5 Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for both Windows and Mac
LET YOUR KEYBOARD DO THE WORK!
SHORTCUTS GALORE.
Often you’ll be asked to make a heading bold, put emphasis on a word with italics, or even make a paragraph stand out with an underline. This is all fine and easy to do with a click of your mouse on the bold/italic/underline buttons most every word processor has. But what if you need to do it 30 times? That’s a lot of clicking!
This is where keyboard shortcuts come in handy! As the name suggests, keyboard shortcuts are useful for saving you time!
Shortcut #1: Bold, Italicise or Underline
When you have a word highlighted, instead of using the mouse you can use your keyboard!
WINDOWS: Press Ctrl + B (bolding) , Ctrl + I (Italicising) , Ctrl + U (Underlining)
MAC: Press Command + B (bolding) , Command + I (Italicising) , Command + U (Underlining)
Shortcut #2: Reopen a Closed Browser Tab
It’s absolutely gut-wrenching to have the perfect tab open in your internet browser (such as Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge or even Internet Explorer) and then accidentally closing it. If you’ve had that tab open for a while it might not even appear in your history any more!
Don’t fret, because you can reopen that tab with a keyboard shortcut!
WINDOWS: Press Ctrl + Shift + T
MAC: Press Command + Shift + T
This works when you close an entire browser window as well! Just re-open a new browser like you normally would and use your shortcut.
Shortcut #3: Copy and Paste
Copying and pasting can be useful if you need to duplicate files or words as it saves times and effort! When you have highlighted or selected what you want to copy you can use the shortcut:
WINDOWS: Press Ctrl + C
MAC: Press Command + C
And this will copy what you have selected. All that’s left is to paste it by clicking the location where you want it to be pasted and use the shortcut:
WINDOWS: Press Ctrl + V
MAC: Press Command + V
Shortcut #4: Quickly Swap Between Programs
There’s times when you need to swap between two programs or windows constantly which can get pretty annoying if you have to do it more than twice!
This shortcut allows you to swap between programs quickly.
WINDOWS: Press Alt + Tab
MAC: Press Command + Tab
This shortcut can also be used to move between more than two programs by holding down the Alt or Command key and pressing Tab to cycle through what’s currently opened. When you’ve highlight what you want to open, let go of both keys and it’ll open as if you clicked on it.
Shortcut #5: Select All
Clicking and dragging can be really time-consuming when you have to highlight or select several pages worth of words. Not with a keyboard shortcut!
WINDOWS: Press Ctrl + A
MAC: Press Command + A
This keyboard short will highlight or select everything that can be on the currently open page.
This can be beneficial when used in conjunction with the copy and paste shortcuts. It’s also not only limited to words. It works on folders and files and even websites!