Keyboard shortcuts & Helpful Hints

Helpful Hints!

  • These keyboard shortcuts are the ones I commonly use myself on a daily basis and show to students when I'm helping them. They are Windows shortcuts. The ones used for MAC are similar, but not the same. I hope you find them as much help as I do.
  • Make lots of saves during a class to avoid losing your work. I make about 10 -12 saves per class.
  • If you are copying text from the internet and are going to paste it to a word processing software and you get some undesirable formatting in the document, here is what you do: paste it into Notepad first and then paste into the word processing software, it strips all the web and other codes out and leaves only the text remaining.
  • Here are some Youtube videos on Windows Shortcuts. click here
  • For zooming; use the Ctrl key + roller wheel (or equivalent); zooming works across different apps.

Windows program key combinations

  • CTRL+C: Copy
  • CTRL+X: Cut
  • CTRL+V: Paste
  • CTRL+Z: Undo
  • CTRL+B: Bold
  • CTRL+U: Underline
  • CTRL+I: Italic

Windows Keyboard Shortcuts Overview

Microsoft Natural Keyboard keys

  • Windows Logo: Start menu
  • Windows Logo+R: Run dialog box (I use this starting Notepad)
  • Windows Logo+M: Minimize all
  • Windows Logo+L: Locks computer (good idea when leaving your workstation, also save your work first)
  • SHIFT+Windows Logo+M: Undo minimize all
  • Windows Logo+F1: Help
  • Windows Logo+E: Windows Explorer (I use the when I first start my computer and many times when throughout the day)
  • Windows Logo+F: Find files or folders
  • Windows Logo+D: Minimizes all open windows and displays the desktop
  • CTRL+Windows Logo+F: Find computer
  • CTRL+Windows Logo+TAB: Moves focus from Start, to the Quick Launch toolbar, to the system tray (use RIGHT ARROW or LEFT ARROW to move focus to items on the Quick Launch toolbar and the system tray)
  • Windows Logo+TAB: Cycle through taskbar buttons
  • ALT+TAB: Fast Tab switching (I use this many times during a day, hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window )
  • Windows Logo+Break: System Properties dialog box
  • Application key: Displays a shortcut menu for the selected item

Selecting text without the mouse, using only the keyboard. This method is much more accurate than using a mouse. It is useful if you only need a part of a word.

  • Shift+Up or Down Arrow Keys – Select lines one at a time.
  • Shift+Ctrl+Left or Right Arrow Keys – Select words – keep pressing the arrow keys to select additional words.
  • Shift+Ctrl+Up or Down Arrow Keys – Select paragraphs.
  • Shift+Home –Select the text between the cursor and the beginning of the current line.