Computers have undoubtedly taken over our day-to-day activities. So whether you have to keep a record of your monthly groceries, create a budget, write an article, or craft something out-of-the-box – you are a frequent PC / laptop user.
Your PC, laptop, or tablet comes with a keyboard to put inputs in the system. However, sometimes it takes much time to perform any function through the mouse. Therefore, it is better to use shortcut keys on the keyboard.
You should be aware of the keyboard shortcut keys. A PC’s keyboard is an easy way to navigate and execute commands in OS or software. Thus, you can expand your efficiency and productivity by summoning orders with a couple of keystrokes. If not, it will be opened just through a menu, a mouse, or through some other perspective. A laptop’s shortcut keys make your work easy and efficient and save time!
What are Shortcut Keys?
Shortcut keys are performed with the help of the Alt key (on IBM PCs), Command (on Apple PCs), Ctrl key, or Shift key in conjunction with other keys.
The norm for posting a shortcut key is posting the modifier key, a plus symbol, and another key. For example, “Ctrl+C” advises you to press and hold the Ctrl and afterward press the letter “C” simultaneously on the keyboard.
Record Menu with Underlined Shortcut Letters
Some commonly used programs have underlined letters in their menus for using various shortcut keys. For instance, the file menu has an underline on the “F” in File, which implies you can press the Alt key and F key to get to the file menu.
A few programs require you to press and hold the Alt key to see the underlined characters. For example, Save is (Ctrl+S), Copy it (Ctrl+C), and Open is (Ctlr+O). Once you remember the primary shortcut keys, it will be easy for you to work on the laptop. Let’s go through the list of commonly used shortcut keys that give a quicker and more convenient way of using a laptop’s programs and functions.
Basic Laptop/Computer Shortcut Keys
- Alt + F: File menu options in the current program
- Alt + Tab: Switch between opened tabs
- Alt + E: Edit options in current program
- F1: Open Help in almost every Windows program
- F2: Rename a selected file
- F5: Refresh the current window
- Ctrl + A: Select all text
- Ctrl + B: Bold highlighted selection
- Ctrl + C: Copy selected text
- Ctrl + D: Bookmark the opened tab on your internet browser
- Ctrl + X: Cut selected text
- Ctrl + X: Cut
- Shift + Del: Cut selected item
- Ctrl + C: Copy selected item
- Ctrl + V: Paste selected item
- Home: Goes to beginning of current line
- Ctrl + Home: Goes to beginning of document
- End: Goes to end of current line
- Ctrl + End: Goes to end of document
- Shift + Home: Highlights from current position to beginning of line
- Shift + End: Highlights from current position to end of line
- Ctrl + Left arrow: Moves one word to the left at a time.
- Ctrl + Right arrow: Moves one word to the right at a time
- Ctrl + P: Open the print window
- Ctrl + F: Open find box
- Ctrl + I: Italic highlighted selection
- Ctrl + K: Insert link (Shortcut Keys and their Functions)
- Ctrl + U: Underline highlighted selection
- Ctrl + V: Paste
- Ctrl + Y: Redo the last action performed
- Ctrl + Z: Undo last action
- Ctrl + L: Aligns the line or selected text to the left of the screen
- Ctrl + E: Aligns the line or selected text to the center of the screen
- Ctrl + R: Aligns the line or selected text to the right of the screen
- Ctrl + M: Indent the paragraph
- Ctrl + N: Open a new document in the current software, or open a new tab in the internet browser
- Ctrl + Shift + F: Change the font
- Ctrl + Shift + >: Increase selected font
- Ctrl + ]: Increase selected font +1pts
- Ctrl + Shift + <: Decrease selected font
- Ctrl + [: Decrease selected font -1pts
- Ctrl + Shift + *: View or hide non printing characters
- Ctrl + L: Moves one word to the left
- Ctrl + R: Moves one word to the right
- Ctrl + : Moves to the beginning of the line or paragraph
- Ctrl + : Moves to the end of the paragraph
- Ctrl + Del: Deletes word to right of cursor
- Ctrl + Backspace: Deletes word to left of cursor
- Ctrl + End: Moves the cursor to the end of the document
- Ctrl + Home: Moves the cursor to the beginning of the document
- Ctrl + Spacebar: Reset highlighted text to the default font
- Ctrl + 1: Single-space lines
- Ctrl + 2: Double-space lines
- Ctrl + 5: 1.5-line spacing
- Ctrl + Alt + 1: Changes text to heading 1
- Ctrl + Alt + 2: Changes text to heading 2
- Ctrl + Alt + 3: Changes text to heading 3
- Alt + Shift + D: Insert the current date
- Alt + Shift + T: Insert the current time
- Home: Move at the start of the recent line