Many users are not aware of the shortcuts that can be use in GNOME and it’s File Manager, Nautilus. Therefore, I made up this list with the most useful (in my opinion) hotkeys. Hope it helps:

Top 15 shortcut keys in Gnome and Nautilus:

Ctrl-N: open new window

Ctrl-Shift-N: create new folder

Ctrl-H: show hidden files

Alt-Home : jump to home folder

Alt-Enter : file / folder properties

F9 : toggle side-pane

Alt-F1 : launch applications menu

Alt-F2 : launch “run application” dialogue

Ctrl-Alt - Right/Left arrow : move to the next virtual desktop

Ctrl-Alt-Shift – Right/Left arrow : take current window to the next virtual desktopCtrl-Alt-D: minimize all windows, and gives focus to the desktop.

Alt-Tab: switch between windows. When you use these shortcut keys, a list of windows that you can select is displayed. Release the keys to select a window.

Ctrl-Alt-Tab: switch the focus between the panels and the desktop. When you use these shortcut keys, a list of items that you can select is displayed. Release the keys to select an item.

Ctrl-Alt-L: lock the screen (it works in Ubuntu-I don’t know about other distros)\

Ctrl-L: shortcut for opening locations-by default the path is the home folder*

A useful hint that I found on the excellent Fosswire blog:

/ : same as Ctrl-L but has the root (/) as default path*

 * both shortcuts can be used while you are on the desktop (no window active)

And a suggestion:

Ctrl-T : move to trash (in Nautilus)

This is a dangerous key combination because many of us are used to press these keys in order to open a new tab. Because we all delete items using the Delete key, I recommend to deactivate this shortcut key. To do that, go to System » Preferences »  Appearance » Interface. Select Editable menu shortcut keys and close the dialog box. Click on the Edit menu in the File Browser. Click the Empty Trash item (it has Ctrl-T as the keyboard shortcut) Press the Delete key to get rid of the shortcut.

You cand find all GNOME shortcut keys on: http://library.gnome.org/users/user-guide/latest/keyboard-skills.html.en