A simple but often forgotten command, is using the quick key to jump left or right one word at a time.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + Right arrow
The result:
Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word in the sentence. A quick way to bounce around in the paragraph.
And then…
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + Left arrow
The result:
Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word in the sentence.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + Up Arrow
The result:
Move the cursor to the beginning of the line or paragraph.
And then…
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + Down Arrow
The result:
Move the cursor to the end of the line or paragraph.
The key sequence:
“Shift” + “Alt” + “T”
The result:
The quick way to do this in Word is to use the above key combination instead of using the “Insert” option from the pull down menu.
The key sequence:
“Shift” + “Alt” + “D”
The result:
This quick key will insert the date intop the document for you, then it is always a good idea to format the date, by right clicking the inserted date field, choosing edit and then selecting the date format you wish on the right.
The key sequence:
“F12”
The result:
This will open the “Save As” dialog, so that you can quickly save documents, expecially if you are saving new files for each bit of correspondence you type.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “S”
The result:
This sequence saves the file by the current name, without bringing up a file save dialog to fill in – nice and simple – just saves it away. There is also an auto save option in Word for the unexpected load shedding – find it under “File”, “Options” and then the “Save” menu item on the left.
The key sequence:
“F7”
The result:
Checks the spelling of the document. We know that there are plenty of people in the world that cannot spell very well. These days, with all the electronic communication, instant messaging and not the greatest education system in the world – we get spelling and grammar mistakes on an hourly basis. So before sending an email in Outlook or finalising a MS Word document, hit the F7 to check the spelling of the document or highlighted area.
The key sequence:
“Shift” + “F3”
The result:
Use this quick key sequence to quickly toggle between the various case options. The options that are available at UPPER, lower and Title case.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “1” (single line spacing)
OR
“Ctrl” + “2” (double line spacing)
OR
“Ctrl” + “5” (1.5 line spacing)
The result:
This super quick key sequence will change the line spacing of the selected area, to single, double or 1.5 line spacing.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “Backspace”
The result:
Delete the previous word one at a time. This is a quick way to delete part of sentences that are no longer needed. Much faster than the single backspace and not as harsh as deleting the entire line with “Shift” + “Up” and then “Delete”. I use this a lot with the “Ctrl” left and right arrows to jump around the sentence quickly.
Sometimes returning to work after a 20 year break is a little difficult!
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “Shift” + “*”
The result:
Reveal the non-printed codes of the document to sort out layout issues.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “Shift” + “>” (Bigger)
and
“Ctrl” + “Shift” + “<” (Smaller)
The result:
This will increase or decrease the selected text by one font size. Just keep repeating the key sequence to continue increasing or decreasing the font size. Nice and quick and easy to undo if you don’t like the result.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “D”
The result:
This will open the font options so that you can change the appearance of the font.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “M”
The result:
This will indent the paragraph where the cursor is at present.
Not an out dent but an IN Dent…
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “T”
The result:
The paragraph in which the cursor is currently situated will have a hanging indent. You can also highlight the text and then apply this shortcut.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “J”
The result:
Justify the text in the paragraph – for us simple folk, that is Justify Fill. Aligning the text on both the left and right margins.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “H”
The result:
This shortcut will open the “Find and replace” option in Microsoft Applications.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “N”
The result:
Instead of clicking on File and then New – rather use the Ctrl N to create a new document, much quicker and you don’t need to touch the mouse.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “P”
The result:
Instead of using the mouse to move and click on the menu item, use the above quick key to instantly bring up the printing window. Remember before printing think about the trees!
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “I”
The result:
Same as the Bold shortcut, but gives you Italics
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “U”
The result:
The same as bold, but now it underlines the text. You can also use all three at the same time, should you need it.
The key sequence:
“Winkey” + “M”
(The “Winkey” is normally between the Ctrl and Alt keys)
The result:
Minimize all of your open application windows instantly. A great way to stop the boss from seeing the Facebook page open of your PC!
The key sequence:
“Winkey” + “D”
(The “Winkey” is normally between the Ctrl and Alt keys)
The result:
This will get you to your computer Desktop area in an instant. For Windows 7 users, you can also click the vertical bar to the right of your date and time in the bottom right of the screen.
The key sequence:
“Alt” + “F4”
The result:
When you have an application open, like MS Word for example – using Alt F4 will close the application and all open windows associated with the application – basically an equivalent to using the “File” “Close” menu.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “F4”
The result:
This is similar to the Alt F4, but only closes the active window, so in MS Word if you have 2 documents open, it will only close the current window and leave MS Word running with the other document.
The key sequence:
Function key “F3”
The result:
This allows you to launch the search module in most Windows applications – including the desktop area, which will allow you to search
The key sequence:
“Alt” + “Print Screen”
The result:
It “captures” the current active application screen to the clipboard, so that you can then paste it into other applications. Often software vendors want you to record the error you get in their prospective applications and this will capture only the active screen, so that you don’t have to cut and adjust the dimensions to be able to send them the image. You don’t need a graphics program, pasting to MS Word will work just as well.
The below capture is a normal “Print Screen”
The below image is using the “Alt” + “Print Screen” to capture just the active application.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + Alt” + “Del”
The result:
Allow your Windows operating system to close just the application that has frozen and then to open the application again to continue working. Remember this will not save your current document, but will help your computer from corrupting data in the future.
This will bring up the option screen – select “Start Task Manager” from the list and then highlight the bad application, and click on the “End Task” button. You can then close the Task Manager and continue as normal.
Use this after you have tried closing the application in all the correct procedures – like the “File Close”, or the big red “X” in the top right. This way of closing applications is not perfect, but better than switching off your computer to fix hung applications.
The key sequence:
“Alt” + “Tab”
The result:
Jump between the open applications on your Windows computer.
The key sequence:
“Alt” + “Shift” + “Tab”
The result:
Jump backwards between the open applications on your Windows computer. If the Alt Tab is forwards, this is backwards 😉
The key sequence:
“Win” + “Tab”
The result:
Jump between the open applications on your Windows Vista or Windows 7 computer in a 3D view. Very Cool!
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “→“
The result:
The cursor will jump to the beginning of the next word.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “←“
The result:
The cursor will jump to the beginning of the current word.
The key sequence:
“Shift” + “End”
The result:
The cursor will jump to the end of the current line and highlight the enter line of text from the current cursor position.
The key sequence:
“Shift” + “Home”
The result:
The cursor will jump to the beginning of the current line and highlight the enter line of text from the current cursor position.
The key sequence:
The “End” key
The result:
The cursor will jump to the end of the current line.
The key sequence:
The Ctrl + “End” key
The result:
The cursor will jump to the end of the current document.
The key sequence:
The “Home” key
The result:
The cursor will jump to the beginning of the current line.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “Home” key
The result:
The cursor will jump to the beginning of the current document.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “Shift” + “:” and then the character, eg. e
The result
The result:
The Afrikaans “deelteken”, in this case – “ë” – or called a “diaresis” in English.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “Shift” + “^” and then the character, eg. e
The result:
The Afrikaans “kappie” (sirkumfleks), in this case – “ê” – referred to as a “circumflex” in English
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “`” and then the character, eg e
The result:
The Afrikaans “gravis-aksent”, in this case – “è” – in English an “accent grave”
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “‘” and then the character, eg e
The result:
The Afrikaans “akuut-aksent”, in this case – “é” – and in English an “accent aigu”
Remember you can also change the MS Office products to work, spell and report screen messages in Afrikaans as well, have a look at our previous article on MS Word in Afrikaans.:
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “V”
The result:
Whatever information you have gathered with your Ctrl C, Ctrl X and any other means, can now be pasted into the document. If using paste from pull-down menus, there are often types of “paste” – like paste as unformatted text etc – but more on that in a future tip.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “Z”
The result:
A quick way to undo the last command or typing – and if you are really undecided, you can use Shift Ctrl + Z to redo the last command.
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “C”
The result:
Copy the selected text into the clipboard (an area where all of your temporary text/images are stored when copy and pasting). Or in Windows terms – “Copy” the selected area. Very similar to the Ctrl X, but does not remove the text thereafter.
Not exactly Ctrl C, but a form of copying 😉
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “X”
The result:
Copy the selected text into the clipboard (an area where all of your temporary text/images are stored when copy and pasting) and then remove the selected text all in one process. Or in Windows terms – “Cut” the selected area
The key sequence:
“Ctrl” + “A”
The result:
Select everything possible of selecting on the current window. This is a great shortcut when doing a lot of copying from one window to another. A useful shortcut when using Ctrl C or X or V.
The key sequence:
“Alt” + “E”
The result:
This is used to bring up the Edit menu on the application that is currently active.
This is a good shortcut, but with time, you will replace most of the “Alt E” with direct shortcuts like “Ctrl C” etc.
In Office 2010, you will not get the Edit menu, but it will ask you to either continue with the old key sequence or just abort the key shortcut.
A quick tip about Office shortcuts, remember than pressing the Alt key on it’s own brings up the quick key letters on the menu ribbon, so that at a glance you know which letter does what action.
The key sequence:
“Alt” + “F”
The result:
This is used to bring up your file menu on the application that is currently active.
I use it a lot in applications where they hide the menus away, like Firefox, Media Player etc – a simple “Alt + F” and there she is!
