The Shortcuts I Like

Back about 1983 or 1985 when I first saw what can be called a early modern computer I was rather amazed by the potential. Today if I had to work with that computer I would likely call it a worthless piece of junk. Actually it was pretty good for its time. It was a Apple II-E if you remember those. At that time I had never heard of a mouse for a computer. It may be that such a thing did not even exist except in theory for the average person. So there was no such thing as point and click or click and drag. If you wanted to do anything it was necessary to use keystrokes. I learned how to accomplish my desired tasks and when I saw the first mouse I was reluctant to use it. I will guarantee you that is was not as convenient as the mouse of 2009. If fact most, not all, of the mouses (mice?) that I saw were located in the middle of the keyboard and resembled the eraser of a pencil. For a while it seemed to be more convenient and reasonable to use the keyboard strokes. These keyboard strokes came to be called shortcuts. There are some people that still do a great deal of work on a computer using "shortcuts."

Whether you are familiar with the shortcuts or they are something that you have not used much, there are some that are useful to know. Here in this blog I will not attempt to cover the whole array of shortcuts that are available. I will list and describe the principal ones here that I think are worthwhile for everybody to know and I think will find useful. For the most part they are the ones that I use. I will admit that my list of shortcuts I use very slowly is becoming longer. For a complete listing of shortcuts it is only necessary to "Google - shortcuts" and you will get more than most people will ever care to know. One excellent website is

http://www.internet4classrooms.com/winkeyboard.htm

There are some differences in the shortcuts that are specific to the program that you are using at the time. For example, word processing, spreadsheet, paint, web pages, or other software programs. There is sometimes a slight difference between operating systems, as in Windows 98, or XP, or Vista, but for the most part the shortcuts are fairly standard as near as I can tell. Apple does some thing a bit different also.

Across the top row of keys
F1 --- Opens the "help" files (writing in the word shortcuts here will open a dialog box of shortcuts)

F2 --- This is allows you to rename a selected item. Renaming is often done with a right click, and then selecting the rename command from the drop down box in windows explorer. F2 is new to me but is becoming one of my favorites.

F3 --- Search the folder that you have open at the moment. The normal search command will search the whole computer this key will search only in the file or files that you designate.

F8 --- Switches the output of the computer to allow a projector to show the screen.

To me these are the most desirable of the function keys. The other function keys also do various things. To see the function of them go to the website indicated.

There are several shortcuts that I use constantly.
Ctrl+A --- This will select everything in a document, picture, file or whatever is open on your screen. What are you likely to do next? Copy it somewhere else?

Ctrl+C --- This will copy all that has been highlighted and place it on the clipboard. The data will remain in the document without being disturbed.

Ctrl+V --- This will paste a copy of anything that in on the clipboard into a document, spreadsheet or other open program at the place where the cursor is positioned. Look at what key is next to it, "C". Think about Ctrl+C (copy) then Ctrl+V (paste) and note that the keys are right next to each other.

Ctrl+X --- Think of this as scissors. It will remove the highlighted data from the document. It can then be pasted into another location. It will NOT be in the original location.

Ctrl+Z --- Think of this as an undo command. If you goof up use this key to undo
what you really did not want to do. Even if you delete something this will take it out of the recycle bin and restore it to its original location. If you accidentally move something to a wrong location this will bring it back.

Ctrl+P --- This opens a drop-down box which will give you options for printing.

Ctrl+S --- Save the current document. It is a good idea to hit this every once in a while, whenever you have done more than you would be willing to lose in case there is a power failure or other problem.

Ctrl+U --- This will start or stop underlining text or underline selected text.

Ctrl+I --- This will start or stop italic text or italicize selected text.

Ctrl+B --- This will start or stop bold text or make selected text bold.

Again there are other shortcuts. Some of them may be useful to you. Check out the website and see if there is something that works for you. These are the ones I use frequently. If you don't use any of the shortcuts play around with them and I think you will surprise yourself when you decide that you like them.

If you have a suggestion or question put it in the comment box and I will get back to you.

Doug