At the top of several of my "Writings" pages, I mention using Ctrl+End to get to the bottom of a page fast. A reader sent a message saying thank you, they had not known about that key combination. It got me to thinking and I wrote this. Hopefully it will help a few folk. I am sure that I will miss many. If you know of one that I have missed, please use the box at the bottom to tell me and I will add them.
| Ctrl + Home | Go to top of page |
| Ctrl + End | Go to bottom of page |
| Ctrl + F | Find a string |
| Ctrl + W | Close a Window |
| Ctrl + P | |
|
Ctrl + R
In Internet Explorer |
Refresh page |
|
Ctrl + I
In Internet Explorer |
Toggles a favourites frame |
|
Ctrl + O
In Internet Explorer |
Open a new page |
|
Ctrl + A
In some applications. |
Select all |
| Ctrl + C | Copy whatever has been selected to the Clipboard |
| Ctrl + V | Paste the contents of the Clipboard to where-ever the cursor is on the screen. |
| Ctrl + X | Copy whatever has been selected to the Clipboard and then delete it. |
|
Ctrl + Z
In some applications. |
Undo the last "Edit" (Clipboard) action. |
|
Ctrl + H
In Internet Explorer |
Toggles a History frame |
|
Ctrl + L
In Internet Explorer |
Open a new page |
|
Ctrl + S
In some applications. |
Save the contents of the window. |
|
Ctrl + B
In Internet Explorer |
Organise Favourites |
|
Ctrl + N
In Internet Explorer |
Open a new window containing the same page. |
|
Alt + F4
In Windows |
Close the Active Window. |
Those are some of the Ctrl shortcuts. Try them out for yourself in other applications.
Now some more to do with the Clipboard features.
| Shift + Arrow keys | Selects lines or characters |
Now try this.
| Ctrl + Esc |
Displays the Start Menu
Use the Up/Down Arrows to move up and down. When you get to the desired place, press Enter |
Now try this. Open two or more windows
| Alt + Tab | Allows you to change the window that has focus. |
Next - look at the Menu Bar
If you press the Alt key, you will see that a letter is underlined in each word. If now you press the
letter of your choice, a drop down menu will appear. Again you can use the underlined letter to play.
If the Menu does not appear, hold the Alt key down and tap the letter of your choice.
Finally, if you have a form with multiple elements in it, pressing the Tab key repeatedly will step you around the form, giving Focus to each element in turn. When a button has Focus, you can simply press the Enter key to "press" that button. Try Ctrl + O in Internet Explorer - then use the Tab key to get to Cancel - then press Enter
Similarly on the desktop, if an Icon has focus, pressing Enter activates the thing associated with that icon. Use the Arrow keys to step around the Icons !!
Feedback from readers
| From David Swan | |
|
F11
Internet Explorer Outlook etc |
Toggles to and from Full screen. |
| Alt + F4 | Closes the window that has focus. |
| From Marko Mihorko [dBVIPS] | |
|
Ctrl-Home
then Ctrl-Shift-End |
Select All. |
| Ctrl + Ins | Copy whatever has been selected to the Clipboard |
| Shift + Ins | Paste the contents of the Clipboard to where-ever the cursor is on the screen. |
| Shift + Del | Copy whatever has been selected to the Clipboard and then delete it. |
| From Fabian Hiscock | |
|
Ctrl + I
Word for Windows |
Toggles Italics. |
|
Ctrl + B
Word for Windows |
Toggles Bold. |
|
Ctrl + U
Word for Windows |
Toggles Underline. |
David Stone gave me an update - I liked it a lot, so I have posted it verbatim. Thank you David.
I think I culled out most of the ones already mentioned-- Mostly universal in Win apps: F1 brings up general help Alt-F1 brings up context-sensitive help Ctrl-p opens the Print dialog box When working with any multiple-document program such as Word or Excel: Ctrl-F6 switches between open documents Ctrl-F4 closes the current document only Hold down the Windows key (lower left of keyboard), then: tap E to get Windows Explorer tap F to get Find, or tap R to get Run tap Tab to move between TaskBar entries (activate choice with Enter key) In a folder, whether it's an icon list or not, arrow keys move the focus to the next item, and you can type the first letter (and more if you're fast!) of the folder you wish to select...then press enter to open it. For the double-clicked-handicapped, single-click an icon or file in Explorer instead, then press the Enter key.
Romain Strieff [dBVIPS] gave me an update - it is posted it verbatim. Thank you Romain.
my Win2000 help file has lots of entries. Natural keyboard shortcuts Dialog box shortcuts help viewer keyboard shortcuts Windows explorer keyboard shortcuts Windows keyboard shortcuts Accessibility options keyboard shortcuts
If you use a spell checker for use outside of MS Office ? - you can find one at
http://www.geocities.com/anything4laughs/life/spell.htm
- I have been using it for years and I do really commend it !!
Ctrl + F9 launches it for me
I have just (3rd May 2004) tried the link above - it no longet exists - try one that I created and use
http://www.sst-counters.co.uk/textcheck.asp
it is basic but it works for me !!
Please tell me about your clever use of the keyboard - thank you.