Creating a shortcut?

Using keyboards in 10.0.27729.1000

Use this page to find out what keys are available for a shortcut, or for comparing what individual keyboard layouts output for given key.

To start, select the combination of keys you are interested in:

Keyboard layout for selection:

I want the shortcut to be on the same virtual key regardless of where it is (e.g. on the "A" key)

I want the shortcut to be always at the same location no matter what does the key do (e.g. "the key above Tab key")

Basic rules for creating shortcuts:

Not every keyboard has every key.
See for example Punctuation keys can make lousy shortcuts
There are many keyboard layouts that do not have Latin characters at all.
Also see Accessibility, Internationalization, and Keyboards (#1: Shortcuts)
Do not use shortcuts with Alt as they are used for accelerators, e.g. Alt+F is the File menu in many applications.
Also see Accessibility, Internationalization, and Keyboards (#2: Accelerators)
Do not use shortcuts with Ctrl+Alt(+Shift) as these are often the only way how to type some characters, which can be as common as @.
Also see Why Ctrl+Alt shouldn't be used as a shortcut modifier
Think about localization, will your shortcut work and make sense when the application is translated to different languages?

Here are links to shortctus in existing products:

If you are creating an application, make sure your users get an intuitive experience. The most common assignments are as follows:

F1	F2	F3	F4	F5	F6	F7	F8	F9	F10	F11	F12
help	rename	find next search	properties expand options	refresh reload	cycle through panes				menu¹	full-screen

Ctrl+Z	undo
Ctrl+Y	redo/repeat

¹ Functionality provided by operating system.

If you are a developer, you might want to check Michael's Keyboard Laws for Developers.