Q&A: Shortcuts for Microsoft Word
Question: In the last issue you highlighted a shortcut that can be used in Excel. I was wondering what types of shortcuts Microsoft Word has that you have found useful.
Answer: There are many shortcuts that I have come to use on a regular basis in Microsoft Word. From keyboard shortcuts to clicks of the mouse there are so many possiblilities. I will highlight a few of my favorites.
Selecting Text:
Instead of clicking and dragging with your mouse to select text there are some shortcuts you can use.
|
Mouse action |
Selection |
| Double click on a word | Entire word |
| Ctlr + click anywhere within a sentence | Entire sentence |
| Triple click anywhere in a paragraph | Entire paragraph |
| Ctlr + A | Entire document |
| Single click in left margin | Entire line |
| Double click in left margin | Entire paragraph |
Drawing a line across the page:
In order to get a line across the page I use to do two things. One option was to hit the Shift key + the underscore key several times until I had a line all the way across the page. The second option was to use the Drawing Toolbar and draw a line using the Line Tool. Here are a few options that are a bit easier:
|
Mouse Action |
Result |
| Type three consecutive hyphens + Enter | Line across page |
| Type three underscores + Enter | Bold line across page |
| Type three equal signs + Enter | Double line across page |
More File Options:
There are several choices you have when you select the File menu in Word. However one of the things that doesn’t show up is a Save All or Close All. When you have several documents open at once and want to close or save them all, you can click on each one to save and close it separately or you could use the following shortcut.
If you hold down the Shift key when selecting the File menu you will get a few new options on the menu, Save All and Close All. Microsoft Outlook also will display these options when creating a new message. Excel will only display the Close All option when using this shortcut.
Keyboard Shortcuts: (Many of these can be used in other Windows programs as well)
- Save the Current Document
<Ctrl> + S - Create a New Document
<Ctrl> + N - Open a Document
<Ctrl> + O - Undo the last thing you did
<Ctrl> + Z - Cut a selection and move it to the clipboard
<Ctrl> + X - Copy the selection to the clipboard
<Ctrl> + C - Paste the clipboard’s contents
<Ctrl> + V - Increase font size
<Ctrl> + Shift + > - Decrease font size
<Ctrl> + Shift + < - Center paragraph
<Ctrl> + E - Print document
<Ctrl> + P - Underline
<Ctrl> + U - Bold
<Ctrl> + B - Move the cursor to the beginning of a document
<Ctrl> + <Home> - Move the cursor to the end of a document
<Ctrl> + <End>
–Carrie Albin, Outreach Coordinator and Co-Editor