Personally, I waste a lot of time in front of the computer. Many of us do. Whether this activity is related to work or a pleasant activity to relax.

It doesn’t even matter if you’re working on a project in Microsoft Word, taking notes in Wordpad or if you are writing an email in Google Chrome. The entire Windows operating system has, among many features, some keyboard combinations that can be used “in any window”.

Whether you want to select, copy, or quickly delete a word or paragraph, it is ten times more effective to press two or three keys than fumbling with your mouse or finger on the touchpad. There are chances that some of these shortcuts may not work in all applications. However, most of them will and it will help you enormously.

Key Combinations for Words Interactions

It is no longer a surprise that you can navigate through text using the arrow keys. Many do not know, however, that adding the CTRL key to the combination will yield completely different results.

CTRL + Left Arrow – moves to the beginning of the previous word

CTRL + Right Arrow – moves the cursor to the beginning of the next word

CTRL + Backspace – deletes the previous word

CTRL + Delete – deletes the next word

CTRL + Up Arrow – moves the cursor to the beginning of paragraph

CTRL + Down Arrow – moves the cursor to the end of paragraph

All these combinations are also working on Mac OS X, except the CTRL key must be replaced with Option key.

Cursor Fast Positioning

Home move to the start of the current row

End – move to the end of the current row

CTRL + Home – move to the beginning of the document

CTRL + End – move to the end of the document

Page Up – moves the cursor one page up

Page Down – moves the cursor one page below

Key Combinations For Selecting Text

Shift + Left Arrow or Right Arrow – selects one character towards left or right

Shift + Up or Down Arrow – selects one line of text up or down

CTRL + Shift + Left Arrow or Right Arrow – selects one word towards left or right

CTRL + Shift + Up or Down Arrow – selects one paragraph up or down

Shift + Home – selects the text between the cursor and the beginning of the current row

Shift + End – selects the text between the cursor and the end of the current row

CTRL + Shift + Home – select the text from the cursor to the beginning of the document

CTRL + Shift + End – select the text from the cursor position until the end of the document

Shift + Page Down – selects a text frame or a page from the cursor position

Shift + Page Up – Select a text frame or a page that ends at the cursor position

Ctrl + A – Select the entire text of the document

It is worth noting that you can make all sorts of combinations in one way or another provided you hold the Shift key. As a small detail, if you want to replace the selected text you no longer need to press Delete, you can start typing directly.

Key Combinations For Editing

CTRL + C or Ctrl + Insert – Copy the selected text

CTRL + X or Shift + Delete – Cuts the selected text

CTRL + V or Shift + Insert – Paste the copied

CTRL + Z – Undo the last action

CTRL + Y – Redo the last action

Key Combinations For Text Formatting

Text formatting is pretty much related to the editing program you are using. In a browser, for example, it might not work at all times.

CTRL + B – Thickening text (Bold)

CTRL + I – Text inclination (Italic)

CTRL + U – underline text (Underline)

Advanced Key Combinations

In addition to the above combinations, there are some advanced functions that can be used at all time, with different results, both in a web browser and a text editor.

CTRL + F – opens a window that you can use to search for characters or words in a text or a webpage

CTRL + O – displays a window for opening a new document

CTRL + S – saves the document you are editing

CTRL + N – creates a new document or open a new window related to a new document

CTRL + P – display the dialog for printing a document

Pressing ALT activate menus on the menu bar and highlights the point that you need to press to access these functions.

ALT + F – Opens the File menu

ALT + E – Opens the Edit menu

ALT + V – Openss the View menu