Most PC users wouldn’t depend on their mouse to save a document; they’d do it with the help of keyword shortcut – Ctrl + S.
However, when it comes to other tasks such as opening or closing a document, using bullets point, selecting a portion of the draft, they’d probably use their mouse.
Have you ever thought why they’d do so?
It’s because of the habit they’ve got themselves into.
But the good news is it’s fairly easy to break that habit and become fully equipped with keyboard shortcuts required to work with MS word document.
The main objective of this article to help you become less dependent on your mouse while writing, thereby improving your overall speed.
It may feel a bit awkward in the beginning but if you keep at it for a week or so, you can feel more empowered than ever.
So, let’s get down to the business, shall we?
Working with Cursor
You may have used the Arrow Keys on your keyboard to move your cursor across the words and lines. However, with the help of Ctrl Key, you can achieve much more. Take a look at follow keyboard shortcuts.
Ctrl + Left Arrow (or Right Arrow): Your cursor will skip a word at a time, whether you want to go forward or backward.
Ctrl + Up Arrow (or Down Arrow): Your cursor will move to the beginning (up arrow) of a paragraph or end (down arrow) of a paragraph.
Ctrl + Backspace: Delete Previous Word
Ctrl + Delete: Delete Next Word
Ctrl + Home (or End): The cursor will go the top of the draft (Home) or the bottom (End) of the draft. (Note: Personally, I don’t see the need of this shortcuts very often though)
Selecting Text
The Shift Key plays a key role in selection of text on your word document. We commonly use the following shortcuts.
Ctrl + A: Select All Text
Shift + Right/Left Arrow: Select One Character at a Time
Shift + Up/Down Arrow: Select One Line at a Time
If you simply press the Shift with the previous shortcuts, it will help you select text as follows:
Shift + Ctrl + Left Arrow (or Right Arrow): Select One Word at a Time
Shift + Ctrl + Up Arrow (or Down Arrow): Select One Paragraph at a Time
IMPORTANT: If you want to select the entire document (from top to bottom), then you can pretty F8 a couple of times. It will help you select a word, a line, a paragraph and the entire text. In that order. Use Shift + F8 to Shrink the Selection. If you want to undo the effect, simply save the document (Ctrl + 8).
Editing Text
Some of the most popular Keyboard shortcuts we use are as follows:
Ctrl + C: Copy selected text
Ctrl + X: Cut selected text
Ctrl + V: Paste selected text
Ctrl + Z: Undo a Previous Action
But you can do more than that…
Ctrl + Y: Redo a Previous Action
Ctrl + Shift + L = Make the Line Bulleted
Ctrl + ] (or [): Increase the Font Size of Selected Text
Ctrl + (L or R or E): To change text alignment (Left, Right or Center)
Ctrl + K: Insert a Hyperlink into Selected Text
Formatting
I’m sure you’re quite familiar with the following shortcuts.
Ctrl + B: Make text bold
Ctrl + I: Make text italic
Ctrl + U: Make text underlined
But, how about the following!
Shift + F3: Change a Selected Text to Lower Case, Upper Case or Title Case
Alt + Ctrl + 1: Apply H1 to a Selected Text
Alt + Ctrl + 2: Apply H2 to a Selected Text
Alt + Shift + D: Enter a Date Field
Functions
The following shortcut keys will help you to perform a wide range of actions from opening a new word document to printing a draft.
Ctrl + N: Open a New Document (The Word Document Should Be Open)
Ctrl + S: Save a Draft
Ctrl + P: Print a Document
Ctrl + O: Open a Previously Stored Document (Show the Recently Used Documents)
Ctrl + F: Open a Search Bar to Help You Navigate the Entire Document
Hope you find these MS Word Shortcut Keys useful. Please, let me know if you’ve found any other useful and time-saving shortcut keys.
Note: Microsoft Office offers an exhaustive list of Windows Keyboard Shortcuts for MS Word 2016 here.