Nerding out: Keyboard short-cuts

I spend an average 6-7 hours a day (or MORE) with my hands on a keyboard. And, I’m pleased to announce that with a little inspiration and research (and a little nerdy-ness), keyboard shortcuts are changing my life.

photo courtesy independent-trainers.com

On my first day at my current job, I watched as my more mature and incredibly savvy and professional co-worker edited a document I had drafted. She was a keyboard NINJA! She had mastered all these short-cuts to delete words and sentences with one fell swoop and to capitalize or italicize with just a few punches at the keyboard. I knew right then that I was missing out on a world of information.

So I started with a simple keyboard shortcut Google search, took notes on a sticky, and am slowly mastering what I’ve learned. There are about a BILLION keyboard shortcuts out there, so I’ve just started with a few, but once I learn them the sticky goes in the trash and I learn a few more!

Here are my recent favorites:

1. CTRL + ARROW (left or right) allows you to skip through a sentence word by word instead of character by character. CTRL + SHIFT + ARROW does the same thing, but highlights the selection as you go. Brilliant.

2. SHIFT + F3 capitalizes the first letters of a selection (this seems to work in Word, but not Google docs- too bad). Press F3 again and every character is capitalized. Press it again (are you getting it yet?) and you’re back to all lower case. Handy stuff.

3. CTRL + DELETE deletes one word to the right of your cursor (a whole word! imagine!). CTRL + BACKSPACE deletes on word to the left.

4. CTRL + SHIFT + </> = font size decrease/increase

5. CTRL + i italicizes a highlighted portion of text. CTRL + B bolds a highlighted portion of text. CTRL + U underlines a highlighted portion of text. I’ve known this one for a while (I think many people do) and it is incredibly useful.

6. F5 refreshes a web browser (way easier than finding the tiny refresh arrow with your mouse)

7. ALT + TAB allows you to cycle through open programs, while CTRL + TAB cycles through web browers. I haven’t got that into this one yet, but I think it would also be helpful.

8. In Excel, pressing F2 while a cell is highlighted takes you to the end of the text within the cell. Explore it. This is PHENOMENAL.

8. Okay, okay, I left my favorite for last. ALT + D highlights the address bar of a web browser, so you can just quickly type (versus click, highlight and type) your next desired web address. COOL, right!?

Alrighty, this keyboard nerd is OUT. Do you know of any I missed?