KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS

ESSENTIAL WINDOWS SHORTCUTS

Most of the following keyboard shortcuts are universal and will work in and across most Windows programs, as well as the different versions of Microsoft’s operating system. You’ll probably know some of these but it’s always handy to be reminded of their usefulness.


F1
Get help

If you need help in Windows, or assistance with a particular program, hit this key to bring up the relevant support option. The results vary depending on what program you’re using because some software doesn’t have dedicated help pages. If pressing F1 doesn’t do anything, make sure the Function lock on the keyboard is on.





F2
Rename items

Trying to rename items can often lead to launching them instead. Select a file or folder, press the F2 key and you’ll be able to rename that item instantly.


F5
Refresh your view

Refreshes the currently selected window or web page. Useful for example, if  you’ve added a file to a folder but the view hasn’t updated for some reason.




F10
Open menu options

This function key activates the menu bar options. Press F10 followed by any underlined letter (T for Tools for example) to open that menu. Alt does the same thing.

Shift+F10
View right-click menu

Select a file or folder, and press this keyboard combination to view the context menu. It’s the keyboard equivalent of right-clicking an item.

Ctrl+C
Copy content

Along with Ctrl+V, this shortcut is one of the most useful to know. Select anything – some text or a file on the Desktop for example – and hit these two buttons to copy the content to the Windows clipboard.

Ctrl+X
Cut content

This works in the same way as Ctrl +C except it moves the selected item to the clipboard instead of copying it.

Ctrl+V
Paste content

Used in conjunction with Ctrl+C/Ctrl+X, this shortcut will paste the copied content to wherever your cursor is positioned.

Ctrl+Z
Undo action

When you make a mistake in an application, this keyboard combination will undo the last action. Keep hitting Z while holding down the Control key and consecutive actions will continue to undo.

Ctrl+Y
Redo action

If you undo an action using Ctrl+Z but then change your mind, press these buttons to replace what you’ve undone.


Ctrl+A
Select all

This shortcut will select all the items in a folder, or all the text/graphics in a document or on a web page.






Alt+Tab
Switch between windows

Hold down Alt and hit the Tab key to open the Windows program switcher. With Al t still pressed, keep tapping Tab to move through the list of open windows. Let go of the keys when you reach the application you want.

Ctrl+Windows key+Tab
Switch between windows in 3D

Flip 3D is an alternative task switcher available in Windows 7 and Vista (provided you’re running Aero). Tap Tab to flick through the open windows i n 3D.

Ctrl+Alt+Del
Restart Windows

Known as the three-fingered salute, this shortcut can be used to restart Windows, launch the Task Manager, lock the computer, switch users and change your password.

Alt+F4
Close program

This shortcut saves you having to move your mouse to click the red ‘x’ in the top-right corner of the window.

Ctrl+F4
Close window

Useful if you have several different documents open in a program and want to close one of them.

Shift+Delete
Delete file permanently

Bypass the Recycle Bin by holding down Shift when you delete an unwanted file or folder.

Alt+F6
Switch between program windows

Lets you switch between multiple windows in the same program. If you have more than one instance of your
web browser open, for example.

Alt+Enter
View Properties

Select a file or folder and then use this combination to open the Properties box for it.

Windows key+R
Launch Run

Opens the Run box, which lets you launch system features such as the Registry Editor (by typing in ‘regedit’  without the quotes) and the System Configuration Utility (by typing in ‘msconfig’ – without the quotes).

Windows key+E
Launch Windows Explorer

If your keyboard has a Windows key, pressing this combination will launch Windows Explorer.

Windows key+D
View Desktop

A useful shortcut for when you need quick access to the Desktop. Press it once and Windows will instantly minimise all the open programs and folders. Press it again to restore them.

ADVANCED WINDOWS SHORTCUTS 

There are shortcuts for most Windows tasks, including plenty you may not even be aware of. Here are some of the lesser-know time-savers.
 

Ctrl+Shift+Esc
Close programs

The Windows Task Manager gives you access to some useful information and lets you close unresponsive programs. You can launch it by right-clicking the Taskbar and selecting Start Task Manager, but thi s keyboard combination i s a much quicker alternative.
 

Shift x5
Turn on Sticky Keys

Press the Shift key five times in quick succession to activate the Sticky Keys function. This feature is designed to make it easier to use the keyboard with one hand because key combinations can be entered one key at a time, rather than being held down simultaneously.
 

Alt+Windows key+Enter
Launch Windows Media Center

Press these three keys together to launch the Windows Media Center in Vista or Windows 7. Press Alt+F4 to close the program and return to your Desktop. 


Alt+Shift+Num Lock
Turn on Mouse Keys

Mouse Keys lets you control your mouse pointer using the numeric keypad on your keyboard. You can toggle the feature on or off using this shortcut.
 

Windows key+Shift+Left/Right
Move between monitors

This is a useful shortcut for anyone running dual monitors in Windows 7 or Vista. Select a window and press the shortcut to move i t from one screen to the other.


WEB BROWSER SHORTCUTS

Most of the following browser shortcuts will work in Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome and can significantly speed up your online tasks.
 

Ctrl+T
Open tab

Opens a new tab in your browser.
 

Ctrl+W
Close tab

Automatically closes the current tab.
 

Ctrl+Shift+T
Reopen tab

If you close a tab by mistake, use this shortcut to open it again.
 

Ctrl+Alt+F4
Close all but one tab

This Internet Explorer-only shortcut closes all open tabs with the exception of the one you’re viewing.
 

Ctrl+Tab
Switch tab

Jump from one open tab to another without needing to click each one individually.
 

Ctrl+1-9
Select tab 1 to 9

Hold down Ctrl and press the relevant number to jump to a specific open tab. For example, Ctrl+3 will open the third tab from the left.
 

Ctrl+Shift+Q
View tab list

Displays your open tabs in a list – useful if you’ve got so many open that you can no longer see which pages they contain.
 

Ctrl+F
Find

If you’re looking for a word or phrase on a web page, this shortcut calls up the Find box. Enter your search term to find instances of it on the page. The same shortcut also works in Microsoft Office.
 

Alt+N
Find next

Once you’ve found a searched-for word with Find, this shortcut skips through every instance of it on the page. This only works in Firefox.
 

Ctrl+L
Address bar/Open

Moves the focus to the address bar in Firefox and Chrome and highlights the current URL. In Internet Explorer, it will display the Open box.
 

Ctrl+I
View bookmarks

Opens your Bookmarks in Firefox and Favorites in Internet Explorer. There is no equivalent shortcut in Chrome.
 

Ctrl+H
View History

Opens your browsing history so you can access sites you’ve visited previously.
 

Ctrl+D
Bookmark page

Lets you bookmark the web page you are viewing.


Space
Scroll down

Press Space on a website to scroll down the screen one page at a time. Press Shift+Space to scroll upwards.
 

Ctrl+Enter
Complete web address

Type a website’s name into the Address bar and hit the keyboard combo. This adds ‘http://www’ to the start of the address and ‘.com’ to the end of it. For another variation, try Ctrl+Shift+Enter. This will add a preset (and possibly different) suffix. You can change the suffix in Firefox using the add-on URL suffix.
 

Ctrl++
Zoom

Hold down Ctrl and press the ‘+’ key to zoom in. Press ‘-’ to zoom out again.
 

Ctrl+Shift+P
Browse in Private

Turns on In Private Browsing in IE and Private Browsing in Firefox. This stops the browser storing your web activities.
 

Ctrl+F5
Hard refresh

This causes your browser to reload a page and download all the elements again instead of simply pulling them from the cache. This means you get the most recent version of the page, with the latest content, rather than a stored one.
 

Esc
Stop

Stops the current page from loading and freezes animated GIFs so you don’t have to wait for every element of the page to load when you only want to check a certain part.
 

Alt+Home
Go Home

Loads your choice of browser homepage in the current tab.
 

Ctrl+J
View downloads or feeds

Opens the download manager in Firefox and Chrome, or the RSS web feeds list in Internet Explorer.
 

F7
Launch Caret Browsing

Turns on Caret Browsing in Firefox and Internet Explorer (not Chrome). This means that instead of browsing web pages with your mouse, you can place a cursor on the web page and navigate around the text using the arrow keys on your keyboard. It’s particularly useful if you suffer from usability issues because it takes the pressure off your wrist. 


GMAIL SHORTCUTS 

Google’s web mail service (http://mail.google.com) supports keyboard shortcuts. You can turn them on or off by going to Settings, checking Keyboard Shortcuts under the General tab and clicking Save Changes.
 

C
Compose

Press the C key while in any mailbox to open the Compose Mail window.
 

Shift+C
Compose in new window

Use this shortcut to open the Compose Mailbox in a new window. You’llne ed to allow pop-ups for Gmail for this work.
 

R
Reply

When you’ve finished reading a message, hit the R key to reply to the sender.
 

A
Reply to all

If you’d prefer to reply to all, hit the letter A instead and your message will be addressed to everyone in the thread.
 

F
Forward

You can forward a message to someone by pressing F and then entering the recipients’ addresses in the To: box.
 

/
Search

To find a message in your Inbox, hit the forward-slash key to jump to the search bar and then start typing a
sender’s name, or part of the message subject or content.
 

!
Send to Spam folder

If a piece of junk mail makes it through to your Inbox, select it and hit the exclamation mark key to move it to the spam folder.
 

S
Star conversation

To star a conversation for later viewing, select it and press S. If you have the Superstars Labs feature enabled (you can find this in the Labs section), repeatedly tapping the key will cycle through the available star icons.
 

Y
Remove from view

Select one or more emails and press Y to archive them (this removes them from your Inbox, but they’ll still be accessible in AllMail ). The shortcut can also be used to remove a star when you’re in the Starred mailbox.
 

M
Mute

This mutes a conversation. It will archive the thread and prevent future replies appearing in the Inbox unless expressly sent to you.
 

+
Mark

If you’re using the Priority Inbox feature, you can use this shortcut to mark any email as important.
 

-
Unmark

Similarly, if Gmail promotes an insignificant message in Priority Inbox, you can demote its standing using the
minus key.
 

#
Delete

Select a message and hit hash to delete it. The key can al so be used to remove unwanted contacts.
 

G+S
Go to Starred

Press G and then S to go to the Starred mailbox. This wills how all the messages you’ve marked with a star.
 

G+C
Go to Contacts

This will display your saved contacts. You’ll be able to import, export or edit them.
 

Tab+Enter
Send message

Once you’ve composed a message, press these two keys in sequence to send it.
 

?
View shortcuts

There are loads more shortcuts for Gmail. To see them all, hit the questionmark
button (shift+/) and they’ll appear in a smart overlay window.


GOOGLE READER SHORTCUTS

Google’s RSS reader (www.google.com/reader) also supports keyboard shortcuts. The following shortcuts make using the service, and sharing items with friends, much easier.
 

J/K
Navigate items

These keys step you through items one at a time. J takes you to older stories and K up to newer ones.
 

E
Email item

When you see a story you like, press this key to email the summary and link to your friends. Just enter their addresses and an optional note.
 

Shift+S
Share item

You can share an item that interests you through Reader. Anyone who is fol lowing you will be able to see and comment on it. You’ll be able to add a comment of your own too.

Shift+D
Annotate and share

This combination lets you add a note to a story and optionally add it to your shared items (with or without tags)


OFFICE SHORTCUTS

The following keyboard shortcuts work in the Microsoft Office (http://office.microsoft.com) programs Word and Excel. Some will also work in OpenOffice.org (www.openoffice.org).
 

Ctrl+N
Open new

Creates a blank document in a new window. This will use your default template settings.
 

Ctrl+O
Open saved

Lets you open a previously saved document. Automatically opens the last folder you saved to.
 

Ctrl+S 
Save
Saves the document you have open. If it hasn’t been saved before, you’ll be prompted to enter a name for the file. This keyboard shortcut also works in Gmail.
 

Ctrl+B
Bold

Select some text and then press this key combination to bold it. Press it again to remove the formatting.
 

Ctrl+I
Italicise

Select some text and then press this key combination to italicise it.
 

Ctrl+U
Underline

Select some text and then press this key combination to underline it.
 

Ctrl+K
Insert link

Use this keyboard combination to post a hyperlink into a Word document. You can choose the text to display.
 

Shift+F3
Change case

Select one or more words and use this shortcut to change the case, cycling through sentence, upper and lower case.
 

Ctrl+[ or ]
Change size

Select some text and use this keyboard combination to increase or decrease the size of it in one-point steps.
 

Ctrl+Shift+E
View changes

Turns on the revision m arks feature so you can see what changes have been made to a document.
 

Ctrl+P
Print

Opens the print window. This shortcut also works in web browsers and any other program with a print feature.
 

Shift+End then Delete
Delete section

A handy shortcut you can use to delete part of a line of text. Position your cursor at the point you want to keep and press Shift+End to select the unwanted section, and then hit Delete (or Backspace) to remove it.
 

F7
Spell check

Hit this function key and Word will run a spelling and grammar check using the default dictionary.
 

Shift+F7
Use the thesaurus

Select a word and then press these two keys to look it up in the program’s built-in thesaurus.
 

Ctrl+Space
Remove formatting

Select some text and use this shortcut to remove any formatting from it (bold, italics, hyperlinks and so on). The text will also revert back to the default typeface.
 

Alt+Ctrl+S
Split window

Splits the window so you can view different parts of a long document or complicated spreadsheet at the same time. To remove the split window, press Alt+Shift+C.
 

Ctrl+;
Insert date

Select a blank cell in Excel and press this keyboard combination to insert the current date.
 

Ctrl+Shift+;
Insert time

As with the above shortcut, select a blank cell and press this keyboard combination to enter the urrent time.
 

Ctrl+9
Hide data

You can hide rows of data in Excel if you want to keep them private from anyone nearby with this simple keyboard shortcut. Just click on a cell in the row, and press the key combo. The data will still be there, just hidden.
 

Ctrl+Shift+9
Unhide data

Once you’ve hidden a row, you may want to see it again at some point. Click and drag to select the rows either side of the hidden one (you can select as m any rows as you like, which is useful if you can’t rem em ber exactly where the hidden one is), then hit this shortcut.

  
MAC OS X SHORTCUTS

Many of these Windows shortcuts will work on Macs – just use the Apple key (Command) instead of Ctrl. but there are also plenty of keyboard shortcuts specific to OS X.
 

Apple+Shift +Option+Delete
Empty Trash

If you want to empty the Trash, use this keyboard combination and it will clear out your unwanted files without prompting you for confirmation first.
 

Apple+Shift+Option+Esc
Force quit

If you’re having problems with a misbehaving application that refuses to go quietly, use this keyboard shortcut to force it to quit, no confirmation required.


Apple+Option+Y
View photo slideshow

You can view photos on your hard disk in a full-screen slideshow by selecting them and hitting this shortcut. You’ll need to be running OS X 10.5 or later.
 

Apple+Shift+U
Open Utilities

Use this handy shortcut to open the Utilities folder. This contains such useful tools as screen-grabbing program Grab, voice-control tool Voice over Utility and Activity Monitor.
 

Apple+Shift+Option+Q
Log out

You can initiate an immediate force log-out using this keyboard combo. You won’t need to confirm the action.


LINUX SHORTCUTS  

The following shortcuts are all for Ubuntu – the most popular version of Linux for home users – but they will work in other distros of the open-source operating system, too.
 

Alt+F1
Launch Applications

Hit this key combination too pen the Applications menu, which gives you access to all your programs, games and multimedia.
 

Ctrl+Alt+T
Open terminal window

Hit this key combination to bring up the Linux console so you can enter commands.
 

Ctrl+Alt+Left/Right
Navigate work spaces

This handy shortcut lets you quickly step your way through the four available work spaces.
 

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Left/Right
Move window

Moves the selected window one workspace to the left or right.
 

Alt+F10
Maximise window

This shortcut maximises an open window. You can restore it to its original size by pressing Alt+F5. }




Source: Wayne Williams
  
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