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The Three Most Under-utilized Keyboard Shortcuts
I was standing behind my wife the other day quietly watching her use her computer to write an email. The more I watched the clearer it became just how much extra work she was creating for herself by not using Windows keyboard shortcuts.
Most average users know a few keyboard shortcuts such as ^C for Copy, ^X for Cut, and ^V for Paste but here are three additional shortcuts that many folks under-utilize. If you spend a few moments learning them you'll find them incredibly useful (Note: When I write ^C it means to press down the Ctrl key and while holding it down, press the C key. You then release both together)
The first is ^A. This selects (highlights) everything in the current window or field. So for example you want to copy this entire article into an email, hit ^A to select everything then ^C to copy it to the clipboard. Open your email and then type ^V to insert it. Try ^A now, it should select this whole web page. Click anywhere to remove the highlighting.
^A is also really useful when you want to delete the contents of a form field or dialog box. Just hit ^A then Delete. I use it a lot to clear the address box in my browser.
The second handy shortcut is ^Home. This takes you to the top of a document or web page. Similarly ^End takes you to the bottom. It's much faster than scrolling. Try it now.
The third shortcut is probably the most useful of all. It involves using the Shift key when selecting long lists or text passages.
Let's say you want to select a section of this page covering several paragraphs. The way most users would do this would be to left mouse click at the start, hold the mouse button down and then move the mouse curser to the end of the text to be selected.
That's fine but if the text covers more than one screen it can get tricky. Here's a much better way.
First, left click at the start of the text and release the mouse button. Then scroll down to the end of the text and left click again while holding down Shift key. All the text in between will be selected.
Try it now on this page. Neat eh?
The same technique works well when selecting items on a list.
Incidentally, if you want to select or deselect individual items that aren't consecutive, you can do that by using the Ctrl key when left clicking. But hey, that's a fourth shortcut and I said I was only going to give you three :>) If you really want more, there's a complete list here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449
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Anyone know a shortcut to change case, as in "a" to "A"??
Windows Vista 7
Windows Key + D minimizes/maximizes all windows
Windows Key + E My computer
Windows Key + R Run
Windows Key + T select minimized windows
Windows Key + U Ease of access center
Windows Key + F Search
Windows Key + L Lock
Windows Key + B Show/Hide hidden icons
Windows Key + M minimizes all windows
Windows Key + Space Opens sidebar
Alt + tab switch between windows
Ctrl + C copy
Ctrl + X cut
Ctrl + V past
Ctrl + S Save
Ctrl + Z Undo
Ctrl + Y Redo
Ctrl + K Insert Hyperlink
Ctrl + Shift + F9 undo hyperlink
Ctrl + A select all
Ctrl + W Close Tab
Alt + F4 Close Window
Ctrl + F4 close multiple windows
Ctrl + B Bold
Ctrl + I Italic
Ctrl + U Underline
Ctrl + Shift + + superscript
Ctrl + = subscript
Ctrl + L align left
Ctrl + E align center
Ctrl + R align right
Ctrl + J justify
Ctrl + shift + 8 show/hide paragraph
Ctrl + shift + arrow select
Ctrl + arrow scam through by word
Alt + = insert equation
F7 Spelling/Grammar
Alt + click research
Shift + F7 thesaurus
Alt + F8 view macros
Ctrl + zoom zoom in/zoom out
F5 refresh
Ctrl + R refresh
F7 Caret browsing
Alt + Z Add to favorites
Ctrl + shift + F font
Ctrl + shift + P font size
Alt + C view favorites/feeds/history
Ctrl + Q Quick tabs
Ctrl + T New Tab
Ctrl + K Duplicate Tab
Ctrl + P Print
Alt + R Print
Ctrl + N New Window
Ctrl + O Open
Ctrl + F Find
Ctrl + G Go to
Tabs go to next box
Shift + tab go to last box
Ctrl + esc open start menu
F1 help
Alt + L Help
Alt + M home
Ctrl + shift + esc task manager
Ctrl + alt + delete windows menu
Window key + L Lock cpu
Shift + F10 right click
F11 full screen
Alt + enter full screen
Alt + enter copies and pastes last
Alt + F File
Alt + E edit
Alt + V view
Alt + A favorites
Alt + T tools
Alt + H help
Alt + P page
Alt + S safety
Alt + O tools
Ctrl + shift + delete delete browsing history
Ctrl + shift + P in private
Ctrl + shift + F in private filtering
F12 developer tools
Esc stop
F3 find
F4 selects URL
The most useful shortcut I have seen is the Autoscroll shortcut for Adobe PDF Reader. Wish it was there for other applications. Avoid using the scroll wheel or middle button altogether.
^ + "Shift" + "H" starts scrolling the page.
Useful if you are reading long documents. Numeric pad "0" to "9" controls speed of scrolling from slowest to fastest. Page Up and Page Down still works simultaneously.
I have an "every day" working of the shortcuts of this article... This PDF one is brilliant... thanks
Everyone here seems to know about the Ctrl+Left/Right arrow to jump by one word in a text field. But do people know that Ctrl+Backspace or Ctrl+Delete will delete words quickly?
Also, Alt+F6 to switch between multiple windows of the same program. This is one I never knew until I found it on the Microsoft website - can be better than Alt-Tab when you want to just switch between Word Docs for example
^tab does pretty much the same thing as alt+f6
My Shift+Insert shortcut is not working. How can I repair or restore this shortcut?
is there a way to tab through sheets in an ms excel workbook?? (i know ctrl+tab will swap between different workbooks)
right alt key + 4 = €
You can change sheets in a workbook by pressing Ctrl and PageUp or PageDown.
Windows+L Locks the computer. A handy one when you leave your computer.
Very handy. I was disappointed that I already I knew the "3 under-utilized" ones, but Windows L is fantastic for when you are at work and just want a tiny bit of privacy when you leave the computer. Just enough security so people aren't reading your email while you step away. Thanks for that.
My own contribution then: many people would already know this but using control then left or right arrow gives steps the cursor back over words in a text entry box (or any other text typing service). If you make a mistake and want to jump back to it without taking your hands off the keyboard, control left arrow makes it much faster.
All these are simply amazing. Thank you everyone. I'd add one but all the ones I know have already been posted.
Here's something interesting!
Vote up!
9
- reply
Create keyboard shortcuts here
my favorite command: shift+enter
opens file/folder in a new window (explorer)
There's a hidden shortcut on the dialog box that gives you choices for "Yes", "Yes To All", and "No". You can also use Shift+No to mean “No To All”
Thanks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Holding Ctrl while you press left or right key in a text box will move one word left or right respectively.
I notice that many folks don't know about the context menu key, it's usually wedged between the right Alt and the right Ctrl keys. Hit it with your right thumb and you get the current context menu, and you'll find the arrow keys will be right under your finger tips - goodbye right click.
ctrl/left and ctrl/right arrow keys move the text insertion caret to the prior and next words respectively, ctrl/shift/left and ctrl/shift/right select the prior and next word respectively.
I can't believe I've completely neglected that key all this time. There are many times when I end up troubleshooting a computer that either has no mouse or for one reason or another the mouse isn't working properly. I can navigate around pretty well using the keyboard for most things, but for those things that can only be accessed easily via a right-click, I've always been stymied. And yet the answer has always been there, hidden under my right palm.
Thank you so much for that one.
what about Alt and Tab to move between open programs (hold Alt then Tab if multipul are open) and Alt F4 to close programs.
Just discovered that Ctrl while scrolling changes the Zoom - good for bifocal users.
Ctrl + 0 will reset zoom to normal
Alt+tab scrolls through open windows applications.
ctrl + enter adds www. & .com to whatever you typed in address bar
shift + enter adds www. & .net to whatever you typed in address bar
Don't know if there's a .org one, as asked above.
Windows key + F1 opens the otherwise useless Help and Support for walking newbs through remote invites. Nowadays I just install cross-loop on all my clients' computers and log them in with a spare yahoo mail account.
Desktop and start menu shortcuts can be easily assigned ctrl + alt + any 3rd key combo. Right click icon >>> left click properties >>> left click "shortcut-key" field and hit ctrl+alt+ 3rd key of your choice.
The puzzler I have is when a shortcut is deleted the key assignment does not become available again. Anyone know how to get it back? I haven't found assignments in the registry and have been unable to find the answer anywhere on MS sight, TechNet nor the world wide intertubes. Also, if you move a shortcut, the key combo will not work until after a reboot.
.org is Shift + Ctrl + Enter
If you highlite a weblink in opera, right click and choose "go to"
Here are my favorites:
Windows Key + Pause/Break = System Properties
Windows Key + E = Windows Explorer (I use this one constantly)
Windows Key + F = Search
Windows Key + R = Run Command
Ctrl + Shift + Left/Right Arrow Key = Highlight segments of text to the next space
Ctrl + Shift + Esc = Task Manager
Ctrl + Insert = Copy
Shift + Insert = Paste
Windows Key + D = Show desktop
Thanks a lot
It's amazing to see how few people know that you can type in the just name of a website in the address bar, then hit ^Enter. It will take you straight there without having to type in the "www" or the ".com". I use the shift-tab all the time in forms and it's SUCH a timesaver.
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