Computer/Word/Keyboard Tricks I wish someone told me about

[PhilipIsles]

For my blog, I'm collecting all the computer/keyboard shortcuts I feel like some people might not know about because it's assumed everyone knows them. These may be obvious for a lot of people, but I didn't learn half of these until I was in the computer lab at college and overheard someone next to me. Does anyone have any other ones to share?

Delete Key Vs. Backspace: I'm embarrassed to say it but I didn't know the delete key erased words in front of the cursor--as opposed to the backspace key, which erases characters before the cursor--for years.

The End key: it takes your cursor to the last character in the line.
The Home key: it takes your cursor to the first character in the line.
Shift+Home/End: If you hold down the shift key and Home/End, you select all the characters in between your cursor and the beginning/end of the line.

Control Key + Arrow: the cursor jumps by word instead of character
Shift+Control+Arrow: So now if you hold the shift key down with the control key and move the arrow, you select items word by word.

[Evelyn]

Here's one I learned only about a month ago:

Hold down the "control" key (ctrl) and hit "enter" and you'll get a page break. Use page breaks for new chapters to format your manuscript.

I put in page breaks at new chapters right from the beginning. It makes it much easier to find my place in the draft as I scroll through pages. No matter how much more editing and writing I add within a chapter, the page break is maintained. It's nice!

Evelyn

[Watcher55]

Ctrl+end - takes you to the end of the document
Ctrl+home - takes you to the beginning of the document

If you set the cursor then scroll forward or backward then shift and click it selects all the text in between.

Those are the short cuts I can think of right this minute since I use them a lot. I know there are more but I don't usually remember them until it's time to use them.

[PhilipIsles]

Hold down the "control" key (ctrl) and hit "enter" and you'll get a page break. Use page breaks for new chapters to format your manuscript.

I put in page breaks at new chapters right from the beginning. It makes it much easier to find my place in the draft as I scroll through pages. No matter how much more editing and writing I add within a chapter, the page break is maintained. It's nice!

Evelyn

I am all about page and section breaks. I also use bookmarks for easily navigating my manuscript. And thanks Watcher55--this is exactly why I posted this.

[Guardian]

You forgot the most useful combination: Ctrl+S. :)

Then CTRL+B, CTRL+U, CTRL+I to switch quickly to Bold, Underlined and Italized letters.

Hold down the "control" key (ctrl) and hit "enter" and you'll get a page break. Use page breaks for new chapters to format your manuscript.

Yes. That's good to mention. The lack of page breaks can be easily revealed by temporary changing the document from Font 12 to Font 11 (That's my mania, but that's revealing many formating mistakes.). This font size change is immediately revealing the difference between simple Enter+Enter+Enter+Enter, etc, etc... page breaks and CTRL+Enter page breaks. The same font size change is also revealing the TAB mistakes, where the writer is used Spaces instead of Tab.

I used to check all my beta reads with this temporary font size change. It's good to check the format integrity as it's immediately revealing all these page break and tab mistakes.

[Watcher55]

*word or words* = word or words (bold)
_word or words_ = word or words (italics)

[polymath]

I don't know. I've been using keyboard shortcuts for so long they're second nature.

Windows General Keyboard Shortcuts as listed in Help and Support manual.

Press To
CTRL+C Copy.
CTRL+X Cut.
CTRL+V Paste.
CTRL+Z Undo.
DELETE Delete.
SHIFT+DELETE Delete selected item permanently without placing the item in the Recycle Bin.
CTRL while dragging an item Copy selected item.
CTRL+SHIFT while dragging an item Create shortcut to selected item.
F2 Rename selected item.
CTRL+RIGHT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next word.
CTRL+LEFT ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous word.
CTRL+DOWN ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the next paragraph.
CTRL+UP ARROW Move the insertion point to the beginning of the previous paragraph.
CTRL+SHIFT with any of the arrow keys Highlight a block of text.
SHIFT with any of the arrow keys Select more than one item in a window or on the desktop, or select text within a document.
CTRL+A Select all.
F3 Search for a file or folder.
ALT+ENTER View properties for the selected item.
ALT+F4 Close the active item, or quit the active program.
ALT+Enter Displays the properties of the selected object.
ALT+SPACEBAR Opens the shortcut menu for the active window.
CTRL+F4 Close the active document in programs that allow you to have multiple documents open simultaneously.
ALT+TAB Switch between open items.
ALT+ESC Cycle through items in the order they were opened.
F6 Cycle through screen elements in a window or on the desktop.
F4 Display the Address bar list in My Computer or Windows Explorer.
SHIFT+F10 Display the shortcut menu for the selected item.
ALT+SPACEBAR Display the System menu for the active window.
CTRL+ESC Display the Start menu.
ALT+Underlined letter in a menu name Display the corresponding menu.
Underlined letter in a command name on an open menu Carry out the corresponding command.
F10 Activate the menu bar in the active program.
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.
F5 Refresh the active window.
BACKSPACE View the folder one level up in My Computer or Windows Explorer.
ESC Cancel the current task.

Application specific keyboard shortcuts can be found in their respective Help files, search keyword Keyboard Shortcuts.

[steve]

CTRL+A+DEL

Do this to everything you write, then write it again.

Your second go around will be much better.

[Sommer Leigh]

CTRL+A+DEL

Do this to everything you write, then write it again.

Your second go around will be much better.

This makes me cry a little on the inside, Steve.

[Aimée]

Oh that home key is so annoying. Every other time I try to hit the backspace key when I'm not looking at the keyboard, I hit the home key and get jumped to the front of the line and end up deleting something else.
Sorry, I don't have any keyboard tricks besides alt+numbers for things like accents, but I'm pretty sure everyone knows that.

[jkmcdonnell]

What, no other Mac lovers?

Command [Cmd] + arrow = moves forward (or backward) to end of line
Alt + arrow = moves forward (or backward) by a word
Cmd + delete/backspace = delete whole word on WORD; whole line on INTERNET
Alt + delete/backspace = delete whole word on either Word or internet

Cmd + Q = quit whole program (all windows)
Cmd + W = quit individual window
Cmd + B = bold
Cmd + C = copy
Cmd + X = cut
Cmd + V = paste
Cmd + D = font
Cmd + I = italics
Cmd + Z = undo
Cmd + E = centre
Cmd + R = align right
Cmd + J = justify
Cmd + S = save
Cmd + M = minimise
Cmd + H = hide! (Love this one)
Cmd + O = open
Cmd + P = print
Cmd + Y = repeats last thing typed
Cmd + A = select all
Cmd + F = find
Cmd + G = find + replace
Cmd + K = hyperlink
Cmd + < = opens word preferences, including dictionary, grammar and Track Changes

Here's something awesome you can do with your System Preferences: go to Speech > Text to Speech > select 'Speak selected text when the key is pressed', and then 'Set key' (mine is set to Cmd + [full stop]). You can choose from six different voices to read your WIP back to you!

I also love the screencap functions:
Cmd + Shift + 3 = whole screen cap
Cmd + Shift + 4 = drag and click screen cap

[dios4vida]

The newer keyboards have the Windows key - Windows+D minimizes every window to show the desktop. It's convenient when you're working on many different things and need to clear the screen to help clear the mind.

Also, everyone knows the Three Fingered Salute - CTRL+ALT+DEL if your computer locks up. If you have Windows Vista or 7 (I think), CTRL+SHIFT+ESC will just bring up the Task Manager instead of shutting down the computer so you can close the individual program that's frozen without risking the loss of your work.

My favorite is to highlight a word and hit SHIFT+F7. This brings up the thesarus on that particular word.

And everyone needs CTRL+S, I agree! Insta-save!

[PhilipIsles]

CTRL+A+DEL

Do this to everything you write, then write it again.

Your second go around will be much better.

best. one. ever.

[sarahdee]

Another Mac lover...

Maybe not so much for my WIP but for my real work when I write in foreign languages these are invaluable:

Option + u = umlaut (then just type the vowel) e.g. ü
Option + i = little hat e.g. î
Option + e = accent e.g. é
Option + c = ç

Actually option plus anything gives a symbol but these are my usual ones.

[Falls Apart]

ctrl + shift + bck = delete whole words behind cursor
ctrl + shift + del = delete whole words in front of cursor
ctrl + shift + . = increase font size
ctrl + shift + , = decrease font size
ctrl + shift + + = superscript
ctrl + = = subscript
Have these been posted already? I'm not sure . . . I use the first four all the time; last two, not as much. :)