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Windows 8 introduces a new feature called Password Reveal. While using Windows 8, whenever you enter your password in the password field of a Windows 8 app, IE 10, or the login screen, a Password Reveal Button or icon will appear at the end of the password field. When you click on this button, your password gets momentarily displayed in place of the bullets/asterisks. It is a very useful feature, especially when you suspect you might have mistyped a character (e.g. if you held down shift one character too long or had num-lock off etc.) and you just want to confirm before clicking on the Sign in or Enter button. (Of course you would only use this when you sure no one is behind you)

Password Reveal Icon

My question is this: is there a keyboard shortcut (e.g. Ctrl+R) to reveal the password, so that it can be done quickly and efficiently without taking your hands off the keyboard to use the mouse to click the button.

It seems to me that this would be an obvious feature to add, given that standard text boxes already respond to a number of keyboard shortcuts (e.g. Ctrl+X) and that moving your hand off the keyboard to use the mouse and move it to target the small icon is incredibly inconvenient, especially when you only need to see the password for a fraction of a second to confirm it.

EDIT:

As described in the answers below, Windows 8 apparently had no such shortcut, but there is a shortcut in Windows 10. It's Alt+F8.

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    FYI, this isn't just a Windows 8 thing -- IE10+ in Win7 does this as well. May 20, 2014 at 14:37
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    I realize IE10+ might have this feature on Win7, but I'm not sure if the implementation is identical to that on Win8, and I didn't want to get an IE-specific answer. May 20, 2014 at 14:45
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    Apparently there isn't.
    – and31415
    May 20, 2014 at 14:55
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    Its 2020 and you are lucky if you are using Windows 10, Alt + F8 reveals the password. Aug 12, 2020 at 15:07

2 Answers 2

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Unfortunately, there is no such keyboard shortcut :( I have looked for it repeatedly myself. The windows 8 keyboard shortcut guide on Technet (now removed for some reason) didn't contain it when I looked. Also, there are dozens of threads on the net asking the same question - none of which contains an answer. If you do discover one, let me know!

Sorry :(

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There is a shortcut in Windows 10 though1. It's Alt + F8.

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