Monday, November 29, 2010

Keyboard Shortcuts When Using Microsoft Word

by Yvonne Perry

Most PC users have Microsoft Office and use Word as the word processing software on the their computers. There are several keyboard shortcuts that can be utilized to make working in Word faster. And, we all know that faster means a better use of our time.

Right click is your friend! The mouse has a right and left button. Each accesses different option menus. You may copy, cut, paste, change font settings, adjust your paragraph settings, create bulleted or numbered lists, add a hyperlink, look up a word online, find a synonym, get a translation of a word in another language, or adjust your style settings by utilizing the right click button.

This next feature comes in handy when your document is large and there are many occurrences of a word or phrase. Pressing Ctrl and F together (Ctrl+F) opens a box that allows you to type in the word or exact phrase that you are looking for in your document. Type the word or phrase in the box that reads: “Find what.” Click OK and Word will start from the point in your document where your cursor is located and find the next word or phrase that is exactly as you typed in the search. Click “find next” to go to the next place that word or phrase appears in your document.

To replace that particular word or word phrase, click the “replace” tab at the top of the search box and type the word or phrase you want to substitute in the “replace with” box . If you click “replace,” Word will replace one at a time so you may review each change or all of the occurrences at the same time. If you select “replace all,” Word will replace all occurrences of the word or phrase at one time. If you need to select words that are only lower or uppercase, explore the More >> button on the left hand side near the bottom of the box.

In this same search box, you may click on the “go to” tab and locate a particular page number. This is very useful if you have a lot of pages to scroll through but you know that you want to be on a certain page. Just type in a page number and Word will take you there. This option is also accessed by Ctrl+G.

Pressing Ctrl+A will highlight everything in your document.

Pressing Ctrl+C will allow you to copy the text currently highlighted onto your clipboard. If you used Ctrl+A, it will copy everything in that doc!

Pressing Ctrl+V will paste whatever was last copied to your clipboard.

Pressing Ctrl+X will cut the currently highlighted text.

Pressing Ctrl+Z will un-do whatever change you just made.

Ctrl+S will save your document to the last place it was saved. If it hasn’t been saved yet, it will open the “save as” option so you may specify where you want it saved.

Highlight the text you want to use to “hide” a URL. Press Ctrl+K to open the box. Type in the URL in the bottom blank where it reads “address” and click okay. You can also use the drop down menu to show and select from recently used URLs.

Pressing Ctrl+Home will take you to the very top of a document.

Pressing Ctrl+End will take you to the very end of a document.

These are only some of the shortcuts Word has to offer. And, did you know that many of these commands will also work when you are browsing the Internet? Give it a try!

If you are interested in a class to learn more advanced features of MS Word and formatting your book, let me know.

Yvonne Perry is a freelance writer, author and keynote speaker who enjoys assisting people on a spiritual path. She is a graduate of American Institute of Holistic Theology where she earned a Bachelor of Science in Metaphysics. She is the owner of Writers in the Sky Creative Writing Services—a team of freelance writers and editors located in Nashville, Tennessee. She is the author of The Sid Series, a book that build self-esteem and empower young ones to follow inner guidance and overcome fear. She has also authored More Than Meets the Eye: True Stories about Death, Dying and Afterlife, a book designed to help people release their fear of death, and comfort those who are grieving the loss of a loved one.

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