Typing
There are a vast amount of typing shortcuts available to you in the Windows environment for use in word processors and many other programmes. Until recently, I was unaware of how many people don know about these shortcuts and do everything the long-way round!
I have compiled a list of what I believe to be the most useful keyboard shortcuts to help you when you type:
Control and Alt...
Control (Ctrl) is the key found at the bottom-left of the keyboard. Alt is two keys away from Ctrl. Hold down the first keys and press the second to achieve the given shortcut:
| Keys | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Ctrl-B | This turns on/off the BOLD text |
| Ctrl-I | This turns on/off the italicised text |
| Ctrl-U | This turns on/off the underlined text |
| Ctrl-C | This copies selected text* so it can be used again with paste |
| Ctrl-V | This pastes (duplicates) any copied text* onto the selected area |
| Ctrl-X | This is similar to copy but deletes the original text* |
| Ctrl-A | Selects everything |
| Ctrl-Z | Undoes your last action |
| Ctrl-P | This calls the Print command |
| Ctrl-S | This calls the Save command |
| Ctrl-Alt-Delete | This is very useful. It brings up the Task Manager and shows you all the programs that are running on your machine and they can be closed from here if they crash |
| Ctrl-Left/Right | Moves the cursor along one word at a time instead of one character at a time |
| Keys | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Alt-tab | Tab is the -->| key on the left hand side of the keyboard. This combination shows a list of icons representing the programs that you are running and pressing tab while still holding Alt allows you to easily switch between them |
Single keys
There are some keys on the keyboard that people seldom use but which can be very helpful. Heres a description of how to use some of them:
| Key | Outcome |
|---|---|
| Home | This sends the cursor to the start of the current line of text |
| End | This sends the cursor to the end of the current line of text |
| Page Up | This moves the document up by one screen |
| Page Down | This moves the document down by one screen |
| Print Screen | This takes a snap-shot of your screen and copies it. This can be pasted the same way as text |