What are keyboard shortcuts?
When working on a computer, you can use combinations of keystrokes to perform certain actions. This has several advantages: If you are working on a keyboard anyway, you don’t have to move a hand to grab your mouse and click one or several times – you can just keep typing away. And if you don’t have a mouse, the keyboard shortcuts can be more accurate and easier to manage than a laptop touchpad. Nowadays, when we often work in several different applications and browsers, there are also some near-universal key combinations that save us from having to search the menus in each program – like the keyboard shortcuts for copy and paste.
Top ten useful keyboard shortcuts
The following shortcuts will save you time and effort in almost any application on your PC, from a web browser to a word processing program:
Search:
Ctrl+F
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Whether you need to find something in a document or on a website, pressing Ctrl (which stand for “Control”) + F will open a search field where you can enter your search term. The location of the search box will vary depending on the application – in most web browsers, for instance, it appears in the lower left corner.
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Screenshot:
Prt Sc
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The “Print Screen” key is usually located in the upper right of your keyboard and abbreviated as “Prt Sc” or similar. To take a screenshot of whatever page you are currently on, simply hit this key and a selection tool will appear for you to mark the area you want to screenshot. Other options include printing the selected area, or copying it to your clipboard so you can paste it in another program.
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Select all:
Ctrl + A |
Sometimes you’d like to mark all of the text in a document or on a webpage so you can perform an action like copying or formatting. Ctrl + A lets you select everything without having to mouse through it all.
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Select text:
Shift + ←/→/↑/↓
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Want to select specific words or paragraphs without reaching for your mouse? Position your cursor where you want to start, hold down the Shift key, and use the arrow keys to move around the page marking the text.
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Copy & Paste:
Ctrl+C / Ctrl+V
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Once you have used one of the options above to select your text, you can copy it to your clipboard by pressing Ctrl+C, and paste it again in the desired location with Ctrl+V. If the application you are using allows you to remove text, you can also cut out your selected text by pressing Ctrl+X and it will also go to your clipboard for pasting.
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Save:
Ctrl+S |
In most applications, you don’t have to look for the right button or menu to save your work – just use the keystrokes Ctrl+S
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Undo/redo:
Ctrl+Z / Ctrl+Y
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If you make a mistake in almost any application, you can undo your last action by keying Ctrl+Z. Hit that combination as many times as you need to get things back the way you want them. Went too far or changed your mind? Redo your action with Ctrl+Y.
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Zoom in/out:
Ctrl +/-
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Having problems reading the fine print? In most web browsers, you can zoom in by holding down the Ctrl key and tapping the + key until the view has been enlarged to your satisfaction. Zoom back out using Ctrl and the - key.
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Shift between applications:
Alt+Tab
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Press Alt+Tab to see all the applications you currently have open. Keep the Alt key depressed and press Tab to shift from one to the next. Let go of both keys when you have arrived at the application you were looking for. |
Go to top/bottom of page:
Ctrl+Home/End |
Reached the end of a webpage and want to go back to the top? Need to jump to the very end of your document? Press Ctrl plus the Home key to return to the top, Ctrl plus the End key to land at the bottom.
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Pro tip: There are also keyboard shortcuts to boost your productivity in your mail.com email account. For instance,
Shift+S will send an email straight to your Spam folder, while
Shift+A will let you reply to it. And when composing an email, you can use a lot of your favorite formatting shortcuts from MS Word, like
Ctrl+U (underline),
Ctrl+B (boldface), or
Ctrl+K (add a hyperlink).
We hope we taught you at least one new keyboard shortcut today! We look forward to your feedback below.
