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How To Use Keyboard Shortcuts | Using Keyboard Shortcuts Can Save Time
Using Keyboard Shortcuts – Most PC users are accustomed to using the mouse for most tasks they perform on their computer. However, there is a more powerful and easier way to operate. This is a Windows keyboard shortcut. Most of us know to copy with Cntrl+C, Cntrl+V, and Cntrl+Alt+Delete (Task Manager), but there are others. Knowing some of these things can be very helpful if your mouse stops working.
Let’s use this scenario. My mouse freezes while working on an important Excel spreadsheet. I need to save some data, but I don’t know how to do so without my trusty mouse. Don’t worry. You can use one of the many built-in Windows keyboard shortcuts. Just press Ctrl+S to save.
Cntrl+S is probably the most widely used keyboard shortcut and is common in most Windows programs. We have compiled a list of the most commonly used functions and a brief description of what they do.
Note that the computer shortcut to call Windows+ is for the Windows keyboard. You will see the Windows logo key somewhere on your physical keyboard to make sure you typed correctly.
Windows+D – Toggles between viewing the desktop and viewing open windows. |
Windows+M – Minimize all windows. Alt + Tab – View the list of open programs and switch to the next program. |
Ctrl + W – Closes existing windows |
Ctrl + O – Opens a file or document |
Ctrl + X – Cut t selected text or objects |
CTRL+P – Print the current document of the active application. |
Ctrl + B – Makes a font Bold |
Ctrl + I – Italicize fonts |
Ctrl + U – Underline words |
Ctrl + R – Align right |
Ctrl + L – Align left |
Ctrl + E – Align center |
Alt + Tab – Switches from one window to another |
F5 – Refreshes browser / page cache |
F6 – Places your cursor in the URL box on browser |
Alt + F4 – Brings up shut down menu |
Shift + Tab – Go back |
There are some other shortcuts, but these are the most widely used. It’s true that most people still use the mouse, but once you’re familiar with all the keyboard shortcuts in Windows, you may decide to use both.
Using Keyboard Shortcuts | Easy Keyboard Shortcuts List

Why Should I Know The Shortcuts? | Should I Know The Shortcuts?
To be truly effective and productive with your Microsoft Office applications, you need to know your shortcuts.
See, what a lot of people don’t realize is that relying solely on using the mouse wastes an incredible amount of time by having to pause first every time you use the mouse. Let go of the keyboard. Then go to your mouse and use it. Stop using the mouse and return to the keyboard to continue typing. If you do this, you will find that he is only 20% more effective than someone who only uses the keyboard.
why? It’s very simple. All the time spent going from mouse to keyboard is lost or unproductive time. So a person who only uses shortcut keystrokes is often five times more efficient than someone who doesn’t. From keyboard to mouse and vice versa.
In some jobs, such as call centers, knowing or not knowing shortcut keystrokes can determine whether or not you can continue working. We have seen many telecom call centers in Australia and abroad now converting their systems to Windows-based software. Everything they’ve done in these jobs sets some major performance standards that are truly amazing. All fault calls must be handled and terminated within ~5 minutes.
This is a compelling requirement, and many call center employees who are not familiar with shortcut keystrokes have not been able to get all the data into the system within the allotted time frame, putting their jobs at risk. I noticed that As I mentioned earlier, we found that, essentially, people who rely on the mouse are only about 20% more efficient than people who only use the keyboard.
What Are The Shortcut Keystrokes I Should Know?
This is a tough question as many of the popular applications in the market today have different shortcut keystrokes. Since my wife got her Apple computer, one thing I’ve learned from him is that many of the shortcut keystrokes we use in Windows don’t belong in any other operating system either Many do!
Here Are Some Of The Most Common Keystrokes In Microsoft Office.
Ctrl + N – New Document |
Ctrl + O – Open Document |
Ctrl + P – Print Document |
Ctrl + S – Save Document |
F7 – Spell Check |
Ctrl + X – Cut |
Ctrl + C – Copy |
Ctrl + V – Paste |
Ctrl + F – Find |
Ctrl + H – Replace |
Ctrl + K – Insert Hyperlink |
You’ll find the shortcuts presented here to be the most common, regardless of which Microsoft Office application you’re using. One other thing to notice is that many Microsoft Office applications have common shortcut keystrokes.
For example, in Microsoft Word, you can press the Home key to move to the beginning of the line and the End key to move to the end of the line. In Microsoft Excel, press Home to move to the beginning of the line. To reach the end of the data, just press the End key. There are also similarities with other Microsoft Office applications such as Microsoft Access. In a Microsoft Access table, press the Home key to move to the first field in the record and the End key to reach the end of the record.
These same shortcut keystrokes apply to other applications besides Microsoft Office. For example, when composing an e-mail in Microsoft Outlook Express. Select the Home key to move to the beginning of the line, and End to move to the end of the line.
A very nice thing about many applications running on Microsoft Windows is that software development professionals maintain shortcuts that they use to accomplish specific tasks.
Common shortcuts for moving the insertion point in Microsoft Office are:
Home – Moves to the start of the line |
End – Moves to the end of the line |
Ctrl + Home – Moves to the First Character first line of the document |
Ctrl + End – Moves to the Last Character last line of the document |
Ctrl + Left Arrow – Moves one word to the left |
Ctrl + Right Arrow – Moves one word to the right |
Page Up – Move up by one screen |
Page Down – Move down by one screen |
Learning shortcut keystrokes for the Microsoft Office suite of applications is a must in any computer training course. If you don’t know these keystrokes, you won’t be as effective as someone who does. Often when you go to a job interview or recruitment agency, they use systems such as self-assessment software to test if you know these things. I’ve heard a lot of stories about missing.
If you want to use your computer more effectively, you need to learn shortcuts. Knowing them also makes passing certification exams such as the Microsoft Office Specialist Program much easier.
Tips To Make Your Computer More Efficient | Make Your Computer More Efficient
There are many ways to make your time on the computer a little more efficient. You may have known and forgotten most of these at once, or you may be completely new to computer shortcuts. Here are the 5 I use on a daily basis to speed things up a bit:
Copy and Paste Shortcuts Instead of right-clicking “Copy” and then “Paste”, highlight what you are trying to copy and paste and press “Ctrl” and the letter “C” on your keyboard . time to copy. Press “Ctrl” again to paste, but this time press the letter “V” instead of “C”.
Open New Tab Shortcut It’s very easy , Just press “Ctrl” and “T” at the same time to open a new tab in your internet browser. Once open, you can start typing web addresses without having to click the address bar.
Firefox or Chrome This is probably one of the biggest tips. I encourage you to visit his webpage in Mozilla or Chrome and download the browser now. Both have huge libraries of add-ons that you can download to make your browsing experience as fast as possible.
Learn to use the number pad This is also great. By learning how to use your keyboard’s number pad effectively, you’ll be able to enter numeric information faster than using the number line above your keyboard.
Tab Key The “Tab” key (located on the left side of your keyboard) makes it easy to fill out online forms. Clicking “Tab” automatically moves the cursor to the next field that requires input, so you don’t have to put your hand back on the mouse to make a selection.
Select multiple options Need to select multiple options in an online form, or delete or edit multiple files? Hold down the handy ‘Ctrl’ key to select as many as you click will be Also, if you hold down the “Shift” key and click, it will select everything you have selected. Shift-clicking numbers 1 and 10 also selects all numbers in between.