Most Useful Keyboard Shortcuts

By Stephen Bucaro

The Windows operating system has a GUI (Graphical Users Interface), this means that you do things using a graphical input device like a mouse, track ball, or joystick. This is far more productive than having to use combinations and sequences of keys to do things. However, there are certain situations where using keys can greatly increase your productivity. For example, when you're inside a text or word processing application, it can be slightly annoying to have to move one hand from the keyboard to perform an operation with the mouse.

Instead, you can perform the operation using keyboard shortcuts. For example, if you want to cut a segment of text from one location and paste it into another location, you can use the arrow keys (along with the [Pg Up], [Pg Dn], [Home], and [End] keys) to navigate to the text. Then press [Shift] while using the arrow key to highlight the text. Then press [Ctrl] + [X] ("+" meaning to press both keys simultaneously) to cut the text. Navigate to the location where you want to paste the text, then press [Ctrl] + [V].

Text Application Keyboard Shortcuts

When you're inside a text application, it can be annoying to have to move one hand from the keyboard to use the mouse to perform menu operations. When you're inside a graphics application, it can be annoying to have to have to move the mouse pointer from where you're working in the graphics area to perform menu operations. Instead, you can press [Alt] + the underlined letter in a menu to open the menu. Then press the underlined letter in a menu item to select that menu item.

For example, if you're working in a graphics application, you can press [Alt] + [F] to open the File menu. Then, with the File menu open, press [S] to open the Save dialog box. Then, in the Save dialog box, click on the [Save] button to save your work, all without ever moving the mouse pointer from where you're working in the graphics area.

The above keyboard operation might become vitally important if your graphical input device has suddenly stopped functioning. In that case, you can use the keyboard save your work, then press [Alt] + [F4] to open the Shut Down Windows dialog box. Then use the arrow keys to select Shut Down in the drop-down list. Then press the [Enter] key to shut down Windows. Then you can make sure that your graphical input device connection is tight and re-boot Windows.

Windows has a GUI which allows you to use a graphical input device to be far more productive than having to use combinations and sequences of keys to do things. However, in the situations described in this article, using the keyboard shortcuts can greatly increase your productivity.

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