author:  [@ToddZ](https://meta.discourse.org/u/ToddZ)
#### Post date: [10 oktober 2025 om 23:39 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-do-you-press-the-keys-one-after-the-other-and-when-do-you-press-them-simultaneously-to-trigger-a-shortcut/385289/3 "2025-10-10T23:39:04Z")
As a heavy shortcut user I instinctively get this… but it is fairly common in tutorials & documentation to write out commands like `CRTL+SHIFT+B` to make them super clear for everyone.
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### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [11 oktober 2025 om 02:29 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-do-you-press-the-keys-one-after-the-other-and-when-do-you-press-them-simultaneously-to-trigger-a-shortcut/385289/4 "2025-10-11T02:29:50Z")
@Moin When trying gh I found there are 2 ways of doing so:
1. Press g, release, press h, release
2. Press g, while still pressing it, press h, release both (similar to how CTRLSHIFT. works?)
So it seems both ways are possible.
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### Author:  [@Moin](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Moin)
#### Post date: [11 oktober 2025 om 12:25 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-do-you-press-the-keys-one-after-the-other-and-when-do-you-press-them-simultaneously-to-trigger-a-shortcut/385289/5 "2025-10-11T12:25:55Z")
Thank you. Yesterday, I definitely had trouble activating the shortcuts. That’s why I would have liked some clear guidance on how they are supposed to work.
Maybe it is the combination of tablet, keyboard, and Firefox that causes the problem. Even a simple Ctrl + A didn’t work a few seconds ago, but now it does work again 🤷♀️. So maybe this wasn’t me not using the Discourse shortcuts correctly but a problem with Firefox. I rarely use Firefox for anything apart from Discourse and I don’t use the keyboard on my tablet often, so it’s rare that I try to use shortcuts.
It’s also possible that choosing bookmarks for further testing wasn’t the best choice either. I am not sure if all the options the shortcut help suggests still work. For example, “next business day” still doesn’t work for me, while “later today” and “delete” work fine.
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### Author:  [@NateDhaliwal](https://meta.discourse.org/u/NateDhaliwal)
#### Post date: [11 oktober 2025 om 14:04 UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/when-do-you-press-the-keys-one-after-the-other-and-when-do-you-press-them-simultaneously-to-trigger-a-shortcut/385289/6 "2025-10-11T14:04:36Z")
I did my tests on Edge\[1\] (laptop) and everything worked fine. So perhaps it is browser-related.
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1. Please, don’t judge - I’m doing it for those Microsoft Rewards points