Standard keyboard shortcut for moving items in a list?

Question

For my Windows application I'm currently looking for a standard (or at least widely used) keyboard shortcut for moving items in a Win32 listview. I've looked at MSDN's recommendations Guidelines for Keyboard User Interface Design but unfortunately, the topic isn't addressed there.

I'm thinking about Alt+<Arrow Down> and Alt+<Arrow Up> (Alt+Shift+<Arrow Down> and Alt+Shift+<Arrow Up> for moving to bottom/top) but was wondering whether there are any quasi-standard keyboard shortcuts for this task.

Answer 1

For what it's worth, Google Tasks uses CTRL+Up and CTRL+Down to move items in the list up and down.

If there isn't a defined standard then just have a tool-tip or some help text available to the user in your application?

Answer 2

Ctrl+Up and Ctrl+Down feels natural and would probably be the first combination your users try, but these should only work when your ListView has focus. Probably hook on to the ListView's own KeyDown event?

Also include a small Label near the listview telling users that

 Ctrl+Up/Down moves items Up/Down.

Shift+Up and Shift+Down could be useful from the point of view that it makes literal sense. "Shift Up" sounds similar to "Move Up". I remember a graphic program that used the Shift+ArrowKey combo to move objects around quickly, in a few days it became natural to use those combos.

Lastly, consider simply Up and Down arrowkeys, which would be very easy to use, but should only work when your ListView has focus. It sounds radical but seems to be usable since nobody uses the Up/Down arrows keys when typing, though they may use Left/Right to move the typing cursor.