Keyboard shortcuts to make your life easier
When you’re working on a computer where do you put your hands? One on the mouse, one on the keyboard? Or both on the keyboard? Realistically the answer is - it depends on what you’re doing. Recently, however, I went on a training course and met someone who avoided using the mouse as much as possible; they saw switching between mouse and keyboard as a waste of time. Using keyboard shortcuts for everything might be efficiency to the extreme, but I admit that sometimes it is useful being able to control repetitive tasks from the keyboard.
The exact definition of a keyboard shortcut varies depending on who you talk to. Some say that the terms “keyboard shortcut” and “hot key” mean the same thing. Others argue that a shortcut is a combination of keys which trigger a specific action, while a hot key is a letter which when pressed either individually or with the Alt key has a designated function on a command menu or toolbar.
I’ll be honest I don’t care enough about the semantics to argue one versus the other, so I’ll use the terms interchangeably (Sorry if this offends any computer programmers who are reading this). Instead, I’m going to list some of the shortcuts I think are worth knowing. I’ve split them into three categories; commonly used, less common and a software specific breakdown (currently this just covers Microsoft word and excel – this may change as time goes on and I find more shortcuts for different programs). Other than those categories I have listed them in no particular order. I have listed the keys with a + sign in between and a description of what the action is. And it is worth noting that these are only for windows not Mac, sorry; I’ve never used a mac so you’ll have to make your own list of mac shortcuts.
Odds are you know most of the commonly used ones or maybe you know all them but need a reminder of the ones you use less frequently. If you can think of any that I have missed or have some that you think deserve to be added to the list let me know on twitter and I’ll add them (and give you credit, of course).
