Check out the bottom-left of my Surface Pro 3 desktop, on the Taskbar.
Icons there are the File Explorer, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Internet Explorer, OneNote, and "Send to OneNote".
To launch one of these programs, I can touch the icon, click on the icon, or press the WindowsKey+[icon number]. This works even if I am not on the desktop, or am working in some other app, such as reading a Kindle book, or browsing the Web. In other words, you already have universal hot keys to launch apps.
For example, if I want to jump to my email (via Outlook for me) directly while reading a Kindle Book, I can press WindowsKey+2 All I need to remember is the order of where I like to place that icon.
From my partial screenshot shown, I can:
Press WindowsKey+1 to launch File Explorer
Press WindowsKey+2 to launch Outlook
Press WindowsKey+3 to launch Word
Press WindowsKey+4 to launch PowerPoint
Press WindowsKey+5 to launch Excel
Press WindowsKey+6 to launch Internet Explorer
Press WindowsKey+7 to launch OneNote
Press WindowsKey+8 to launch Send to OneNote
By the way, I use Start8 by Stardock for my Start menu, shown in the second partial screenshot, which has nothing to do with the tip above. You already have that! Try it.
Note: This has been around for some previous Windows versions, but is particularly useful with Windows 8 and later, since it has different modes in addition to Desktop.
Icons there are the File Explorer, Outlook, Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Internet Explorer, OneNote, and "Send to OneNote".
To launch one of these programs, I can touch the icon, click on the icon, or press the WindowsKey+[icon number]. This works even if I am not on the desktop, or am working in some other app, such as reading a Kindle book, or browsing the Web. In other words, you already have universal hot keys to launch apps.
For example, if I want to jump to my email (via Outlook for me) directly while reading a Kindle Book, I can press WindowsKey+2 All I need to remember is the order of where I like to place that icon.
From my partial screenshot shown, I can:
Press WindowsKey+1 to launch File Explorer
Press WindowsKey+2 to launch Outlook
Press WindowsKey+3 to launch Word
Press WindowsKey+4 to launch PowerPoint
Press WindowsKey+5 to launch Excel
Press WindowsKey+6 to launch Internet Explorer
Press WindowsKey+7 to launch OneNote
Press WindowsKey+8 to launch Send to OneNote
By the way, I use Start8 by Stardock for my Start menu, shown in the second partial screenshot, which has nothing to do with the tip above. You already have that! Try it.
Note: This has been around for some previous Windows versions, but is particularly useful with Windows 8 and later, since it has different modes in addition to Desktop.
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