How to Use Computer Shortcut Keys: A Complete Guide to Shortcuts

Whether you’re a PC or Mac user, you’ve likely come across the term “shortcut.” You may not know exactly what it means, but chances are you’ve used one before. Shortcuts are handy shortcuts that allow you to start your work faster and easier.

Shortcuts have been around for a long time, and they have evolved as technology has. Each operating system creates its own set of keyboard shortcuts, and this article will be an easy-to-follow guide on what these shortcut keys are and how to use them. The goal is to make sure that your computer is running at full steam so that it allows for quick access to all the applications on your desktop.

What Are Shortcuts?

Shortcuts are basically actions that can be initiated with a key on your keyboard.

For example, pressing “Ctrl+C” will copy whatever is currently on your clipboard to the computer’s clipboard.

Computer Shortcut Keys – Basic Key

Shortcuts	Work of shortcuts
Alt + F	File menu options in the current program
Alt + E	Edits options in the current program
F1	Universal help (for any sort of program)
Ctrl + A	Selects all text
Ctrl + X	Cuts the selected item
Ctrl + Del	Cut selected item
Ctrl + C	Copy the selected item
Ctrl + Ins	Copy the selected item
Ctrl + V	Paste the selected item
Shift + Ins	Paste the selected item
Home	Takes the user to the start of the current line
Ctrl + Home	Go to the beginning of the document
End	Go to the end of the current line
Ctrl + End	Go to the end of a document
Shift + Home	Highlight from the prevailing position to the start of the line
Shift + End	Highlight from the prevailing position to end of the line
Ctrl + (Left arrow)	Move one term to the left at a time
Ctrl + (Right arrow)	Move one term to the right at a time

Computer Shortcut Keys-MS Word

Shortcuts	Work of shortcuts
Ctrl + B	Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + C	Copy selected text
Ctrl + X	Cut selected text
Ctrl + N	Open new/blank document
Ctrl + O	Open options
Ctrl + P	Open the print window
Ctrl + F	Open find box
Ctrl + I	Italicize highlighted selection
Ctrl + K	Insert link
Ctrl + U	Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + V	Paste
Ctrl + G	Find and replace options
Ctrl + H	Find and replace options
Ctrl + J	Justify paragraph alignment
Ctrl + L	Align selected text or line to the left
Ctrl + Q	Align selected paragraph to the left
Ctrl + E	Align selected text or line to the centre
Ctrl + R	Align selected text or line to the right
Ctrl + M	Indent the paragraph
Ctrl + T	Hanging indent
Ctrl + D	Font options
Ctrl + Shift + F	Change the font
Ctrl + Shift + >	Increase selected font +1
Ctrl + ]	Increase selected font +1
Ctrl + [	Decrease selected font -1
Ctrl + Shift + *	View or hide non printing characters
Ctrl + (Left arrow)	Move one word to the left
Ctrl + (Right arrow)	Move one word to the right
Ctrl + (Up arrow)	Move to the beginning of the line or paragraph
Ctrl + (Down arrow)	Move to the end of the paragraph
Ctrl + Del	Delete the word to the right of the cursor
Ctrl + Backspace	Delete the word to the left of the cursor
Ctrl + End	Move the cursor to the end of the document
Ctrl + Home	Move the cursor to the beginning of the document
Ctrl + Space	Reset highlighted text to the default font
Ctrl + 1	Single-space lines
Ctrl + 2	Double-space lines
Ctrl + 5	1.5-line spacing
Ctrl + Alt + 1	Change text to heading 1
Ctrl + Alt + 2	Change text to heading 2
Ctrl + Alt + 3	Change text to heading 3
Shift + F3	Change case of selected text
Shift + Insert	Paste
F4	Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+)
F7	Spell check selected text and/or document
Shift + F7	Activate the thesaurus
F12	Save as
Ctrl + S	Save
Shift + F12	Save
Alt + Shift + D	Insert the current date
Alt + Shift + T	Insert the current time
Ctrl + W	Close document
Ctrl+=	Set chosen text as a subscript.
Ctrl+Shift+=	Set chosen text as superscript.

Computer Shortcut Keys-Microsoft Windows

Shortcuts	Work of shortcuts
Alt + Tab	Switch between open applications
Alt + Shift + Tab	Switch backwards between open applications
Alt + Print Screen	Create a screenshot for the current program
Ctrl + Alt + Del	Reboot/Windows task manager
Ctrl + Esc	Bring up the start menu
Alt + Esc	Switch between applications on the taskbar
F2	Rename selected icon
F3	Start to find from the desktop
F4	Open the drive selection when browsing
F5	Refresh contents
Alt + F4	Close the current open program
Ctrl + F4	Close window in the program
Ctrl + Plus Key	Automatically set widths of all columns in Windows Explorer
Alt + Enter	Open properties window of selected icon or program
Shift + F10	Simulate right-click on selected item
Shift + Del	Delete programs/files permanently

Computer Shortcut Keys- Powerpoint

Shortcuts	Work of shortcuts
Esc	Exit the slide show and go back to the earlier live view.
Ctrl+K	Enter a hyperlink.
Ctrl+M	Include a new, blank slide after the chosen slide.
Ctrl+N	Open a new, blank slide in a different PowerPoint program window.
CTRL + D	Duplicate the current slide
Ctrl+Shift+>	Increases the chosen text size by one font size.
Ctrl+Shift+<	Decreases the chosen text size by one font size.
CTRL + G	Group things together
F5	Start presentation from the initial slide

Computer Shortcut Keys- MS Excel

Shortcuts	Work of shortcuts
F2	Edit the selected cell
F5	Go to a specific cell
F7	Spell check selected text and/or document
F11	Create chart
Ctrl + Shift +;	Enter the current time
Ctrl +;	Enter the current date
Alt + Shift + F1	Insert new worksheet
Shift + F3	Open the Excel formula window
Shift + F5	Bring up the search box
Ctrl + B	Bold highlighted selection
Ctrl + I	Italicize highlighted selection
Ctrl + D	Fill
Ctrl + K	Insert link
Ctrl + F	Open find and replace options
Ctrl + G	Open go-to options
Ctrl + H	Open find and replace options
Ctrl + U	Underline highlighted selection
Ctrl + Y	Underline selected text
Ctrl + 5	Strikethrough highlighted selection
Ctrl + O	Open options
Ctrl + N	Open new document
Ctrl + P	Open print dialog box
Ctrl + Z	Undo the last action
Ctrl + F9	Minimize current window
Ctrl + F10	Maximize currently selected window
Ctrl + F6	Switch between open workbooks/windows
Ctrl + Page up & Page Down	Move between Excel worksheets in the same document
Ctrl + Tab	Move between two or more open Excel files
Alt + =	Create the formula to sum all of the above cells
Ctrl +	Insert the value of the above cell into the current cell
Ctrl + Shift + !	Format number in comma format
Ctrl + Shift + $	Format number in currency format
Ctrl + Shift + #	Format number in date format
Ctrl + Shift + %	Format number in percentage format
Ctrl + Shift + ^	Format number in scientific format
Ctrl + Shift + @	Format number in time format
Ctrl + (Right arrow)	Move to next section of text
Ctrl + Space	Select entire column
Shift + Space	Select entire row
Ctrl + W	Close document

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Conclusion

Now that you know about shortcuts, let’s see what shortcuts you should be using to make your computer work for you.

In this article, we have given you a list of the most common shortcuts that you should start using on your computer. There are many other shortcuts out there; these are just some of the most important ones. We hope that this article helped you understand how to use computer shortcut keys and put the power back in your hands!