Everything we do in life we always strive to find a quicker way, and Microsoft Office is no different. Each individual software has its own unique shortcuts, but there are a few which can be applied across the entire suite of programs. In this post we are going to look at introducing people to the basic shortcuts. They will be easy to learn and understand. Once you master the simple shortcuts, you can then focus on the more complex and program specific shortcuts.
Shortcuts are usually performed by using a combination of two or more keys on the keyboard. There are some shortcuts that use more keys but at that point you have to question if they are actually a shortcut and if it would be quicker to just do it the normal way.
The first shortcut we are going to look at is the “NEW” shortcut.
This creates a new document/ spreadsheet/ presentation/ page or whatever other task you are performing.
The new shortcut is performed by using the CTRL + N keys on the keyboard. I’l explain this one a bit more and the rest will explain them. So the CTRL stands for the Control Key, its located at the bottom left corner of the keyboard (if you are using a Apple Mac you use the command key instead of CTRL). The plus + sign just means ‘and” and then the N is simply just the N key on the keyboard, so in this case you need to press the control key and the N key at the same time. You want to make sure that you are only pressing the N Key once as holding it down or pressing more than once will create multiple new items
The second shortcut is actually a set of shortcuts, its Cut, Copy and Paste.
The Keys used for this shortcut are as follows: Remember if you are using a Mac, its command instead of CTRL.
Cut is CTRL + X
Copy is CTRL + C
Paste is CTRL + V
Once the text is selected you can press CTRL + X or CTRL + C and it will cut or copy it depending on the shortcut you used. You can then use the paste shortcut to paste the newly copied text to a particular location.
Next shortcut is the “Select All” shortcut.
Using CTRL + A will select all the text/items on your page. This can be used if you want to select all the text in a document. If there is 40 pages of text it will select all 40 pages, allowing you to change text/font type of the entire document.
This Shortcut is probably the one I use most, its the undo shortcut. and we us CTRL + Z for this.
if you can get into the habit of using the undo shortcut as soon as you make an error, it will speed up your work more than anything else. Using undo will simply undo the last action you performed.
The last shortcut we are going to look at is the Find command or CTRL + F.
This command will allow you to search for any text in a document or spreadsheet. It will save you time when trying to locate a piece of text in your document.
As you will see all of these shortcuts are using a combination of only two keys, in my opinion anything more starts to pose the question if it is actually quicker to use the original way, there are more specific shortcuts that can be used in programs but if you can get these five sets of shortcuts in your repertoire it will greatly increase your productivity.
Share with your friends so we can all be more productive.
