Keyboard Shortcuts: The Time Saver

Keyboard shortcuts while working on the computer are a hidden treasure that can save you time and effort. These shortcuts can be used from within your operating system (Windows, Mac, and Linux) and any application you may be using in that operating system (MS Word, Excel, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, etc). There are some media keyboards today that includes a reference for you. If you look at your keyboard now you may see a small scissor icon on the X button for cutting text, a printer icon on the P button for printing, or just a simple ‘copy’ word on the C button for copying text. Just remember that you have to use the control button (Ctrl) for the combination to work.
Some general keyboard shortcuts are listed below for both Windows and Mac. However, if you are looking for shortcuts for an application you use regularly just simply find the Help from within that application to search for those hidden keyboard shortcuts.
I can tell you from my own personal experience that I use CTRL+C (copy), CTRL+X (cut) and CTRL+V (paste) in Windows and Command-C (copy), Command-X (cut), and Command-V (paste) in Mac constantly to save time.

Try them. You’ll see a difference.

Windows
From http://support.microsoft.com/kb/126449

Windows system key combinations

• F1: Help
• CTRL+ESC: Open Start menu
• ALT+TAB: Switch between open programs
• ALT+F4: Quit program
• SHIFT+DELETE: Delete item permanently

Windows program key combinations

• CTRL+C: Copy
• CTRL+X: Cut
• CTRL+V: Paste
• CTRL+Z: Undo
• CTRL+B: Bold
• CTRL+U: Underline
• CTRL+I: Italic

General keyboard-only commands

• F1: Starts Windows Help
• F10: Activates menu bar options
• SHIFT+F10 Opens a shortcut menu for the selected item (this is the same as right-clicking an object
• CTRL+ESC: Opens the Start menu (use the ARROW keys to select an item)
• CTRL+ESC or ESC: Selects the Start button (press TAB to select the taskbar, or press SHIFT+F10 for a context menu)
• ALT+DOWN ARROW: Opens a drop-down list box
• ALT+TAB: Switch to another running program (hold down the ALT key and then press the TAB key to view the task-switching window)
• SHIFT: Press and hold down the SHIFT key while you insert a CD-ROM to bypass the automatic-run feature
• ALT+SPACE: Displays the main window’s System menu (from the System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the window)
• ALT+- (ALT+hyphen): Displays the Multiple Document Interface (MDI) child window’s System menu (from the MDI child window’s System menu, you can restore, move, resize, minimize, maximize, or close the child window)
• CTRL+TAB: Switch to the next child window of a Multiple Document Interface (MDI) program
• ALT+underlined letter in menu: Opens the menu
• ALT+F4: Closes the current window
• CTRL+F4: Closes the current Multiple Document Interface (MDI) window
• ALT+F6: Switch between multiple windows in the same program (for example, when the Notepad Find dialog box is displayed, ALT+F6 switches between the Find dialog box and the main Notepad window)

Mac
From http://support.apple.com/kb/HT134

• Shift-Command-Q: Log out
• Shift-Option-Command-Q: Log out immediately
• Shift-Command-Delete: Empty Trash
• Option-Shift-Command-Delete: Empty Trash without dialog
• Command-H: Hide Finder
• Option-Command-H: Hide Others
• Command-N: New Finder window
• Shift-Command-N: New Folder
• Command-O: Open
• Command-S: Save
• Shift-Command-S: Save as
• Command-P: Print
• Command-W: Close Window
• Option-Command-W: Close all Windows
• Command-I: Get Info
• Option-Command-I: Show Attributes Inspector
• Command-D: Duplicate
• Command-L: Make Alias
• Command-R: Show original
• Command-T: Add to Favorites (Mac OS X 10.2.8 or earlier), Add to Sidebar (Mac OS X 10.3 or later—use Shift-Command-T for Add to Favorites)
• Command-Delete: Move to Trash
• Command-E: Eject
• Command-F: Find
• Command-Z: Undo
• Command-X: Cut
• Command-C: Copy
• Command-V: Paste
• Command-A: Select All
• Command-1: View as Icons
• Command-2: View as List
• Command-3: View as Columns
• Command-B: Hide Toolbar
• Command-J: Show View Options
• Command – [: Back
• Command - ]: Forward
• Shift-Command-C: Computer
• Shift-Command-H: Home
• Shift-Command-I: iDisk
• Shift-Command-A: Applications