Top 25 of the most useful Windows application shortcuts that saves you a lot of time

Both Windows XP and Windows Vista comes with built-in support for keyboard shortcuts that helps you save time by not clicking around. Apart from the default Windows’ own shortcuts, both Windows Vista and Windows XP supports application shortcuts as well and what that means is that when you are within an application you can use those shortcuts to quickly get the applications to do some action.

It might be a bit harder to memorize and get familiar with all those keyboard shortcuts but here are the most important 25 keyboard shortcuts that you can easily get familiar with which could save you a lot of time when you are actively using your computer,

Ctrl C

Copy Command – Allows you to copy any selected items (text, files, folders, images, music etc.) to the Windows Clipboard. Make sure to have the item you want to copy selected and then press the “Ctrl” key and the “C” key to have that item copied to the clipboard.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Edit” >> “Copy”

Ctrl X

Cut Command – If you’d prefer to move the original content to a different location then you make sure to select the content you want to move and then press the “Ctrl” key and the “X” key. Don’t panic, if the content you’ve selected to move either gray’s out or disappears, it should be in your Windows Clipboard.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Edit” >> “Cut”

Ctrl V

Paste Command – Of course, after you’ve copied or cut an item you’d want to paste that on something. Press the “Ctrl” key and the “V” key to paste the already copied content to the target location (could be a text editor, image editor, folder, file etc.). Alternatively, you can press the “Shift” key and the “Insert” key if you prefer. Both does the same action.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Edit” >> “Paste”

Ctrl Z

Undo Command – If you’ve made a mistake while working on your PC (on the software side) and wanted to go back to the previous step press the “Ctrl” key and the “Z” key to let Windows take you one step back. You can press “Ctrl” key and the “Z” key as many times as you’d want to go back, one step at a time.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Edit” >> “Undo”

Ctrl Y

Redo Command – If you’ve stepped back quite a lot and wanted to move forward couple of steps you could press the “Ctrl” key and the “Y” key as many steps as you’d want to move forward, one step at a time.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Edit” >> “Redo”

Ctrl A

Select All Command – If you are in a text editor or on a folder where you have many files and wanted to select them all you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “A” key to select all the items in focus. Once you select all the items you can copy it – Ctrl C or cut it – Ctrl X.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Edit” >> “Select All”

Ctrl F

Find Command – If you wanted to search for a text in a document you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “F” key to popup the Find dialog where you can key-in the phrase that you want to search for.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Edit” >> “Find”

F3

Find Next Command – Once you’ve keyed-in your search phrase and once Windows locates the first match within your document you can press the “F3” key to find the next occurrence of the phrase.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Edit” >> “Find” >> Choose “Find Next”

Ctrl B

Bold Command – If you are editing a document and wanted to bold some text you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “B” key to make the selected text bolded. Make sure to select the text that you want to be bolded before you press the “Ctrl” key and the “B” key.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Format” >> “Font” >> Choose “Bold”

Ctrl U

Underline Command – When editing a document if you want to underline certain text you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “U” key to make the selected text underlined. Make sure to select the text that you want to be underlined before you press the “Ctrl” key and the “U” key.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Format” >> “Font” >> Choose “Underline”

Ctrl I

Italic Command – If you are editing a document and wanted to make some text look italic then you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “I” key to make the selected text italic. Make sure to select the text that you want to look italic before you press the “Ctrl” key and the “I” key.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Format” >> “Font” >> Choose “Italic”

Ctrl N

New Command – If you are working on, let’s say, a Word document and wanted to create a new document, you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “N” key to create a new document. Most of the Windows programs support this and so when you have one of those programs (notepad, Word, Excel, any of the web browsers etc.) open you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “N” key to create a new item on that program.

Corresponding Menu Item: “File” >> “New”

Ctrl O

Open Command – Again, if you are working on, let’s say, a Word document and wanted to open another document, you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “O” key to open a new document. Most of the Windows programs support this and so when you have one of those programs (notepad, Word, Excel, any of the web browsers etc.) open you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “O” key to open a new item on that program.

Corresponding Menu Item: “File” >> “Open”

Ctrl S

Save Command – When you have one of those programs open you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “S” key to save the active item on that program to the disk.

Corresponding Menu Item: “File” >> “Save”

Ctrl P

Print Command – When you have one of those programs open you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “P” key to print the active item on that program.

Corresponding Menu Item: “File” >> “Print”

Ctrl Home

Go Home Command – If you are in the middle of a lengthy document and would like to go to the very beginning of that document, you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “Home” key to jump to the very first character of that document.

Ctrl End

Go to End Command – If you are in the middle of a lengthy document and would like to go to the very end of that document, you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “End” key to jump to the very last character of that document.

Shift Home

Select till Line Start Command – If you are in the middle of a line in your document and would like to select the text from where you are currently on that line to the beginning of that line, you can press the “Shift” key and the “Home” key to select the text from the current position to the beginning of the line.

Shift End

Select till Line End Command – If you are in the middle of a line in your document and would like to select the text from where you are currently on that line to the end of that line, you can press the “Shift” key and the “End” key to select the text from the current position to the end of the line.

Tab

Insert Tab Command – I’ve seen people typing in 5, 6 or 7 spaces to put an indentation at the beginning of a sentence. That’s just wrong. You can press the “Tab” key where you want the indentation to be and Windows will automatically add 8 spaces for each tab.

Shift Tab

Undo Tab Command – If you’ve accidentally inserted more tab spaces than you need and would like to take one tab space off, you don’t have to press the “Backspace” key 8 times, just press the “Shift” key and the “Tab” key and Windows will reduce one tab space.

Ctrl T

New Tab Command – If you want to open a new tab in any of the modern browsers you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “T” key. Most of the browsers have a little “New Tab” image that you can click on but some of the browsers, aka Apple Safari, don’t have that image for you to click on. Remembering this shortcut will come in handy.

Corresponding Menu Item: “File” >> “New Tab”

Ctrl W

Close Tab Command – If you don’t want to click on those close tab buttons on each tab you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “W” key to close the active tab. If you want to quickly close many tabs this would come in handy.

Corresponding Menu Item: “File” >> “Close Tab”

Ctrl D

Bookmark Command – If you are on a web page and would like to bookmark it for later reference you can press the “Ctrl” key and the “D” key to bookmark the currently open page.

Corresponding Menu Item: “Bookmarks” >> “Add Bookmark” (or something similar)

Alt F4

Exit Program Command – This is a shortcut that you’d only prefer if you prefer to use your keyboard a lot than clicking with the mouse. Press the “Alt” key and the “F4” key to close the active program.

Corresponding Menu Item: “File” >> “Close” (or something similar)

I hope this is something that you’ll try to memorize and make use of it. Over a period of time it saves you a lot of time and of course, saves a lot of clicks. If you have any questions regarding this please make sure to ask in comments.

Source: Demogeek