Common Keyboard Shortcuts
It's hard to remember all the keyboard shortcuts out there. But luckily, most programs adopt conventions (like Ctrl+S, which always saves what you're working on). Even better, programmers typically choose keyboard shortcuts mnemonically (again, like Ctrl+S for Save) to make it easier for us to remember.
Below are some of the most common keyboard shortcuts out there, grouped by task. We've also included some common scenarios to show how keyboard shortcuts can be practically used. It's a long list, but remember to start small: memorize just 3 keyboard shortcuts that you'll use the most.
Web Browsers
Keyboard Shortcuts
Ctrl+N | Open a new window |
Ctrl+T | Open a new tab (if your browser supports tabs) |
Ctrl+W | Close the current window/tab |
Ctrl+R | Refresh |
Esc | Stop |
Alt+← | Back |
Alt+→ | Forward |
PageUp | Move up a page |
PageDown | Move down a page |
Alt+Home | Go to your homepage |
Alt+D | Move focus to the address bar to type in a URL |
Ctrl+Enter | Add "http://www." and ".com" around an address |
MiddleClick | Middle-clicking a tab will close it, even if it's not the active tab |
Scenario: Open a website in a new window
- Ctrl+N to open a new window
- Alt+D to bring you to the address bar
- Type the address without the "http://www." or the ".com" (for example, "microsoft" instead of "http://www.microsoft.com"
- Press Ctrl+Enter to add in the "http://www." and the ".com"
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Editing Text
Keyboard Shortcuts
Ctrl+B | Bold the selected text bold |
Ctrl+I | Italicize the selected text italic |
Ctrl+U | Underline the selected text |
Ctrl+Backspace | Delete the previous word |
Ctrl+Del | Delete the next word |
Ctrl+F | Find some text in the current document |
Ctrl+Z | Undo your last action |
Scenario: Bold some text you are about to type
- Ctrl+B to turn on the bold feature
- Type the text you want to be bold
- Ctrl+B to turn off the bold feature
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Moving the Cursor and Selecting Text
Pay close attention to these! These keyboard shortcuts can be used in almost all text editors, like Notepad, your instant messaging program, and any text input dialog boxes in Windows.
Moving the Cursor
PageUp | Move the cursor up a page |
PageDown | Move the cursor down a page |
Home | Move the cursor to the beginning of the line |
End | Move the cursor to the end of the line |
Ctrl+Home | Move the cursor to the beginning of the document |
Ctrl+End | Move the cursor to the end of the document |
Ctrl+← | Move the cursor left one word |
Ctrl+→ | Move the cursor right one word |
The keyboard shortcuts for selecting text are directly related to those that move the cursor around. Just add a Shift:
Selecting Text
Shift+PageUp | Select everything between the cursor and a page previous |
Shift+PageDown | Select everything between the cursor and a page after |
Shift+Home | Select everything between the cursor and the beginning of the line |
Shift+End | Select everything between the cursor and the end of the line |
Shift+Ctrl+Home | Select everything betweeen the cursor and the beginning of the document |
Shift+Ctrl+End | Select everything between the cursor and the end of the document |
Shift+Ctrl+← | Select the word to the left |
Shift+Ctrl+→ | Select the word to the right |
Scenario: Selecting A Line Of Text
- Home to move the cursor to the beginning of the line
- Shift-End to move the cursor to the end of the line and select everything alonig the way
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Using the Clipboard
Ctrl+C | Copy what's selected |
Ctrl+X | Cut what's selected |
Ctrl+V | Paste what you last copied or cut |
Ctrl+A | Select all |
Documents and Files
Ctrl+N | Create a new document |
Ctrl+O | Open an existing document |
Ctrl+W | Close the current document |
Ctrl+S | Saves the current document |
Ctrl+P | Print the current document |
Windows
Alt+F4 | Exit the active window |
Alt+Tab | Switch to the previous active window |
Alt+Esc | Cycle through all open windows |
Win+D | Show desktop (hit it again to show windows) |
Conclusion
There are a huge amount of keyboard shortcuts to take advantage of. Take it slow and learn 3 of these every few days. I recommend learning Ctrl+S to save files,Ctrl+C to copy what's selected, and Alt+Tab to switch between windows.
- SDHACKER
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