All the Steam Deck desktop mode keyboard shortcuts you need to know

At some point, every Steam deck owner will be messing around with desktop mode to emulate retro games or find ways to download the Epic Games Launcher onto the Linux-based handheld.

There are plenty of guides out there on the web to help players get things started, but knowing the best shortcuts on the device will help you immensely to better navigate desktop mode.

Here’s a list of all the shortcuts you should know about for your Steam deck.

If you don’t have a mouse and keyboard nearby, or are struggling with reading small fonts on the Steam Deck, certain shortcut commands make navigating through desktop mode a breeze.

However, it will take some time to get used to how these shortcuts are triggered on the fly. Below we’ve listed each Steam Deck shortcut and briefly explained what they do.

• Steam key + B – Force shutdown the game

• Steam Key + X – Keyboard

• Steam Key + L1 – Magnifying Glass

• Steam key + R1 – screenshot

• Steam key + L2 – Right click

• Steam key + R2 – Left mouse click

• Steam button + right stick – joystick mouse

• Steam button + right trackpad (sliding finger) – mouse

• Steam button + right trackpad (press down) – left mouse click

• Steam button + left stick up – Brightness up

• Steam button + left stick down – brightness down

• Steam Key + Right D-Pad – Enter

• Steam button + D-pad down – Tab

• Steam Key + Left D-Pad – Escape

As you can see, holding the Steam button on the handheld and pressing an additional button instantly triggers shortcuts. The best of the bunch will be opening the keyboard, activating the magnifying glass, taking screenshots and navigating the desktop mode using the various mouse controls.

That doesn’t mean others don’t have room, but most users don’t linger in desktop mode enough to use other shortcuts. And unfortunately, some quick commands like the Steam button + D-Pad feel awkward since they’re both on the left side of the device.

“I’m not sure why there are bindings on the left side. You can’t comfortably press the steam button and d-pad without fully moving your grip,” he said a Reddit user.

Shortcuts also work well when playing games or scrolling through the Steam storefront, so they’re probably extra usable outside of desktop mode. And if you ever forget what certain shortcuts can do, hold down the Steam button for a few seconds until you get a help screen showing each command.