Hotkeys - working faster with keyboard shortcuts
Whenever you observe IT professionals at work you'll notice a common pattern - the mouse gets rarely used. Keyboard shortcuts, also called hotkeys, can save you a lot of selecting and clicking. You either hit keys simultaneously (as with capitalization) or sequentially and save a lot of time and frustration. There are far more shortcuts available than I could ever remember. Read on to find out which shortcuts have saved the day for me so far.
For many many years, I generally avoided keyboard shortcuts and deemed them too difficult to learn - I'll admit it. Only when I sat together with colleagues that were able to work at astonishing speeds did it occur to me that shortcuts might be worth memorizing. You don't have to memorize the following shortcuts, I'm not your boss after all, but you will find them useful, eventually, I'm certain of that! Not only will you be able to work faster but you will feel like a professional. Just give it a try!(Download link at the bottom of the page.)
Common Windows shortcuts
Open Windows Explorer [Windows Key] + [E]
Show Desktop [Windows Key] + [D] (press again to restore original windows)
Find file [Windows Key] + [F]
Print [Ctrl] + [P]
Exit application [Alt] + [F4]
Switch between open windows [Alt] + [Esc]
Select all [Ctrl] + [A]
Copy to clipboard [Ctrl] + [C]
Paste from clipboard [Ctrl] + [V]
Cut and copy to clipboard [Ctrl] + [X]
Undo [Ctrl] + [Z]
Redo [Ctrl] + [Y]
Run[Windows Key] + [R]
Find in page [Ctrl] + [F]
Browser shortcuts (work with almost any browser)
Close current tab [Ctrl] + [W]
Reopen closed tab [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [T]
Reload page [Ctrl] + [F5]
Show history [Ctrl] + [H]
Take screenshot [Alt] + [Print] or [Print]
Show downloads[Ctrl] + [J]
Save[Ctrl] + [S]
Zoom in [Ctrl] + [ + ]
Zoom out [Ctrl] + [-]
Default zoom [Ctrl] + [0]
Microsoft Word
Search and replace [Ctrl] + [H]
Make selected text bold [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [B]
Make selected text italic [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [I]
Make selected text underlined[Ctrl] + [Shift] + [U]
Format selected text as capitals [Ctrl] + [Shift] + [A]
Left align a paragraph [Ctrl] + [L]
Right align a paragraph [Ctrl] + [R]
Center a paragraph [Ctrl] + [E]
Justify a paragraph [Ctrl] + [J]
Save current document as [F12]
Many of the common Windows shortcuts also work with Office any various other Windows applications. Did I miss any important key combinations? Feel free to let me know and I will add them to the list!
