What does Ctrl+Shift+Q do? Chrome, Firefox and Chromebook explained
Ctrl+Shift+Q is a quit or sign-out shortcut, and what it does depends on where you press it. In Firefox on Windows and Linux it quits the browser. On a Chromebook, pressing it twice signs you out of your Google Account. In Google Chrome on Windows and Linux it no longer does anything: Google retired it as an exit shortcut in 2018, and the quit shortcut is now Alt+F, then X.
This page explains what Ctrl+Shift+Q does in each browser and on ChromeOS, why Chrome dropped it, which keys replace it, and how to recover tabs if you closed a browser by accident.
What does Ctrl+Shift+Q do in each browser and system?
Ctrl+Shift+Q quits Firefox, signs out of ChromeOS when pressed twice, and appears in neither Google's Chrome shortcut list nor Microsoft's Edge shortcut list for Windows. The table sums up what the official shortcut lists from Google, Mozilla and Microsoft say.
| Where you press it | What Ctrl+Shift+Q does | Official way to quit or sign out |
|---|---|---|
| Chrome (Windows, Linux) | Nothing, the shortcut was retired | Alt+F, then X |
| Chrome (macOS) | Not a Chrome shortcut on Mac | Command+Q |
| Chromebook (ChromeOS) | Press twice to sign out of your Google Account | Shift+Ctrl+Q twice; Search+L only locks the screen |
| Firefox (Windows, Linux) | Quits Firefox | Ctrl+Shift+Q or Ctrl+Q |
| Firefox (macOS) | Not the Mac binding | Command+Q |
| Microsoft Edge (Windows) | Not listed in Microsoft's shortcut list | Close the window with Alt+F4 |
Sources: Chrome keyboard shortcuts, Chromebook keyboard shortcuts, Firefox keyboard shortcuts and Microsoft Edge keyboard shortcuts. Keyboard shortcuts only work when the operating system, desktop environment or another program has not claimed the same key combination first.
Why did Google remove Ctrl+Shift+Q from Chrome?
Google removed Ctrl+Shift+Q from Chrome because it sat right next to Ctrl+Shift+Tab, the shortcut that switches to the previous tab, and one slip of a finger closed every open window. A Chromium bug report filed in 2013 put the problem plainly:
Number of times I've wanted to close all my browser windows when pressing Ctrl+Shift+Q: 0
Number of times I've meant to press Ctrl+Shift+Tab but accidentally hit Q instead: too many to countIMO, this keyboard shortcut is too easy to trigger given its destructiveness. (If multiple windows are closed, only one window is restored when Chrome is reopened. Not to mention the pain of reopening dozens of tabs in a low bandwidth setting.)
Google acted on the report in October 2018 and disabled the shortcut on Windows and Linux. Not everyone welcomed the change. Some users said they never hit the wrong key, and others noted that the suggested replacement clashed with keyboard-driven extensions such as Vimium, the Chrome extension for keyboard navigation.
Ctrl+Shift+W was left in place. Chrome's shortcut list describes it as closing the current window, so it can still take many tabs with it in one keystroke.
How do you quit Chrome with the keyboard now?
To quit Chrome with the keyboard on Windows or Linux, press Alt+F to open the Chrome menu, then press X to select Exit. Google lists this two-step sequence as the official quit shortcut, and it closes all Chrome windows at once.
- Press Alt+F to open the three-dot Chrome menu.
- Press X to choose Exit.
- On a Mac, press Command+Q instead.
If you only want to close the window you are looking at, Ctrl+Shift+W or Alt+F4 does that. Ctrl+W or Ctrl+F4 closes only the current tab. To restart Chrome without losing your session, the chrome://restart page is quicker than quitting and relaunching.
What does Ctrl+Shift+Q do on a Chromebook (Ctrl+Shift+QQ)?
On a Chromebook, Ctrl+Shift+Q pressed twice in a row signs you out of your Google Account and returns you to the sign-in screen. That is why people search for "Ctrl+Shift+QQ": Google's Chromebook shortcut list says to press the combination twice, so a single slip does not end your session.
Signing out closes your open apps and browser windows. If you just want to step away from the device, lock the screen instead with Search+L, which keeps everything open behind the password prompt.
Ctrl+Shift+QQ does not work on Windows. It is a ChromeOS system shortcut, not a Chrome browser shortcut, so pressing it in Chrome on a Windows PC does nothing.
How do you stop Firefox from quitting on Ctrl+Shift+Q?
Firefox still treats Ctrl+Shift+Q as quit on Windows and Linux, so the safest protection is a confirmation prompt plus session restore. Since Firefox 63, quitting with several tabs open shows the close-multiple-tabs warning, as long as that warning is enabled.
- Open Firefox Settings and type "quit" or "close" into the search box at the top. Turn on any option that asks for confirmation before closing multiple tabs or before quitting. Our guide on restoring the Firefox prompt when closing multiple tabs explains the background.
- Search Settings for "restore" and turn on the option to open previous windows and tabs at startup, so an accidental quit brings your session back next time.
Firefox renames and moves these options from time to time, which is why searching Settings is more reliable than following a fixed menu path.
How do you get your tabs back after closing the browser by accident?
Reopen the browser and press Ctrl+Shift+T (Command+Shift+T on a Mac) to restore the last closed window or tab. Chrome, Edge and Firefox all list this shortcut, and Mozilla notes that Firefox reopens tabs and windows in the order they were closed, restoring the previous session if nothing else is left to reopen.
If that does not bring everything back, open the browser's History menu, which lists recently closed tabs and windows. For the general idea of undoing a keystroke mistake, our undo and redo shortcut guide covers Windows and Mac.
FAQ
Can I bring Ctrl+Shift+Q back in Chrome?
Chrome has no setting to restore it. Some users remap it with a third-party tool such as AutoHotkey to send Alt+F, then X, but that is a workaround outside Chrome.
Is Ctrl+Shift+Q the same as Alt+F4?
No. Alt+F4 is a Windows shortcut that closes the active window of any program, while Ctrl+Shift+Q, where it still works, quits the whole application with all of its windows.
What does Ctrl+Alt+Q do?
Ctrl+Alt+Q does not appear in Google's, Mozilla's or Microsoft's browser shortcut lists. Any action depends on the program you are using or on a custom shortcut set up on your system.
Related: fix Firefox session restore when it fails, restart Google Chrome without losing tabs
I still miss this shortcut. Google never even provided a way to bring it back.
Maybe they should bind Ctrl+Shift+W to do this since that is a redundant Alt-F4 anyway.
obnoxious middle schoolers these days LOVE the shortcut. I HATE IT!!!
Opera has a Ctrl Shift X shortcut
Opera has a Ctrl Shift X shortcut
Thank god, it just happened to me … again!
CTRL + SHIFT + Q closes all chrome profiles, when you reopen the app only one chrome profile is opened, you have to reopen each manually and CTRL+SHIFT+T to restore each closed window per profile.
All because I use CTRL+TAB, CTRL+SHIFT+TAB for tab switching several times a minute. It doesn’t happen often that my finger is just a little too far to the right, but when it does it’s devastating.
I was just googling for a way to disable this destructive behaviour when I came across this happy news! After years!
Chrome should really allow these keys to be configured and maybe just change the defaults if needed. The best of all worlds.
Oh, well, maybe Google should have removed Ctrl+Shift+Tab then? ;-) That would have solved that issue for the users who intentionally use Ctrl+Shift+Q.
Yes, the only real solution would be a way to keep both user groups happy. Like with a configuration settings. Or a confirmation dialog when the user presses Ctrl+Shift+Q.
For those who at least want a setting to get the old behavior back, you can support this bug report:
https://bugs.chromium.org/p/chromium/issues/detail?id=903990
> Other browsers, … Vivaldi or …, do not support the keyboard shortcut.
Absolutely, utterly wrong. In Vivaldi, every keyboard shortcut can be customized. Even if the shortcut might not be a default setting anymore (it has been at least for some 1.x versions) it is not as restrictive/jailed as Chrome and prevents the user from changing those settings.
Oh, this is something I really have wished for a long time. I’ve lost dozens of texts, more unrecoverable tabs and a huge amount of time/happiness due to this too simple way of closing the browser. I’m not more clumsy than the average but do keyboard browsing almost all time I’m on the web. Ctrl+(Shift)+tab, Ctrl+w, arrow keys, F5 etc. is very frequently used combinations. Still, ctrl+q and ctrl+shift+w is real problems and I hope they could also be disabled. It is good that the functionality gets a replacement that isn’t as easy to misclick, but I better see a configuration option for those who really uses them (or wants other keymappings).
+1 Complete agree. I bet those are the same people who press Alt+F4 at the desktop and accidentally shut down their PC.
Please give us back CTRL+SHIFT+Q !!
I really need a shortcut to quickly close my browser that isn’t some 2 step procedure.
ALT+F > X does not always work and is imo not a real shortcut. > Not a solution!
ALT+F4 only closes the current window > Not an option!
Pressing X only closes the current window > Not an option!
Just because some people are too clumsy to press the correct shortcut, Google listens to them and decides to remove it? WTF Google?! There are way more important things to implement than to resolve this not-bug.
I also think this is a dumb reason. I use Chrome on Windows and Chromium on Linux and I’ve never mixed up CTRL+SHIFT+TAB with CTRL+SHIFT+Q. In addition, if you do accidentally close out a window and all its tabs, you just open Chrome again then hit CTRL+SHIFT+T to reopen the previous window and all of its associated tabs. A minor inconvenience sure but less of one than suddenly having to use two consecutive keystrokes to close a browser when it could previously be done in one.
I don’t like this! Ctrl-Shift-Q is so engrained in my mind, and it feels so natural because it is next to W. alt-f x is weird and hard to do with one hand. not cool.
I used that shortcut ALL THE TIME! Shortcuts are meant to be quick, not two-step nonsense like Alt-f, then x. At least put an option in settings so users can make custom shortcuts. I’m a terrible typer, but my fingers know the shortcuts, and I never mistype them. So annoying.
This, 100%
“If multiple windows are closed, only one window is restored when Chrome is reopened”
That is wrong. AFAIK there are 3 options for Chrome on a start:
– Show empty page
– Show specific pages
– Restore last session (this option is related to this topic)
So when I have 2 or more Windows and hit CTRL+Shift+Q, then all Windows are closed at the same time and with the next start of Chrome all is restored.
If I would close one Window after another, just by pressing X in the upper corner of the Window, then in the moment Chrome exists, only one Window was left and only this is restored.
So it’s exactly the other way around.
And now I don’t know what to do before shutting down my computer to save all my open windows.
Because on my English Windows at work it’s now Alt+F, X. But at home on my German Notebook it’s Alt+F, B. This is now way more confusing.
Absolutely, not sure where he got that from. I use Ctrl+Shift+Q several times a day to close chrome and preserve state for the next session, typically after a reboot. I’m kinda pissed that Google changed it just because of some people that have butter fingers. Granted, there should be at least an (optional) confirmation before enacting it, but still, changing it is a very bad idea from a UX standpoint.
why not “Ctrl+Q” ?
Why not make it an *OPTION* that can be turned on/off in flags?????
The weirdest behaviour of Chrome is that it closes the browser if you close the last tab. Do not like that behaviour. E.g. in Opera it is not doing that.
I find it very sad that the simple ability to change keyboard shortcuts is now seen as a geeky power-user feature that would be too complicated and overwhelming and scary for the average user.
It seems that the more people come use to use and depend on technology, the less they seem to know about it. Pretty soon the mere existence of a “Settings” page with one or more things that can be changed will be too much for people to handle.
I have a solution to this problem: make it so that people can change the keyboard shortcuts to whatever they want.
Few, that was hard. I almost had to use a couple of brain cells to come up with that one. You’re welcome for the idea, google.
Create a “Taskkill Chrome” shortcut containing the command:
taskkill /f /im chrome.exe
and then assign [Ctrl][Shift][Q] as the shortcut key.
Now press [Ctrl][Shift][Q] and all open Chrome windows will be slammed shut.
But you receive a message next time you open Chrome that is was incorrectly shut down.
It’s better than nothing, but not the best solution.
Change to an azerty keyboard and you don’t hit Q instead of TAB :-)
Isn’t it easier to just click the X button?
X or B or whatever letter stands for exit in your language.
The X isnt a letter, its a symbol. Its the same in every language of windows
Wait… you’re talking about the X button in the upper corner of a window?
I don’t think using the mouse is faster then a keyboard shortcut in any way. But more importantly this closes the window, instead of closing Chrome… so not really comparable.
Is it really too difficult nowadays to tap the X button?
moving the mouse means you’re wasting time right out of the gate, and need to coordinate with your eyes. Valuable time and attention better spent thinking about next steps
Ctrl+Shift+Q closes Chrome entirely, this stops it from using memory.
Vivaldi supports any shortcut I want it too, since we can customize all the shortcuts (which should be an option on Chrome to stop the whining).
Give them the option and they lose the reason to whine, everyone leaves happy (don’t forget to leave the option to remove shortcuts as well).
What am I saying, Google will never do that, is why I use Vivaldi.
Vivaldi is a cluttered (no offense on this, it is what it is) browser with many options. That’s why it’s the slowest browser and it will stay to 1% on the market. It’s a browser for power users and geeks. There is no competition between Chrome and Vivaldi. Different target groups.
Seriously? MEH!!!!!!!
There are far too many keyboard shortcuts for all the software which I run.
That sequence actually causes EarTrumpet to open up (my global volume control app).
Control Q? Google is just getting everyone used to leaving Chrome open all the time. Soon all your apps will run in the cloud anyway – it won’t be long before Chrome will be integrated into the OS to allow them to function. Forced tracking….
Alt+F4 will do the same i guess
This was my question. I don’t use Chrome and so it’s probably not surprising that I’ve never heard of the Ctrl-Shift-Q thing — but I routinely use Alt-F4 to close Windows applications and would expect this to work for Chrome as well — does it not? And if it does, then what’s the point of Ctrl-Shift-Q?
Alt-F4 only closes the current window. If you have pop-unders or more than one window, they will stay open. Ctrl+Shift+Q was sort of like a mild kill switch for the whole browser.
@asd:
Ah, thanks for the explanation! I haven’t had to deal with popunders/overs for years, so I didn’t think of that…
I don’t think I’ve ever mixed up tab and q for anything. Plenty of typos but never that because of tab being at the edge. Is that really a common thing to do?
The dumbest reason ever to take out this useful shortcut!
I am clumsy when typing, yet I have never mistaken Ctrl+Shift+Q for Ctrl+Shift+Tab.
Good thing it still works in Firefox.
quite an redundant shortcut as there is the standard ALT+F4.
See No reason why having 2 things do the same thing.
But they don’t do the same thing: Alt+F4 closes the active window, while Ctrl+Shift+Q exited Chrome. This distinction is important in the case where one is using more than a single Chrome window.