Get to unlock all the possibilities of your keyboard and it will become just another tip.
During the race, the professor of Localization software and web pages told us that it is foolish not to learn. what the keys and keyboard shortcuts do. of the programs and operating systems that we use, because if we spend hundreds of euros on them but the only thing we use is the mouse, we are wasting a lot of that investment.
Clearly, this perspective makes more sense when applied to. programs such as Tradosa computer-assisted translation tool that costs in the order of 500 eurosand not when we spend only 15 euros on OEM licenses. But the important thing is that since then I got into the habit of incorporating the use of keyboard shortcuts whenever I canand not only do I work much more efficiently, but I have also been able to solve technical problems thanks to this knowledge.
Also, when we got to this in-depth understanding of the functionalities of the keyboardwith its limits and possibilities, it is as if we were accessing a mental space in which the connection between the origin of an action and the implementation Is a quick physical push away. As I know that I dream of Morpheus at this momentI explain: if we use the mouse to interact with the computer, we need to identify and locate the cursor with our eyes, so the sensory intermediaries hinder the actions; but with a keyboard interaction is much more immediateimpulsive, as if the keys were just another phalanx (this is especially true when we write without lookingof course).
Since it occurred to me to come up with this sort of guide, it has taken me a while to decide to write it, because when you incorporate these keyboard shortcuts they end up becoming. such automatic actions and instinctive that you do them without realizing it. I would like to update the list below, because although I have managed to record the most frequent ones, I keep finding more in my day to day life. On the other hand, I encourage you to propose your own. Let’s make this article a healthy learning space, not anything else.
Keyboard shortcuts and keys that save me time.
Single keys
- Directional keysit seems obvious, but not everybody uses them, and the directional keys make the interaction with text and browsers much lighter in any environment. In this same document that I am writing, if I want to move faster, I just press Ctrl+left or right to move to the end of each word, Home or End to go to the beginning or end of a line, Ctrl+Up or Down to move between paragraphs, PgUp or PgDn to move between pages… If we are talking about a browser, although the mouse wheel does things very well, sometimes a Space keystroke solves the problem. unnecessary mouse movements.
- Shift: this key has many functions, and can be used to write with capital letters and to place specific signs, as well as for reverse the action of another key or, for example, select text, and it works as you would expect if you add it to the directional keys. If you press it while moving, you will select as much text. Again, I feel like I’m jumping into explaining things that everyone knows, but the mouse has done a lot of damageladies and gentlemen.
- Tabulator: in dialog boxes, Windows explorer windows, browsers, etc., this key allows us to move forward to the next option in that environment. It does it in a rotating way, so if you keep clicking, you will go back to the beginning, but if you want to go back, apply the Shift modifier and that’s it.
- Windows logo key: this key has many shortcuts associated with it, but the way I use it separately is to. open the Home paneland even if I have programs docked there, I usually type directly the first letters of the one I want to run, especially if it is a system tool or settings panel. That is to say, for example, Win+”Disp” and it appears “Device Manager“. However, I have the programs I use the most in the toolbar, and for that, read on.
Basic combinations
- Ctrl+C, X, V: again, an obvious one, but this combination is essential in the workflow… Copy, cut, paste: the holy trinity of Windows..
- Alt+Tab: when you have the browser window open, the window of the word processorPhotoshop, the file explorer and Spotify at the same time, to choose the one you want to have in the foreground, there’s nothing like this shortcut to quickly rotate.
Windows logo key shortcuts.
- Win+Number: launches or maximizes the program docked in the toolbar located at that position, up to a total of 10 (because there are no more numbers on the keyboard). In my case, for example, I have, from left to right: Edge, Total Commander, Spotify, VLC, Word, Reaper, Photoshop, Premiere, OBS and Discord. Then there are others, but as I don’t consider them productivity, they are left out of this shortcut. To launch, say, Reaper (the DAW I use for voice recording), press Win+6 and put on the headphones.
- Win+D, Alt+F4: the first combination is used to minimize all windows and “go” to the desktop. In this way, if you press Alt+F4 the window to shutdown, restart or suspend Windows appears. It is a incredibly fast method of shutting down, restarting or suspending. the computer in one go if you have the tower out of the way or you want to perform some specific action and you have another one associated with the shutdown button.
- Win+R: this combination opens the “Run” window. It is used to open lots of system utilities. Some as frequent as command prompt (cmd), notepad (notepad), the DirectX tool (dxdiag), Word itself (winword); and others more specific, such as the user account manager (netplwiz), the registry editor (regedit), the system configuration to map the startup options (msconfig)…
- Win+arrows: since Windows allows you to maximize windows on either side of the screen, as well as in the corners, when you are operating on a window and press, for example, Win+left, will be placed on that side of the screenand if you have another window open, the system will propose to place it on the opposite side occupying all that space. By the same logic, if you press Win+Up, the window in question will will reduce its size by half to occupy only one corner.. It is very comfortable to work with, try combinations!
- Win+Impr Pant/Win+Shift+S: the first combination allows you to take screenshots of the entire screen, but if you want something finer or more specific, try the second shortcut, which is used to use the Snipping toola great way to take snapshots of both windows and specific parts of what you are viewing on the screen.
More life-giving shortcuts
- Shift+Del: when I’m organizing files to free up space and I know for a fact that I will not want to recover the file or whatever folder, I use this combination to skip the recycle garbage can step. As you can imagine, this way of deleting has a lot of dangerbecause once you press Enter, the only way to restore the deleted file is to use a recovery program, and there are few that work well (I know from sad experience).
- Ctrl+Shift+Esc: one day I realized that 90% of the times I pressed the famous Ctrl+Alt+Del it was for run the task managerso I looked for the shortcut to launch it directly, and it is the one that starts this paragraph, eliminating intermediaries!
- Alt+Enter: I reserve this combination almost exclusively for games. When one of them gives display problems, I try to press this shortcut for rotate between the different display modes (full, windowed, borderless window) to identify the problem or directly resolve it (as when I have been in full live and OBS has played me).
- Browser shortcuts: to work with Chrome, Firefox or Edge, I am accustomed to use a series of shortcuts that lighten tab actions and avoid scares.. Ctrl+T opens a new one, Ctrl+Tab allows you to rotate between the open ones (and Ctrl+Number, go directly to one of them), Ctrl+W closes the one you have open, Ctrl+Shift+T is a blessing. which opens the last one you closed and even a whole group if the last thing you did was close the whole window. Ctrl+L
- Ctrl+U: this shortcut still belongs to the collection of browsers, but I think it deserves a section on its own. It serves to open the source code of the pages and, together with the “Inspect” option of your browser, is one of the best ways of extract embedded or uploaded files to a particular page. In this way I have managed to extract images and videos that seemed inaccessible by right clicking.
Keep track of this humble experiential guide. I plan to remain very attentive to my keyboard habits. to add them to the list as soon as I have a new juicy batch. By the way, you may have noticed that no mention of shortcuts for Windows Explorer.and this is a personal matter: I have always used Total Commander. I guess I’ll have to put together another article to talk about it, won’t I?
