Keyboard Shortcuts for Windows
Have you ever wondered how some people are so much faster using a computer than you are? Were you in awe (and also a bit perplexed) when you stood over their shoulder and saw stuff happening on the computer screen even though they weren’t clicking anything? There are many ways to accomplish a task on a computer, but people who excel at productivity leverage little shortcuts to get more work done in less time. Beginning to use just a few of the common shortcuts could save you an hour or more of needless clicking each week. To help you get started, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite shortcuts.
Text/File Manipulation
You probably already know the basic copy/paste shortcuts. But do you know some of these other helpful productivity tricks?
| CTRL + C | Copies the selected items. |
| CTRL + X | Cuts (moves) the selected items. |
| CTRL + V | Pastes the copied/cut items. |
| CTRL + Shift + V | Pastes the copied/cut items but doesn’t preserve formatting. Are you copying text from a website into a document, but the fonts don’t match? Give this shortcut a try. |
| CTRL + A | Selects/highlights all the contents on the screen, window, or field. Want to select all the files in a folder so you can copy them elsewhere? Give this shortcut a try. |
| CTRL + Click | Allows you to select (or deselect) multiple items in a list. Simply hold CTRL and click each item you want to select or deselect. |
| CTRL + Shift + Click | Allows you to select (or deselect) a series of items in a list. Select the first item in the series you wish to highlight, then use this shortcut to select the last item in the series. Now, all the items in between your two clicks are selected. |
| Shift + → | Selects the text to the right of where the cursor is placed. Tring to click and drag to select a word or sentence but can’t get it to select perfectly? Give this shortcut a try. |
| Shift + ← | Selects the text to the left of where the cursor is placed. |
| CTRL + Z | Undo the previous action. Just make a mistake? This shortcut is a miracle. |
| CTRL + Y | Redo the previous action. |
Text Formatting
Are you constantly clicking formatting buttons to bold, underline, or align text? Check out these handy shortcuts.
| CTRL + B | Increases the selected text font weight to bold. |
| CTRL + U | Underlines the selected text. |
| CTRL + I | Italicizes the selected text. |
| CTRL + E | Centers the selected text. |
| CTRL + L | Aligns the selected text to the left. |
| CTRL + R | Aligns the selected text to the right. |
Window Actions
Want to save some extra clicks when working in different apps and windows? Here are some shortcuts that can help.
| CTRL + + | Increases the text size/zoom in your web browser and other common apps. Having trouble reading the text on a website because it’s too small? Give this a try. |
| CTRL + - | Decreased the text size/zoom in your web browser and other common apps. |
| CTRL + 0 | Returns the text size/zoom back to normal in your web browser and other common apps. |
| CTRL + P | Brings up the Print window for the current app or page. |
| CTRL + F | Brings up the Find window for the current app. Trying to find a keyword somewhere on the page or document? Give this shortcut a try. |
| CTRL + N | Creates a new window or a new file. |
| CTRL + S | Saves the current window or document. |
| CTRL + O | Brings up the Open window where you can open a file in the current app. |
Spreadsheet Actions
Do you live in spreadsheets all day? These shortcuts will surely save you time.
| CTRL + Shift + + | Inserts a new row, column, or cell. |
| CTRL + Shift + - | Deletes the selected row, column, or cell. |
| CTRL + Shift + → | Selects all the cells to the right. |
| CTRL + Shift + ← | Selects all the cells to the left. |
| CTRL + Shift + ↑ | Selects all the cells above. |
| CTRL + Shift + ↓ | Selects all the cells below. |
| Tab | Moves to the next cell. |
| Shift + Tab | Moves to the previous cell. |
List Actions
Do you love creating bulleted or numbered lists? Here are a couple of handy shortcuts.
| Tab | Increase list level/change a bullet to a sub-bullet. |
| Shift + Tab | Decrease list level/change a sub-bullet to a bullet. |
Microsoft Windows Actions
Even Microsoft Windows itself has a few hidden shortcuts nearly everyone can find useful.
| CTRL + Shift + Esc | Opens Task Manager. |
| WIN + L | Locks the screen. |
| ALT + PrintScreen | Takes a screenshot of the current window and saves it to the clipboard. |
| WIN + D | Minimize all windows. |
| ALT + Tab | Shows thumbnails of all open windows and allows you to bring a selected window to the front. Have too many windows open and can’t find what you’re looking for? Give this shortcut a try. |
| WIN + Tab | Opens the virtual desktop manager. Are you working on a single monitor but wish you had more so you could multitask easier? Give virtual desktops a try. |
Click Actions
You didn’t think shortcuts were limited to just the keyboard, did you? Here are a couple of lesser-known click shortcuts.
| Double-click | Select a single word in a string of text or paragraph. |
| Triple-click | Select an entire paragraph. |
