top of page
Writer's pictureOlivia

Useful keyboard shortcuts

Updated: Jun 8, 2022



School is hard. It becomes harder when not only do you have to learn how to write essays, thesis papers, or simply take notes on every measly detail the teachers say.


Luckily nowadays, students rely quite a bit on digital forms of documenting classes and evaluations.


But this also adds the issue of knowing how to type. While writing things by hand has existed for thousands of years, the first strange form of typing was developed in the 1700s. Furthermore, advanced touch typing was only created in 1888 in Salt Lake City of all places.


While my generation is generally apt in typing and have grown accustomed to it, some still have troubles keeping up with Google Doc or Word documents. This has generally been solved thanks to handwriting apps such as Goodnotes.


But typing is still an important skill to have in our modern society and this may frustrate people who have a hard time learning to touch type.


While I would normally say that the only way to really learn to type is the type and type and type. Eventually your fingers will just move on their own.


But this post isn't about that.


So today I will be showing keyboard shortcuts, that one should really learn in order to just make their lives easier.




 

#1: Ctrl + C / Command + C

If you don't know this one you live in a cave.

So in case you do.

Select text, a picture, a link, whatever u want.

Press and hold Ctrl / Command then press C.

This will copy whatever you want to add to a document.




#2: Ctrl + V / Command + V

This will paste the very last thing that you copied wherever your cursor is.





#3: Ctrl + Z / Command + Z

This will undo the last action that you performed.


ie. For this sentence that I'm typing if I press and hold Command then click Z, it will delete the full stop at the end




#4: Ctrl + Y / Command + Y

This will redo whatever you undid with Command + Z.




#5: Ctrl + F / Command + F

If you press and hold Ctrl / Command then press F while on a webpage or document, a little search bar will appear. Simply input any word and it will show you were that word is located on the page and how many times it is. Also allowing you to jump directly to them.




#6: Alt + Tab / Command + Tab

This allows you to navigate between any open window or program.


ie. if you have google chrome and microsoft word open at the same time, pressing Alt / Command + Tab will allow you to switch between them without clicking the apps with your cursor.





#7: Ctrl + S / Command + S

This will save whatever document your editing.


Note: if you click Ctrl / Command + Shift + S, this will further allow you to change the name or the location in which it is saved.





#8: Ctrl + P / Command + P

When you're on a document, this will send you to the printing page.




#9: Ctrl + Q / Command + Q

This will quit the app that you are one, shutting it down completely.


Note: if you do Ctrl / Command + Shift + Q, this will close every tab you have open / depending on your computer even log you out.



#10: Ctrl + A / Command + A

This will select everything that's on whatever document you have open, including picture or tables.


 

While for some these may not seem all that useful. Overtime knowing these will really make your life easier. So LEARN THEM if you can. They will help you whether you know how to type or not and soon it will be like clockwork.

1 Comment


Annabelle
Annabelle
May 18, 2022

super helpful, tysm :)


Like
bottom of page