# How to?: keystroke to maximize document (not application) window (MS Windows)
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 28, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051 "2022-06-28T16:12:49Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/1 "2022-06-28T16:12:49Z")
Every so often some errant keystroke de-maximizes the document window, leaving me staring at an application window with a foot of empty grey space around it and a document window about the size of this space where I’m typing this post.
I know there are Windows keystrokes for “maximizing the window” (most often cited as WindowsKey+uparrow or F11 by itself) but those maximize the application window. I don’t want to do that, I just want to re-maximize the inside window, the document window.
Is there a keystroke that does that?
If the answer is application-specific, it’s a niche app called Teleform Verifier.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/2 "2022-06-28T16:47:39Z")
In Microsoft Word, ctrl+f10 is “maximize document.” But I suspect it’ll be specific to the application and I can’t find keyboard shortcuts in any online documentation for the app.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/3 "2022-06-28T17:00:52Z")
> [@Johnny\_Bravo](#):
>
> But I suspect it’ll be specific to the application and I can’t find keyboard shortcuts in any online documentation for the app
Yeah, thanks… tried Ctrl f10 just in case but it doesn’t do anything (after manually de-maximizing the document window). I was hoping there was a universal keystroke for that.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/4 "2022-06-28T17:42:23Z")
Unless you can find a shortcut list, your best bet is going to be stopping cold every time you accidentally do it and trying to figure out the keyboard combo messing with your window in the first place. It’ll either be the same combo to restore it, or a (hopefully) logical iteration of that shortcut.
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### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/5 "2022-06-28T17:48:42Z")
I didn’t go through them, but here are all of the standard keyboard shortcuts in Windows. If you don’t find it in here then it is going to be application specific.
> **[Keyboard shortcuts in Windows - Microsoft Support](https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/keyboard-shortcuts-in-windows-dcc61a57-8ff0-cffe-9796-cb9706c75eec)**
>
> Learn how to navigate Windows using keyboard shortcuts. Explore a full list of taskbar, command prompt, and general Windows shortcuts.
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### Author:  [@md-2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md-2000)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/6 "2022-06-28T18:57:02Z")
For consistency, Windows recommends following their standard list of what keystrokes do (i.e. F1 for help). Some applications either don’t care, or have legacy keystrokes that were established before standard Windows interface commands and everyone who uses that application are familiar with.
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### Author:  [@GreysonCarlisle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GreysonCarlisle)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/7 "2022-06-28T19:00:19Z")
I had a similar problem the other day. F11 to full-screen it and F11 again to window it fixed the problem, though I had to do it for each open window. If that doesn’t work, try ALT+ENTER.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [June 28, 2022, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/8 "2022-06-28T20:18:56Z")
> [@engineer\_comp\_geek](#):
>
> If you don’t find it in here then it is going to be application specific.
I haven’t found it, but that list is rather weirdly laid out – it’s arranged by what kind of keystroke invokes the behavior, rather than by categories of behaviors! I’ll keep looking just in case. Thanks.
> [@GreysonCarlisle](#):
>
> F11 to full-screen it and F11 again to window it fixed the problem, though I had to do it for each open window. If that doesn’t work, try ALT+ENTER.
No joy with either of those.
It’s probably a non-standards-compiant app, in addition to which I don’t see any evidence that there’s a standardized command for maximizing the document window. But there’s _some_ bloody keystroke that shrinks it (as if you were wishing to view two open documents at the same time within the application window) so if there’s one that goes in that direction you’d _think_ there’d be one that goes the other way.
I’m constantly issuing commands to my macro program, most of them ctrl-alt-something, ctrl-something, ctrl-shift-something, or ctrl-win-something. These are commands intercepted by a Mac macro program and should not normally be passed along to Windows (remote desktop connection) at all. It seems like the command most likely to have the unwanted & strange behavior is Ctrl-Alt-keypadEnter (i.e., the real enter key not the Return key). But as I said, it’s not supposed to be passed on to Windows, it’s supposed to invoke a behavior, in this case a click at a specified x,y coordinate. (Which should not reconcile to the window widgets in the upper right corner).
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### Author:  [@Noelq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noelq)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2022, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/9 "2022-06-29T00:16:24Z")
Usually, when my users do this, they are holding down the CRTL key and running the mouse wheel. This will change your display size. You may want to check that.
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### Author:  [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)
#### Post date: [June 29, 2022, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-to-keystroke-to-maximize-document-not-application-window-ms-windows/967051/10 "2022-06-29T04:26:35Z")
> [@Noelq](#):
>
> holding down the CRTL key and running the mouse wheel
Really unlikely. I spend all day without touching the mouse wheel, actually. For reasons I don’t specifically understand myself, even, I use the mouse wheel in web browsers and word processors and almost nowhere else. I don’t think I’ve even tried it in the environment I connect to. Be that as it may, I’ll experiment and see if perhaps I’m bumping it and not realizing it or something.