By: Chase Petersen
Before entering into the business world most of my computer experience was gained through school assignments; typing papers and the occasional excel assignment, so I did not have much use for keyboard shortcuts. Now, working on a computer for multiple different tasks, creates variety and a need for shortcuts to increase productivity. While almost everyone knows CTRL-C, CTRL-V, and CTRL-X to copy, paste, and cut; there are many more shortcut keys that are useful for productivity and efficiency.
Below is a short list with a description of shortcuts that I find useful almost every day. The list is by no means exhaustive, but it is a good place to start. It might not seem like keyboard shortcuts will save much time, but the time saved by each of these actions will add up and make your life easier.
CTRL-F allows you to search a document for keywords or phrases, but it can also be used to replace keywords or phrases with another string of text.
CTRL-Shift-Click can be used to select multiple items (rows, columns, entries) that are not aligned next to one another.
CTRL – Z – can be use to undo your previous action.
ALT-TAB can be used to switch quickly between windows that are open on you computer.
Windows – L logs out the computer or puts it into sleep mode.
CTRL-Shift-V operates just like CTRL-V in that it pastes from the clipboard but it removes any formatting taken from the copied material.
CRTL-PrtScr captures your screen in a screenshot.
Windows-M minimizes all windows open.