Keyboard shortcuts play a crucial role in our ongoing effort to become more time-efficient. Therefore, we decided to highlight over 30 keyboard shortcuts that you simply must know! In case we missed an important one, make sure you let us know in the comments below, the forum, or via the social networks.
Windows operating system
Shift + delete – bypasses the recycle bin and directly deletes the file from the computer. You would, then, have to use a separate program to recover the files, but only if you have not written over the data on the hard drive.
Ctrl + Shift + N – Creates a new folder
Windows Key + L – Immediately locks the desktop
Windows Key + D – Minimizes all open windows
Windows Key + Up arrow – Maximizes windows
Alt + F4 – Closes the window in which you are currently working
Ctrl + Shift + Esc – Opens the Task Manager. TM is extremely useful if an application freezes or if you want to check on the running processes
Microsoft Office Suite
A quick reminder that there are numerous free and highly efficient alternatives to Microsoft Office. Find out all about them right here!
Ctrl + S – Saves the document
Ctrl + B – Bolds highlighted text
Ctrl + A – Selects all text or other objects in the document
Ctrl + C – Copies any selected text or another object.
Ctrl + V – Pastes any text or another object that has been previously copied.
Ctrl + U – Underlines selected text.
Ctrl + Z – Undoes any action.
Microsoft Word
F7 – Runs a spell check on the selected word(s).
F4 – Repeats the last performed action
Shift + F3 – Changes the text from uppercase to lowercase or vice-versa
Ctrl + Backspace – Instantly deletes the entire pre-written word
Alt + Shift + D – Inserts date
Microsoft Excel
Shift + Spacebar – Selects the entire row
Ctrl + Spacebar – Selects the entire column
Ctrl + 1 – Changes the format of the selected cells
Shift + F11 – Inserts a macro sheet
Microsoft PowerPoint
Ctrl + M – Inserts a new slide
Ctrl + D – Duplicates the current side
Ctrl + G or Ctrl + Shift + G – Groups items, and vice-versa.
Ctrl + Spacebar – Removes manual character formatting
Chrome browser
Ctrl + T – Opens a new tab
Ctrl + Shift + T – Reopens the last tab you have closed. Repeat the combination to open multiple tabs you have recently closed
Ctrl + Shift + N – Opens a new window in incognito (private) mode, which is useful if you want to browse without leaving any trace in the history section
Ctrl + D –Marks a page as a favorite, or, in other words, it adds a bookmark for the currently opened page
Ctrl + R – Refreshes the current page
Ctrl + L – Moves the cursor to the address bar and highlights everything in it
Ctrl + F – Lets you search the page for text
