Quick Keyboard Shortcuts

The average computer user relies on the mouse heavily throughout their day. In reality, switching between mouse and keyboard is slow! By learning a few keyboard shortcuts, you can dramatically reduce 90% of back and forth mouse nonsense.

There are a few types of keyboard shortcuts. There are global keyboard shortcuts built directly into Windows, such as copy and paste. These are cross-application functional and the most important shortcuts to remember. Then there are accepted standard shortcuts, such as opening new tabs in a web browser. These shortcuts, while compatible across related software, may have totally different functions in other applications. Last, there are proprietary shortcuts, which only apply to one program or software vendor (i.e. Adobe Photoshop). Because there are thousands of programs with hundreds of proprietary shortcuts, they are very difficult to remember. I will be going over very little, if any, proprietary shortcuts in this article.

Throughout these categories, the shortcuts will be listed by importance.

Global Shortcuts:

• Ctrl+C
  • Select text or files and use this command to copy. Replaces mouse movement: Right click > Copy.
• Ctrl+V
  • Pastes what was just copied or cut. Replaces mouse movement: Right click > Paste.
• Ctrl+X
  • Select text or files and use this command to cut. Replaces mouse movement: Right click > Cut.
• Alt+Tab
  • While holding alt, repeat pressing the tab key. Each time you press tab, Windows will rotate currently open applications. This easily switches between programs in seconds. Replaces mouse movement: clicking each program individually from the task bar.
• Alt+F4
  • F4 being a function key at the top of the keyboard, this shortcut will close any application. Replaces mouse movement: pressing the red X at the top right of the window.
• Ctrl+P
  • Open a print dialog box. Replaces mouse movement: finding the printer icon and clicking it.
• Ctrl+Z
  • Undoes the last preformed action. Replaces mouse movement: Edit > Undo.
• Ctrl+Y
  • Redoes an undone action.Replaces mouse movement: Edit > Redo.
• Ctrl+Alt+Del
  • On home computers, this function will open your task manager, which can be used to close a frozen program. On business computers, a menu will provide the ability to lock the computer, change your password, open the task manager, or other miscellaneous actions. Replaces mouse movement: whole bunch of stuff.

Start Button:

Your keyboard Start button, located between your Alt and Ctrl keys, can be used to launch many Windows functions. Because you can use these any time, they are technically considered global shortcuts. However, they deserve a category of their own.

• Start Button
  • Opens your start menu. Replaces mouse movement: clicking the on screen Start button.
• Start+L
  •  Locks your computer. Replaces mouse movement: Start > Shutdown > Lock Computer.
• Start+D
  • Show the desktop. Press again to restore all application windows. Replaces mouse movement: minimizing all of your open windows.
• Start+Tab
  • 3-D version of Alt+Tab. Requirements: Vista/W7. Replaces mouse movement: clicking each program individually from the task bar.
• Start+F
  • Search your entire computer for something. Replaces mouse movement: Start > Search.
• Start+E
  • Opens "My Computer". Replaces mouse movement: Start > My Computer.
• Start+P
  • New! Opens a projector menu to allow for screen sharing. Requirements: Windows 7. Replaces mouse movement: a whole bunch of stuff.
• Start+R
  • In this case, I saved the most useful for last. Start+R opens a Run dialog which can launch things that do not have a keyboard shortcut of their own. For instance, any time I want to visit a website, I use the Run dialog. To do this, open the dialog and just type "www.whatever.com" and press enter.  In seconds, you have just opened your web browser directly to a website without ever using your mouse! A few other run commands you may find useful:
    • calc - opens the calculator.
    • notepad - opens a little notepad to scribble notes.
    • C: - opens your main hard drive.

Internet Shortcuts:

These shortcuts are accepted as a standard, regardless of web browser. However, these are not built into Windows and therefore not global shortcuts. Some tabbed chat programs, such as pidgin, also take advantage of the first two shortcuts.

• Alt+T
  • Opens a new tab.
• Ctrl+W
  • Close a current tab.
• F5
  • Refresh the screen. Useful when a website does not load correctly.
• F11
  • Kiosk/full screen mode. Useful when playing a web game. Hides taskbar from screen.

While these are the most common, there are hundreds (not all cross-compatible). Please visit one of the following pages for more shortcuts for your browser: Internet Explorer, Firefox, or Chrome.

About James Watt

James Watt is currently President of Tech Direct Services, an IT firm located in Pittsburgh, PA. His firm supports numerous clients on various platforms. He has 10+ years of Windows and Linux experience as well as an Associates Degree in Information Technology.