Keyboard shortcuts

Is it cos I is Mac?

Being an ardent Mac user who defected relatively recently to Windows, one thing that struck the author was how few PC users regularly use keyboard shortcuts.

After commenting on this, the consensus was that this tendency to keyboard shortcuts was a result of the Mac mouse having only one button instead of the regulation two.  [In case you are wondering, you hold the Mac mouse button down to carry out many of the right-click procedures]

So, in the spirit of ‘Share what you know, learn what you don’t’, here's a run down on the most commonly applicable quick keyboard shortcuts.

Print   - Ctrl + P

Save   - Ctrl + s

Copy  - Ctrl + c

Paste  - Ctrl + v

Cut  - Ctrl + x

Find  - Ctrl + f

Find/Replace - Ctrl + h

Quit   - Ctrl + q

Open  - Ctrl + o

Close  - Ctrl + w

New  - Ctrl + n

Undo  - Ctrl + z

Bold  - Ctrl + b

Italic  - Ctrl + i

Underline - Ctrl + u

Select all -  Ctrl + a

Go to   - Ctrl + g

Insert link - Ctrl + k

Repeat typing  - Ctrl + y

WinKey + m   
WinKey is the one between Ctrl and Alt on a Windows keyboard, the one with the fluttery Windows flag. This shortcut takes you straight to the desktop by minimising all open windows

WinKey + e  
Launches Windows Explorer. Alternative to ploughing through Start > Programs > Accessories > Windows Explorer

Shift + Ctrl + Arrows
Fly shortcut. Click your cursor in where you wish to start and then select one word at a time. Works in text and HTML editors

Alt + Tab
Navigate through all your open applications at warp speed! Just the ticket for those occasions when you have to jump back and forth constantly between software packages. The default is to the last used program.

More often than not, these keyboard shortcuts are far quicker than right clicking with the mouse or diving up to the menu bar – saving you wear and tear on your wrist and mouse, if not a few microseconds into the bargain.

Under the heading of sad but true, a certain Mac to PC convert was so fazed by the change that initially he had to draw an Apple symbol on a bit of sticky paper and place it over the Ctrl key. Even today he still thinks in terms of Apple S and Apple P as the shortcuts to save and print.

Yet another story is the propensity to search the desktop for floppy or CD icons to drag into the wastebasket...

Footnote:
If you still haven’t been anywhere near a Mac, a little explanation may be in order:

· Until the introduction of the i-Mac, Apple Macintosh keyboard always had an Apple symbol on the Ctrl key,
· To eject floppies or CDs from a Mac the easiest way is to drag their desktop icon straight into the trash