Throughout my job experiences, I have been surprised to see coworkers highlighting a word or phrase, and right clicking to copy and paste somewhere else. I recently graduated with a degree in a technology related field where coding was part of my curriculum. This is where I learned the essential keyboard shortcuts. Ctrl + C copies text, Ctrl + V pastes it wherever your cursor is or in whatever section you have highlighted. After showing some of my previous colleagues this trick, I decided to learn more about keyboard shortcuts and the time saving ability they hold.
There are so many. From taking a screenshot to undoing an action, from logging out to renaming files, you can do almost anything you can with the right click of a mouse, all directly from your keyboard. Below I will list out many keyboard shortcuts, and briefly summarize how much time you can save by practicing with and using them.
General Keyboard Shortcuts
- Ctrl + X
- Cut the selected item
- Ctrl + C
- Copy the selected item
- Ctrl + V
- Paste the selected item
- Ctrl + Z
- Undo your last action
- Alt + Tab
- Switch between open apps
- Alt + F4
- Close the active item, or exit the active app
- Windows key + L
- Lock your PC
- Windows key + D
- Display/Hide the desktop
- F2
- Rename the selected item
- F3
- Search for a file or folder in File Explorer
- F4
- Display the address bar list in File Explorer
- F5
- Refresh the active window
- F6
- Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop
- F10
- Activate the Menu bar in the active app
- Alt + F8
- Show your password on the sign in screen
- Alt + Esc
- Cycle through items in the order in which they were opened
- Alt + underlined letter
- Perform the command for that letter
- Alt + Enter
- Display properties for the selected item
- Alt + Spacebar
- Open the shortcut menu for the active window
- Alt + Left arrow
- Go back
- Alt + Right arrow
- Go forward
- Alt + Page Up
- Move up one screen
- Alt + Page Down
- Move down one screen
- Ctrl + F4
- Close the active document (in apps that are full-screen and let you have multiple documents open at the same time)
- Ctrl + A
- Select all items in a document or window
- Ctrl + D (or Delete)
- Delete the selected item and move it to the Recycle Bin
- Ctrl + R (or F5)
- Refresh the active window
- Ctrl + Y
- Redo an action
- Ctrl + Right arrow
- Move the cursor to the beginning of the next word
- Ctrl + Left arrow
- Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous word
- Ctrl + Down arrow
- Move the cursor to the beginning of the next paragraph
- Ctrl + Up arrow
- Move the cursor to the beginning of the previous paragraph
- Ctrl + Alt + Tab
- Use the arrow keys to switch between all open apps
- Alt + Shift + arrow keys
- When a group or tile is in focus on the Start menu, move it in the direction specified
- Ctrl + Shift + arrow keys
- When a tile is in focus on the Start menu, move it into another tile to create a folder
- Ctrl + arrow keys
- Resize the Start menu when it’s open
- Ctrl + arrow key (to move to an item) + Spacebar
- Select multiple individual items in a window or on the desktop
- Ctrl + Shift with an arrow key
- Select a block of text
- Ctrl + Esc
- Open Start
- Ctrl + Shift + Esc
- Open Task Manager
- Ctrl + Shift
- Switch the keyboard layout when multiple keyboard layouts are available
- Ctrl + Spacebar
- Turn the Chinese input method editor (IME) on or off
- Shift + F10
- Display the shortcut menu for the selected item
- Shift with any arrow key
- Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text in a document
- Shift + Delete
- Delete the selected item without moving it to the Recycle Bin first
- Right arrow
- Open the next menu to the right, or open a submenu
- Left arrow
- Open the next menu to the left, or close a submenu
- Esc
- Stop or leave the current task
- PrtScn
- Take a screenshot of your whole screen and copy it to the clipboard
Why use keyboard shortcuts?
This a limited list of the shortcuts that users can practice, and once mastered will save loads of time. Lets just say you have to copy and paste a set of 1000 pieces of independent data, and using the shortcut saves 1 second of time each use (I personally think it saves more, but for the sake of this situation I am rounding down). In this situation alone, an employee saves ~30 minutes (1000 seconds for copying, 1000 for pasting, divided by 60 to put it into minutes). There is also a compounding effect when several keyboard shortcuts are used simultaneously. If this same situation was occurring between separate windows or programs, users could flip back and fourth between them using keyboard shortcuts.
How to learn more?
Finchloom can teach you how to utilize not only these keyboard shortcuts, but the full features of Office 365 products saving time, energy, and minimizing repetitive tasks. Want to learn more about how Finchloom can help your business learn all the new features of Office 365? Visit our Office 365 training page and see how you can improve inefficiencies, and train employees to use not only keyboard shortcuts, but Office 365 to its full potential.