While there are many different options for word processing software – and everyone has their preference – it cannot be argued that the universal standard is Microsoft Word.
The program has been around for multiple decades now, and is incredibly feature dense. However, a lot of people use it somewhat inefficiently. We spoke with Microsoft partner, TechQuarters, who not only provide managed IT services London business rely on, but offer training to their clients for Microsoft Office products. When you get to know Microsoft Word, you can begin to use it more efficiently. A good example is with keyboard shortcuts.
Many people, when they master an app, don’t bother using a mouse or trackpad, and just operate the app entirely with the keyboard, because it is so much more efficient. To get started, below are a few examples of powerful keyboard shortcuts that make using Microsoft Word much more streamlined:
1. Ribbon Shortcuts
The ribbon is the menu along the top of Word that features many different functions. By pressing Alt or F10, you Word will display letters next to each visible item in the ribbon (as well as all the tabs). From there, you can press the key on your keyboard which corresponds to the item in the ribbon, and that option will be activated.
2. Display / Hide Ribbon
Perhaps you want to hide your ribbon while you are reading a document. In order to do this, press Ctrl + F1. The ribbon will instantly minimize; pressing the keys again will bring it back.
3. Insert Hyperlinks
Hyperlinking text is a useful feature for many use cases (such as essays and reports for school, or documents for work). Simply highlight a piece of text, press Ctrl + K, and the hyperlink dialog box will appear. Simply paste the URL in the field, and press OK to create the hyperlink.
4. Find in Page
If you’re reading a large document and need to find something, simply press Ctrl + F. This will open up a search box where you can search for specific letters, words, or sentences – the results get displayed in the box.
5. Delete whole words
Say you want to replace a word in a document – most people will either highlight the word and overwrite it, or press backspace multiple times to delete each letter. Instead, position your cursor directly to the right of the word, and press Ctrl + Backspace – this action will delete one word to the left.
6. Move Cursor by Word
If you want to move your cursor through your text (such as if you’re adding something to the middle of a sentence), you don’t have to tap the arrow keys over the over to move the cursor letter by letter. Instead, press Ctrl + Left/Right to move the cursor by one word at a time.
7. Highlight Words / Sentences
Rather than clicking-and-dragging your cursor using your mouse or trackpad, you can easily highlight words and sentences with your keyboard. Press Ctrl + Shift + Left/Right to highlight entire words.
8. Change Case
Say you want to capitalise an entire word after writing it, or capitalize the first letter of each word in a sentence (such as for a heading/title). Simply highlight the word, or the sentence, and press Shift + F3 to switch between uppercase, lowercase, and ‘capitalise each word’.
9. Save Document
A lot of people forget to save documents regularly. Get into the habit of saving your document at regular intervals by pressing Ctrl + S.
10. Close Current Document
It can be easy to let open documents add up, so if you want to quickly close down the active document once you’ve finished with it, simply press Alt + F4.