Qutebrowser Keyboard Shortcuts

Qutebrowser is a simple yet powerful web browser for the Linux desktop. It allows you, among other things, to use Vim keybindings in a browser. For example, it is possible for you to scroll through a web page by only pressing the J and K keys.

Essential Qutebrowser Keybindings

Qutebrowser supports many keybindings that you can use to scroll through pages, modify tab groups, and navigate through your browsing history. Unlike Chrome and Firefox, it also lets you perform complex actions, such as creating your own macros to further optimize the browser for your needs.

This cheatsheet will provide you with a set of keybindings you can use with Qutebrowser and highlight some of the lesser known features hidden under its complex command syntax.

Command	Description
Page Movement
J	Scroll the current page one line down.
K	Scroll the current page one line up.
H	Scroll the current page one line to the left.
L	Scroll the current page one line to the right.
Shift + G	Scroll to the bottom of the current page.
GG	Scroll to the top of the current page.
`	Place a mark at the current screen position.
‘	Scroll to a previous marked location.
Ctrl + F	Scroll the current page one screen down.
Ctrl + B	Scroll the current page one screen up.
Ctrl + D	Scroll the current page half screen down.
Ctrl + U	Scroll the current page half screen up.
/	Open the Search Forward prompt.
Shift + Backslash (/)	Open the Search Backward prompt.
Page Zoom
Shift + Equal (=)	Zoom in the current page.
–	Zoom out the current page.
=	Go back to the default zoom.
Browser Modes
I	Go to Insert Mode and pass your inputs directly as text.
V	Go to Visual Select Mode and highlight portions of the text.
Esc	Return to the default Normal Mode.
Copying and Loading
YY	Copy the URL of the current web page to the clipboard.
YT	Copy the title of the current web page to the clipboard.
Y, then Shift + Y	Copy the URL of the current web page to the selection buffer.
Y, then Shift + T	Copy the title of the current web page to the selection buffer.
PP	Load the URL that is in your clipboard.
P, then Shift + P	Load the URL that is in your selection buffer.
Shift + P, then P	Load the URL that is in your clipboard in a new tab.
Shift + P, then Shift + P	Load the URL that is in your selection buffer in a new tab.
WP	Load the URL that is in your clipboard in a new window.
W, then Shift + P	Load the URL that is in your selection buffer in a new window.
History Navigation
Shift + H	Go back to the previous web page in the history.
Shift + L	Go forward to the next web page in the history.
TH	Go back to the previous web page and open it in a new tab.
TL	Go forward to the next web page and open it in a new tab.
WH	Go back to the previous web page and open it in a new window.
WL	Go forward to the next web page and open it in a new window.
Web Page Hinting
F	Display a hint on every link in the web page and open it.
Shift + F	Display a hint on every link in the web page and open it in a new tab.
;B	Display a hint on every link and open it in a background tab.
;I	Display a hint on every image in the web page and open it.
;T	Display a hint on every form input in the web page and select it.
;O	Paste the current hint on Qutebrowser’s URL bar.
Semicolon (;), then Shift + O	Paste the current hint on the URL bar and open it in a new tab.
;Y	Copy the current hint to the clipboard.
Semicolon (;), then Shift + Y	Copy the current hint to the selection buffer.
;R	Enable the Rapid Hint Mode.
Semicolon (;), then Shift + R	Enable the Rapid Hint Mode and open it in a new window.
Macros
Q + 1	Create a macro and assign to the 1 key.
Shift + 2, then 1	Run the macro that is present in the 1 key.
Q + 1, then Q	Clear the macro present in the 1 key.
Bookmarking
M	Save the current link as a quickmark.
Shift + M	Save the current link as a bookmark.
B	Load a quickmark link.
Shift + B	Load a bookmark link.
WB	Load a quickmark link in a new window.
W, then Shift + B	Load a bookmark link in a new window.
Tab Management
GO	Open the Qutebrowser URL bar and edit the current link.
G, then Shift + O	Open the URL bar and load the current link on a new tab.
X, then Shift + O	Open the URL bar and load the current link on a background tab.
XO	Open a blank URL bar and load the page on a background tab.
WO	Open a blank URL bar and load the page on a new window.
GU	Load the logical parent directory of the current URL.
G, then Shift + U	Load the logical parent directory in a new tab.
GT	Set the focus on a different tab.
G, then Shift + J	Move the current tab to the left.
G, then Shift + K	Move the current tab to the right.
G, then Shift + C	Duplicate the current tab.
G, then Shift + D	Move the current tab to a new window.
Alt + 1	Switch to the first tab in Qutebrowser.
Ctrl + Tab	Select the previous tab.
CO	Close all background tabs.
Browser Management
Ctrl + H	Load the homepage.
Ctrl + S	Stop loading a web page.
Ctrl + Alt + P	Open the Print Dialog menu.
GD	Save the entire web page to a file.
AD	Cancel the current download.
CD	Clear the downloads list.
GF	Load the HTML source of the web page.
WI	Open the Inspect tool.
Shift + S, then S	Open the Settings page for Qutebrowser.
SF	Save the current configuration to a file.
SK	Create a new keybinding.
Ctrl + V	Enable the Passthrough Mode.
Ctrl + Q	Exit Qutebrowser
Command Mode
Shift + Semicolon (;)	Enable the Command Mode and open a prompt with a “:” prefix.
:adblock-update	Refresh the hosts list for the Qutebrowser Adblock script.
:clear-keychain	Undo a currently active keybind.
:config-clear	Reset the Qutebrowser settings to the defaults.
:config-diff	Print all the user-modified settings.
:download-retry	Redo a failed download.
:history	Display the current browsing history.
:history-clear	Clear the browsing history.
:messages	Print all the Qutebrowser status messages.
:process	Display all the currently running processes of Qutebrowser.
:repeat-command	Redo the previous command.
:report	Report a bug in Qutebrowser.
:restart	Reload Qutebrowser while preserving the current tabs.
:screenshot	Take a screenshot of the current web page.
:save-session	Save the current session to a file.
:load-session	Load a browser session from a file.
:window-only	Close all background windows.
:version	Display the current version of Qutebrowser.

_{Image Credit: Unsplash and Qutebrowser Github. Alterations and all screenshots by Ramces Red.}