A “hot key” is a shortcut on your keyboard that makes typing and editing faster. They are usually made up of a combination of two keys which you press at the same time. The following are a list of tricks to use with Microsoft Office. At first it may seem more difficult to use Hotkeys because it will take a while to remember which keys do what, but once you get the hang of them they really can make life a lot easier.
Editing Hotkeys
There are a number of short-cuts to use with MS Word, Publisher and internet web pages which help to make editing text quicker. When you copy/paste, most people use the mouse to highlight or select the text and then right click and select “copy” or “paste”. Others will select the text with the mouse and then choose from the “Edit” menu.
The following Hotkeys can also help. Hold down the first key then press the second one:
- Ctrl + a: Select all the text on a page.
- Ctrl + b, i or u: Make text bold, italic or underlined.
- Shift + one of the directional arrow keys: Selects text in that direction (left, right, up or down).
- Ctrl + c: Copy selected text.
- Ctrl + v: Paste selected text.
- Ctrl + z: Undo
- Ctrl + y: Redo
- Ctrl + s: Saves document.
Using Ctrl + x will copy and delete at the same time. If you select a line or paragraph and hit ctrl + x the selected text will disappear. If you then place your cursor where you want to insert that text and hit ctrl + v to paste, it will reappear where you want it.
F Keys
A number of the F keys along the top of your keyboard also have useful functions in MS Word. The most notable are:
- F7: Launches the spellchecker.
- Shift + F7: Launches the thesaurus.
F5: Opens a clever box of tricks that allows you to “go to” any page number or “find” any word in your document or webpage. It also allows you to “replace” words, so if you’ve typed a story and all through you have consistently misspelled Catheryn as Cathiryn you can “replace” every Cathiryn with Catheryn in one click. It will even tell you how many replacements it has made. Ctrl + f also opens this function. If you are browsing the internet F5 usually refreshes or reloads the page.
Other Useful Hotkeys
Another useful key is the Windows key which is often along the bottom left of your keyboard and looks like the Windows logo.
- Windows Key on its own: opens the Start menu with a list of programmes and the shutdown option for your computer.
- Windows Key + m: Automatically reduces all windows that are open and displays your desktop. This is useful if you are in the middle of typing but need to jump to the desktop to open another programme. Everything that is open will remain open in tabs usually along the bottom of the screen, click on them to maximise. Sometimes when you use this command it doesn’t work which usually means you haven’t got any windows selected – it is a quirk, simply click once on the screen in front of you and try again.
- Alt + f: opens the “File” menu. Alt + f and then p takes you into the print options, Alt + f and then a (for "save As") takes you into the save options.
