The Space Bar: What It Does and How to Press It
The space bar is the long key at the bottom of the keyboard. Pressing it adds a blank space, which is how we separate one word from the next.
Tap the space bar with your thumb and keep your other fingers home. Quick taps, not big thumps!
Where is the Space bar?
The highlighted key is the Space bar on a typical Windows laptop keyboard. Keyboards vary a little by brand.
What the Space bar does
Without spaces,everythingwouldlooklikethis! The space bar is the biggest key because it gets pressed more than any other key. In normal English writing, about one character in every five or six is a space.
The space bar does more than make gaps between words:
- On a web page, it scrolls down one screen. Shift + Space scrolls back up.
- On many video players it pauses and plays.
- It checks or unchecks a box and presses a button that is selected.
- In lots of games it makes your character jump.
Windows, Mac and Chromebook
Windows
Windows key + Space switches between keyboard languages if you have more than one installed.
Mac
Command + Space opens Spotlight search. In Finder, select a file and press Space to preview it (Quick Look).
Chromebook
In the Files app, select a file and press Space to preview it. Ctrl + Shift + Space switches keyboard languages.
Which finger presses it?
Use your thumb. Most typists use the thumb of whichever hand did not type the last letter, but either thumb is fine. Keep your other fingers resting on the home row while you tap.
Fun fact
On old typewriters the space bar did not type anything at all. It just moved the paper one step to the left so the next letter landed in a new spot.
Keep learning
- Practice the reach in Lesson 6: Home Row Words.
- More keys: Enter key, Backspace, Shift key, Tab key.
- See every keyboard key explained.
- Names of all the symbols: Keyboard Characters and Meanings.
Quick drill: find the Space bar
Press the key on your keyboard, or click or tap it below, when Rocky asks. Wrong key? We will tell you what it was.
Typing drill
Now use the Space bar for real. Type the words below.
Space bar FAQ
Which finger presses the space bar?
Your thumb. Keep your eight fingers on the home row and tap the space bar with either thumb.
Why is the space bar so big?
Because it is the most-used key on the keyboard. A long bar is easy to hit with either thumb without looking.
What does Shift + Space do?
In most web browsers it scrolls the page back up one screen, the opposite of pressing Space alone.