Computer Help 101 |
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The Wizard's Hot Keys/Shortcuts
The following is a Comprehensive List of all the hot/shortcut keys that the Wizard has found (remembers). "Mousing around" is a tremendous time waster. Windows was designed with the ability to use the keyboard instead of the mouse for MOST things. Using the keyboard will save you a tremendous amount of time, once you learn the hot keys, and substitute them for the mouse. The Wizard spent quite some time discovering all these hot keys.....they are not all listed in one place that's for sure. If you know of any that are not here, the Wizard will be grateful to hear from you. Using all of these will probably save you a year of your lifetime. Just using the Windows key instead of clicking on "Start" is a good example. A good way to learn is to pretend you don't have a mouse, or at least use it only when you have to and see how much you can do without it. It'll be a learning process, but believe me, you will be very thankful when you get good at using them. Print this page out, (Ctl+p) and tack it on the wall in front of you. Abbreviations used: App=Application; Sh=Shift Key; W=Windows Key; Sp=Space bar F1 to F12 = function keys, Ctl = Ctrl Key, Alt = Alt Key. Notation: Example: Alt+sp,x means hold down the alt key, then while holding it down press the space bar. Then release both and hit the x key. W,s,c means hit the windows key, then hit the s key, then hit the c key (gets you into the control panel). Windows: Left Arrow = When you have something highlighted/selected and you just want to change part of it hit this to UN highlight and to move back to the part you want to change. Alt,(underlined letter) = Choose the tool bar menu that starts with the 'underlined letter'. Example: Alt,e opens the Edit menu. Then you can hit the appropriate letter to select from that menu. Right Click = On different areas, opens a menu with various choices. VERY POWERFUL TOOL. Menu Key = This is a key that looks like a little menu with (same as an arrow. This is the same as Right Click. It brings up the same menu. Right click) Use the Esc key if you change your mind and don't want to pick one of the menu items. Backspace = When in a folder, one folder level up. Alt+F4 = Close application, shutdown computer if on desktop. Ctl+F4 = Close window within app. Alt,f,c in some apps. Del = Delete key to delete files, text, and selected stuff. Alt+Tab = Cycle through open applications. Hold the Alt key down with your left thumb, then press tab repeatedly with your left index finger to scroll through apps. When you get to the app you want, release the Alt key. Try it now. Use Alt+Sh+Tab to go backwards. One of the most useful hot key combinations!!! Alt+Esc = Scroll through all open windows sequentially. (Thanks Nick 'rychonux'!!!) Alt,e,a = Select all files in a folder window, select all text in other apps. Same as Ctrl+a. Alt+d = Gets you to the directory line in browse/folder windows. (Thanks rychonux!!) Alt+Sp,n = Minimize app Alt+Sp,r = Reduce/Restore window size Alt+Sp,m = You can now move this window with the arrow keys. This will allow you to move a window that has slid off the desktop. Alt+Sp,x = Maximize app (From reduced window to max window) Sh+F10 = Same as right click Enter = Same as clicking on a button, or other stuff, if that button, etc. is highlighted (has a little dotted line on the perimeter). Great time saver! Ctl+Alt+Del = Lists all applications/programs running at that time, and gives you an opportunity to close one down if it's hung. Select the app you want and click on 'End Task'. It'll say "not responding". Will save you from having to shut down the whole system to get out of a "hung" program/app, or the blue screen of death (most of the time). Restarts computer when done twice. In Windows XP/2000, brings up the task manager, which is a more detailed display of what is running. Ctl+Esc = Same as hitting the Windows Key, or clicking on Start Ctl+Tab = Scroll forward through "tab folders" in a window with "tab folders" in it. Ctl+Sh+Tab = Scroll through tab folders backwards. Any letter = When in a folder (or in the open/save file screen in most apps), entering letters points you to files starting with that letter. Tab = Scroll through windows of a multi-window application. Sh+Tab = Scroll backwards. F2 = To change the name of a file/folder. F3 = When in a folder window, it opens the search bar at the left. Windows Key: W = Start (Same as clicking on start) W+m = Minimize all apps. VERY useful for instantly getting to your desktop W+Sh+m = Re-Maximize all apps that were minimized with W+m (Thanks to Lazaro!) W+d = Minimize all apps (gets you to your desktop). Hit W+d again, and all of them maximize back! (Thanks to CrazyTrain) W+f = Find files (...really great tool) W+e = Explorer (Explore your entire computer in detail) W+r = Opens the Run window (Same as Run in the Start Menu) W+Pause/Break key = System Properties Window W+l = On computers where you need to log in by pressing Most Applications (not all of them). Lots of apps have their own shortcut keys.... use them. Arrow keys and the PgUp, and PgDn, keys = Use these when scrolling through text or a window. Tab = To go the next button on a window (very useful). Also, go to the next field when filling out a form. Sh+Tab = Go backwards through buttons and fields. End, or Ctl+End = Go to end of document/window, or the end of a line. Home = Go to the beginning of the document/window or the beginning of a line. Ctl+F4 = On an application that opens other windows, it will close that window but leave the main application running. File Shortcuts: Alt,f = Opens the file menu, if you look at the bottom, you will see numbers of files/pages you have been to previously. Simply enter the number, and that file/page will be opened. In Navigator use Alt,g. Ctl+p = Print Ctl+o = Open Ctl+s = Save Ctl+n = New Editing Shortcuts: Sh+arrow keys = Used to select text, or anything else, like a lot of files in a folder. Very Powerful. Ctl+a = Select everything in the window. Ctl+f = Find Ctl+c = Copy selected text Ctl+x = Cut selected text Ctl+v = Paste text previously copied or cut. Ctl+z = Undo the last actions, used when editing (will often save your butt). Also under the edit menu, Alt,e, u. Ctl+y = Redo/Repeat the last action. Also under the edit menu, Alt, e, r (Thanks BizMarko1!). Shift+End = Select all text from the cursor, to the end of the line. This works on URL's in browsers also! Shift+Home = Select all text from the cursor, to the beginning of the line, or URL's in browsers. 'Open' and 'Save As' window shortcuts: Use Sh+Tab, Tab, Enter, and the arrow keys to navigate through these windows. The Tab, Sh+Tab, Enter, and arrow keys, when used in combination are very useful to navigate in most other areas as well. You will have to experiment with this to understand how it works. Netscape/Mozilla Navigator. M$(microshaft) has stolen a lot of these(it's what they do best), so most now work in IE: Any letter/number sequence =This starts a search in the current page. It's called 'find as you type'. You can use this to look for a word for example. Just start typing the word. It will automatically go to the letter sequence you have typed. You can set the options of this in preferences. (Alt,e,e). After the word is found, you can hit F3 to find subsequent occurences of the word in the page. Esc = This key is good to hit after a page has loaded for awhile, and little to nothing is showing on the screen. It stops the loading, but makes everything that has loaded so far VISIBLE. Sh+Tab = Highlights the URL line, if you haven't tabbed yet. Then you can copy it to paste somewhere else. If you want to go to a site called www.neatsite.com, just type in neatsite, hit Enter, and Navigator will fill in all the http/www stuff. This works on older versions. Now, it brings you to the Netscape site, where you will find links to sites with that word in them...boo. However, if you type in neatsite.com, it will fill in the http stuff, and take you there. Alt+d = Highlights/gets you to the URL/address line. Pretty useful!. (Thanks rychonux!!). Ctl+r = Reload page. (When it gets hung, or to get the latest version.) F5 = Reload page. (Thanks Stig!!!). Alt+Arrow(left/rt) = Go back to previous page, or forward to subsequent page Backspace Key = Go back to previous page. Ctl+h = Look at history, useful to hunt down a place you've been before Ctl+f = Find Ctl+Sh+1 = Message Center Ctl+2 = Gets you into your e-mail In Box. Ctl+t = When in InBox, check for new e-mails. Ctl+m = Compose new e-mail Ctl+n = New browser window. This is real handy when on the web, because you can be at several sites at once, and switch between them with the next hot key: Ctl+ +/- = Ctl++ Increases text size, Ctl+- Decreases the size of the text of the window! Makes pages easier to read. Ctl+tab = Cycle through multiple Navigator windows that are open. Does the same as Alt+Tab, but without the little window, and just cycles through open Navigator windows. Ctl+d = Create bookmark of current page. However, use the method below instead! Ctl+Sh+d = Create bookmark and at the same time FILE it in the appropriate folder! Folders are a really GOOD thing to have in bookmarks to organize them. If you don't stay on top of this, you will soon have a huge list of bookmarks, and will spend a lot of time trying to find a particular one Ctl+b = Open bookmarks End = When in bookmark window, goes to last bookmark which is the one last added with Ctl+d. Alt, e, k = When in bookmarks, opens the bookmark description window. Edit this Ctl+i to make that bookmark's title more meaningful. Replaced by Ctl+i in Netscape 7.01/Mozilla. Shift+Left Click = On a link, opens a save dialog, so you can save that page to disk. Right Click = On an image, opens a menu to let you save it to disk, among other things. On a page, lets you send it to a person via e-mail, save the whole page to your disk, plus other things. On a link, lets you open it in a new window. Btw, do NOT hit Ctl+n while in the bookmarks window, in the new Netscape 7.01. It will alphabetize them all, and there's no way to get it back to the order they were in before. SO, make backups of your bookmarks.html file periodically, so you can copy it back over the alphabetized one. I've told Netscape about this bug, so they might fix it. The following work for e-mail and newsgroups as well: Ctl+t = Get new e-mails and news headers (When in Message Center, or In Box) Ctl+r = Reply to e-mail, if you are reading an e-mail Ctl+enter = Send e-mail Misc Hot Keys: MS Word Shift alt d and shift alt t brings up the date and time in word. (Thanks Marty!) Ctl+h = Opens Find and Replace window in Word Processing and Excel. Very useful! (Thanks Jester!) EXCEL In Excel, you can use ALT+Enter to force a hard return whilst staying within the field. This means you don't need to keep hitting 'space' to make the text scroll down to the next page (as I always use to do!) (Thanks Mark Alldridge!) Talk to the Wizard(E-mail)/Feedback Home Dynamic Systems Group Ltd. |
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