Keyboard Shortcuts

Every time I have to take my hand off the keyboard, it costs me a few seconds. This may not sound like much, but it adds up over the course of a day. Instead, I like to keep my hands on the keyboard. With a little memory work and the right tools, you can save time to boost productivity.

The trick is to use keyboard shortcuts. They are combinations of simultaneous key presses that perform specific actions that might otherwise require pointing and clicking multiple times.

Here List How To Learn System-Wide Keyboard Commands

For example, on the Mac, these keyboard shortcuts generally work in every program:

Command-,    Set the application preferences

Command-A         Select all text

Command-B         Bold the selected text or turn on the bold style

Command-C         Copy the selected text to the clipboard

Command-F   Find text

Command-G         Find next occurrence of text

Command-I    Italicize the selected text or turn on italic style

Command-N         Create a new file

Command-O         Open an existing file

Command-P   Print a file

Command-Q  Quit the current application

Command-R         Preview the elected document

Command-S   Save a file

Command-T   Show the available fonts

Command-V         Paste the text from the clipboard

Command-W  Close the current window

Command-X         Cut (and delete) the selected text but places it on the clipboard

Command-Z   Undo the last action

This just scratches the surface. You can find numerous online references with a complete list of shortcut keys. Every time your hand comes off the keyboard to grab the mouse, consider it a penalty. And while you’re at it, think how you can create a keyboard shortcut using this method to avoid ever having to do it again.