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Is there a keyboard shortcut to "unselect" in Windows Explorer?

Fresh7 days ago

Mar 15, 2026105757 views

Confidence Score1%

Problem

If I've got a file (or files) selected in Windows Explorer, the only way I've found to "unselect" them is click with the mouse on some empty space. I thought Esc would do this, but it doesn't. Also changing focus with Tab or Shift + Tab doesn't work; the file(s) are still selected even if focus goes to the address bar for instance. Does anyone know of a keyboard shortcut to do this?

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Fix for: Is there a keyboard shortcut to "unselect" in Windows Explorer?

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You can use Ctrl+Arrow to move among selected items. Ctrl+Space will select/deselect. (Space alone will select but not deselect.)

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Is there a keyboard shortcut to "unselect" in Windows Explorer?

Problem

1 Fix

Fix for: Is there a keyboard shortcut to "unselect" in Windows Explorer?

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