COMPUTER TRAINING ON-CALL  (773) 975-8020
 100 TOP SOFTWARE SHORTCUTS
 USED BY COMPUTER PROS
How Many
15 THE  TOP FIFTEEN
10 THE  NEXT TEN
40 MS WORD
12 MS EXCEL
8 INTERNET EXPLORER
5 MS OUTLOOK
10 CAUTIONARY SHORTCUTS
100 TOTAL
 TOP  15  -- learn these first!
# SHORTCUT EFFECT
1   CTRL + S   Saves file. Saves invisibly to an established name.   Will not give a dialog box unless this is the first save for this file. In that case, it gives the Save As dialog box.
2   CTRL + A   Selects all text in a file (for formatting or deleting) or all files in a list within an open window (for copying, etc.).
3   CTRL + Z   Undo.  The number of successive Undo's available varies with the software, and sometimes with software defaults. You get hundreds of successive Undo steps in Word, only 16 in Excel, and up to 99 in Visio (you set the number in Tools-->Options).  File operations like Save and Open cannot be undone (but a  Copy/Paste of an entire file  can be Undone).  To Redo steps you have Undone, use CTRL+Y in most software from Microsoft.
4   CTRL + O   Starts Open File dialog.  If you Ctrl/click or Shift/click on groups of files in the file list, they will all open at the same time when you click Open.
5   CTRL + P   Starts Print dialog.  Usually you can just press ENTER to print your document, accepting the defaults.  Or, type a number to fill in the number of desired copies, then press ENTER to print.
6   CTRL + C   Copies selection to invisible clipboard.  This includes either selected text or filenames.
7   CTRL + X   Cuts selection to invisible clipboard.  In Word, the cut material disappears until pasted.  In Excel, it just marquees (is surrounded by crawling dots) until pasted.  
8   CTRL + V   Pastes.
9   CTRL + N   Starts a new file and pancakes it open on top of the one you're looking at.
10   ALT   Closes all levels of open menus at once.
11   ESC   Closes open menus one level at a time.
12   CTRL + F4   Close current file.
13   ALT +  F4   Close current program or window.
14 ALT + TAB (repeated) Switches from one open window to another. showing the name of the window that will display when you let the keys go.  To cycle in the reverse direction, press   SHIFT / ALT / TAB.
15   When you want to select a file by name -- on the Desktop, in a list, or in a window -- and you want to use the mouse, click the icon picture for the file, not the file name.  Otherwise, you may go into edit mode on the file name (if that happens, press ESC).
TEN   MORE! -- learn these next.
# SHORTCUT EFFECT
1   Press WINDOWS button (between CTRL and ALT) Opens Start menu in Windows.
2   CTRL + HOME In most software, jumps to top-left position in file.
3   CTRL + END   In most software, jumps to bottom-right  position in file.
4   File-->Save As dialog box   When the File-->Save As dialog box opens, you generally see a highlighted suggestion for the file name already in place.  You can accept this suggestion and proceed.  But if you want to replace it, you do not need to click the name: it is already highlighted.  Simply TYPE in your preference; the highlighted name will be replaced.
5   SHIFT + arrow key   Highlights text or cells in direction of the arrow key.  "SHIFT" preserves highlighting.  You can hold SHIFT and then press an Arrow Key and you highlight FURTHER in the direction of the arrow key.  Pressing the opposite Arrow Key while holding SHIFT will DE-highlight.  You also can mouse-click when holding SHIFT to extend or diminish highlighting.                                                     
6   Tricks using the SHIFT key   What tricks does the Shift key do?    MANY!                        1  Holding it gives an alternate menu in Word and Excel, when you click File (Close All, Save All).                                                         2  Holding it redirects file delete to bypass the Recycle Bin and to simply delete (caution: this cannot be Undone!) .    You confirm Deletion and the file is gone.                                                                                     3  If you have windows for several folders open that are nested (e.g., My Computer--> C:--> Windows--Temp, etc.),  hold SHIFT as you click the "X" to close the innermost window, and ALL the windows close.                                                                 4  When you use TAB to move from cell to cell in a table or in a web page's cutouts, and hold down SHIFT, you will move in the opposite direction.                                       5  Holding it upon first drawing a shape or line squares up the object.
7   TAB   IN MS WORD, jumps from tab stop to tab stop.  (to reverse, use Backspace key).                                                IN A TABLE, jumps from cell to cell. In the final lowest right cell, pressing TAB creates the next table row.  To reserve direction, use SHIFT/TAB.                                                        IN A DIALOG BOX OR ON A WEB SITE, jumps to areas that can be filled in or responded to, one after another (to reverse direction, use SHIFT/TAB).
8   ALT + ESC (repeated)   Cycles directly between all  open windows.  Does not show any windows that have been minimized (if you cycle to one of these, press ENTER to restore the window to view).
9   ALT + underlined letter in a menu word Drops down that menu.
10   CTRL + F6   Cycles between open files in the current application.  In Excel, you can use the more convenient CTRL+TAB.
WORD -- popular shortcuts
Most of these shortcuts work in virtually all  Microsoft office software
# SHORTCUT EFFECT
1   F1 Opens Help.
2   F3 Pastes AutoText entry after its name has been typed.
3   F4 Repeats last action. Use to repeat pasting or after closing FIND box, to keep jumping to a character string.
4   F5 Opens Go To.  Type page number, press ENTER. 
5   F7   Spellchecks
6   Shift + F7   Opens Thesaurus
7   F8   Freezes "select" -- has same effect as though you were holding down SHIFT without letting up.  F8 toggles on and off.  Use this on text AFTER you have entered it.
8   F9 Refreshes highlighted fields.
9   F12 Opens SAVE AS dialog box
10   HOME Jumps to front of line.
11   SHIFT + HOME Highlight to beginning of line
12   END Jumps to end of line.
13   SHIFT + END Highlights to end of line
14   ESC Gets you out of Full Screen view (you get there by clicking View-->Full Screen.
15   CTRL + l, r arrow Jumps ahead or back a word at a time.
16   CTRL + u, d arrow Jumps up or down one paragraph at a time.
17   CTRL + B Bolds selection
18   CTRL + D Opens font formatting box
19   CTRL + E Centers selection
20   CTRL+ F Opens FIND dialog box.  Type string, press ENTER.
21   CTRL + G Opens GO TO box.  Type page number, press ENTER.
22   CTRL + H Opens FIND / REPLACE version of FIND box.
23   CTRL + I Italicizes selection.
24   CTRL + J Fully justifies selection.
25   CTRL + K Opens HYPERLINK box and formats the selected material as hypertext.
26   CTRL + L Left justifies selection.
27   CTRL + M Indents selection on both left and right sides.
28   CTRL + R Right justifies selection.
29   CTRL + T Puts hanging indent in current paragraph.
30   CTRL + U Underlines selection.
31   CTRL + W Closes MS Word.
32   CTRL + Backspace Deletes one word to the left.
33   CTRL + 1 Single-spaces current paragraph or selection.
34   CTRL + 5 Line spaces 1.5 for current paragraph or selection.
35   CTRL+ 2 Double-space current paragraph or selection.
36   CTRL + any letter Runs macro associated to that letter.
37   Double-click in text Selects current word.
38   Triple-click in text Selects current paragraph.
39 Triple-click to left of document area Selects entire document (alternately: CTRL + click in same left margin area, where mouse points right).
40   ALT + drag down      with mouse Selects a vertical patch.
EXCEL -- time savers
# SHORTCUT EFFECT
1   "Views" Like MS Word, Excel also has two main "Views".  Besides "Normal" view, there is a handy "Page Break Preview".
2   CTRL + TAB Cycles amongst your open files in Excel.  This is also handy in AOL for cycling through open windows and in MS Access for cycling among open objects.
3   CTRL + PgUp or          PgDn In Excel:  Cycles among tabs within a file.  In a dialog box like Tools--Options: cycles among the folders showing in the box.
4   CTRL + ~ Toggles to display formulas (versus values) in cells where they exist.
5   SHIFT + Spacebar   Selects current row.
6   CTRL + Spacebar   Selects current column.
7   Home   Jumps to leftmost cell in a row.
8 If you use Excel to organize text data, the easiest way to find a given row is to use CTRL+F and search for a character string.  You don't have to scroll down long pages of rows looking for a unique item.  Let Excel find it for you.
9   Right-Click on the folder navigation buttons in the lower left area of the screen Lists names of your worksheet folders that are part of your file.  This is especially helpful if these names are long and do not display fully in the default folder display.
10 Sometimes, extraneous data forces a file's printout to print too many blank pages.  When this happens, look at the file in Print Preview.  Page down to find pages with just a few characters on them and reposition those characters.
11   The mouse point in Excel has 5 shapes -- they each do something different.  Be sure to distinguish between the shapes.  
12   When you highlight over a group of cells, their SUM displays automatically in your lower right corner of the status bar.  You can change which function displays regarding the cells by right-clicking that result and choosing another function.
INTERNET EXPLORER-- web surfing shortcuts
# SHORTCUT EFFECT
1   F5 Refresh current page from its source again.
2   F11 Toggle between full screen and normal size.
3   ESC Stops current load.
4   CTRL + N Starts a new browser window with current page in it.  Use this to go somewhere else while waiting for a site to load.
5   ALT + left / right arrow Moves back and forward in your current session.
6   CTRL + O Opens location box.  Simply type in Web address and ENTER.  This eliminates the need to find and click into  the address field.  If you like to work in full screen view, this eliminates any need to click to go to a new site.
7   TAB Goes from one screen cut-out ("form field") to the next -- or to any selectable element of the page.
8   SHIFT + TAB Cycles in opposite direction through selectable elements.
OUTLOOK -- tips
# SHORTCUT EFFECT
1   CTRL + SHIFT + I Goes to your Inbox from anywhere in Outlook.
2   CTRL + N Always starts a new e-mail  when you are in any of 6 of the 10 basic Outlook folders.  The only times it doesn't start an e-mail are when you are in  Calendar (where it starts an appointment), Contacts (starts a full contact record), Notes (starts a full note), Tasks (starts a full task).
3   ALT + S Send an e-mail you have just written while you are IN the e-mail.
4 Outlook is unique in that every time you start a document (e-mail, contact, etc.,) another new window is opened.  You can toggle to the various open windows using ALT + ESC.  But you can also ESC from the documents you are in to close them.  Best of all, you can delete an item from within itself.  Click the Delete icon in the top toolbar whenever you need to delete.
5   You can drag any  item of one type to start an item of the same or another type.  For example, if you are looking at an e-mail in your inbox list, you can drag in leftward onto the Contacts folder to start a Contact for the sender; you can drag the e-mail to Calendar to set up an appointment listing that person as a participant.  Tasks and Notes work the same way.
WORDS TO COMPUTE BY  points of note
1   To see your files list in Windows Explorer, there are 6 or more ways to quickly reveal "Explore", using right click.  Try right-clicking on all of the following, and notice "Explore" in the resulting menu each time (it opens the Windows Explorer):  Start Button; My Computer; Recycle Bin; Printers; Network Neighborhood; and MS Outlook.
2   In Excel, whenever you Cut, your cells marquee (they are surrounded by crawling dots) until you paste.  But when you Copy, the marquee doesn't go away after you paste.  This is because Excel is reminding you that you can multiply paste (I.e., you can keep pasting the cells to different locations any number of times).  To turn off the marquee, press ESC. Doing this, however, also disables the clipboard from further pasting of the copied material.
3   When in a program, right click in various regions of the screen to find shortcut functions put there for you.  Remember to right-click to get special menus, and to left click to request actions.  The keyboard shortcut for "right click" is SHIFT+F10.
4   In many programs, the menus at the top of the screen change depending on what you are clicked on.  Watch out for this, especially when using charts.  If many menu items are greyed out that you expected to have active, it is probably because you are not clicked into a region where these menus can execute.  Watch for this when using tables.
5   Be sure you are clicked into the window you think you are working in.  Users often perform actions outside a program and Windows loses "focus" on the program.  If the title bar at the top of the desired program window is dark, you are in the program.  If it's lighter than usual, you're not in the program even though it may seem like the only thing on the screen, and it's taking up the entire screen at that.  Click somewhere in the program to bring Windows' focus back to it.
6   If you have selected a file's icon, ENTER opens the file the same as double-click.
7   Except in MS Outlook you can never delete a file you have open.  Close a file before deleting it.
8   HOME / END works in file lists too.  Be sure to be clicked on one specific file before using these keys.  You may inadvertently be clicked onto the BACKGROUND of the file list, and Windows won't recognize that your keystroke has anything to do with the file list you are looking at.  Unless Windows is looking at the same thing we think it is, our keystrokes won't yield the results we expect.
9   In a list of files, type the first letter of an item's name to jump to items beginning with that letter. Continuing to press the letter will move you through all the items beginning with that letter in alphabetical order.  
10   Whenever you think to do so, save your file.  And after long work on a file,  be sure to save an extra backup copy.  Hold on to your results!
We hope you find these shortcuts helpful!
Robb Murray
Computer Training OnCall
(773) 975-8020
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