A listing of handy but less known shortcuts in Windows Explorer and some Autohotkey examples on how to add extra functionality.

Open Windows Explorer, the most direct way:

From a PowerShell prompt: ii . or $aPath | ii
From a cmd prompt: start .

From within Windows Explorer itself:

Builtin shortcuts

The 6 can be replaced with any number from 1 (Extra large icons) to 4 (Small icons), 5 (List), 7 (Tiles) and 8 (Content).

The locations are stored in: HKCU:\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\TypedPaths

Navigation:

Drag & Drop:

Create a new dotfile

To work around “You must type a file name”, append an additional dot at the end of the filename.

.gitignore.

Or in PowerShell: ac .gitignore "node_modules"

Back to the CLI

Alt+D followed by cmd or powershell will open a prompt at the current path.

Jump to an env var

Alt+D followed by %APPDATA%, %USERPROFILE% or any environment variable.
Or one of the shell commands like shell:startup, shell:sendto or shell:desktop

# List all "shell:" locations
# (Not nearly all paths are printed because of naming mismatches)
$path = "HKLM:\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\FolderDescriptions"
Get-ChildItem $path | Select-Object `
	@{l="Name";e={$_.GetValue("Name")}},`
	@{l="Path";e={[Environment]::GetFolderPath($_.GetValue("Name")).Replace(" ", "")}}

Less used shortcuts

Autohotkey Extensions

Add missing stuff yourself with Autohotkey.
Find the source for the Autohotkey scripts here

Execute shortcut code only when Windows Explorer is active:

SetTitleMatchMode Regex
#IfWinActive ahk_class CabinetWClass|ExploreWClass|Progman|WorkerW
; "ahk_class CabinetWClass|ExploreWClass" executes in Windows Explorer
; "ahk_class Progman|WorkerW" executes on Desktop
#IfWinActive

Some of the scripts use the following methods. They are defined in windows-explorer-util.ahk.

; Get the currently active path
Explorer_GetPath()

; Get the currently selected file(s)
Explorer_GetSelected()

Hijacking Windows + E

If the selected text while pressing Windows E is a path, open Windows Explorer in that specific path.

~#e::
; Save clipboard
oldClip := clipboard
; Send Control+C
Send, ^c
ClipWait, 3
clipVal := clipboard

; Does the copied text contain a path?
fileExists := FileExist(clipVal)
if (fileExists = "D") {
    ; Open explorer in specific directory
    Run % "explorer.exe /root," clipVal

} else if (fileExists) {
    ; Open explorer with file selected
    Run % "explorer.exe /select," clipVal

} else {
    ; Simply open explorer
    Send #e
}

; Restore the clipboard
clipboard := oldClip
Return

Zip directory

Ahk source for creating a zip file with the contents of the current directory or the currently selected files.

Create new file

One creates a new directory with Control + Shift + N but there is not really one for creating a new file.

; Control + Shift + F: New file
^+f::
DeselectSelectedFiles()
Send {Appskey}
Send w
Send t
Send ^a
Return

; Control + Shift + T: New txt file
^+t::
DeselectSelectedFiles()
Send {Appskey}
Send w
Send t
Return

DeselectSelectedFiles()
{
	; Explorer_GetSelected is defined in utilities/windows-explorer-util.ahk
	selectedFiles := Explorer_GetSelected()
	if selectedFiles
	{
		; If no file is selected, ^Space may actually select it
		; after which {AppsKey} will open the wrong ContextMenu
		Send ^{Space}
	}
}

Other

Change extension dialog:
Windows doesn’t offer an option to not show a confirmation dialog when changing the extension of a file. The best we can do is wait and whenever one pops up click it away?

While, 1
{
    WinWaitActive, Rename ahk_class #32770
    Send y
}

Details View:
While Control + Shift + 6 is probably very useful, pesky Windows might truncate longer filenames with the switch to Details View.

; Control + Shift + 6: Details View
; ~ = Do not block native function
~^+6::
; Resize columns so that filenames are completely visible
Send {Control Down}{NumpadAdd}{Control Up}
Return

Closing:
Closing an Explorer window can be done with Alt+F4 or with Control+W. But when you want to close it after Windows annoyed you, this scrips allows you to you to do so by hitting Esc hard, twice.

~Esc::
If (A_PriorHotKey = A_ThisHotKey and A_TimeSincePriorHotkey < 500)
	WinClose

Return

(I guess I just didn’t know about Control + W before this post:)

Alternatives:

According to AlternativeTo Windows Explorer, many people like Total Commander.