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As a seasoned computer user and a fanatic for efficiency, I try to stay away from using the mouse. The mouse is a great tool for many tasks, but more often than not, the keyboard can do the same thing faster. Think about how much you move your hand from the keyboard to the mouse – it doesn’t take a lot of time, but the number of times you do it each day really adds up. So I’ve compiled a list of shortcuts that will help you be more efficient and make you look like a computer whiz while you’re at it. Some of the following are application specific, but most are universal.

1. Alt+tab: Everyone knows of it, but most people don’t use it enough! Both Linux (with beryl) and Vista (with Aero enabled) gives you a userful screenshot preview of all the windows. If you are using XP, Microsoft has a powertoy that does the same thing, called Alt-Tab replacement. Another thing that isn’t often documented is that the Alt+tab list will automatically rearrange itself in the order windows were last accessed. Use it for a bit and you’ll get the hang of it!
2. Tab/Shift+tab: When filling in forms, simply press tab to go the next field. I get really frustrated when I see someone type in their username, move their hand to the mouse, wiggle it around a bit to find the cursor (because its set to go invisible when typing), click on the password field, enter their password, go to their mouse, and click submit. Sigh… its enter username, tab, enter password, hit Enter.
3. Redo: It is often Ctrl+Y but depending on the application, the actual key combination may differ. This isn’t only used to Redo things you’ve “Undoed”! For example, if you applied a certain text style to a paragraph in Microsoft Word, you can highlight another paragraph and hit Redo to apply the style again! Just like creating short-term macros, its a real time saver! It seems that Alt+Enter also does the same thing in Microsoft Office although I can’t find any documentation that says so.
4. Windows key+M (or Windows key+D): This one is a Windows-only shortcut, but different operating systems will have their equivalent. Need a quick way to get to your desktop? Windows Key+M (or +D) will do the trick! There is a slight difference between the two, +D will show the desktop for sure whereas +M may not close all open dialogs (i.e. error boxes, some popups etc.) Don’t have a Windows key you say? I feel you, neither my IBM Thinkpad nor my IBM Model M keyboard has a Windows key. Simply get one of the many free programs available that will remap another key to a Windows key via the registry or edit the registry manually! Popular choices are Right-Alt or Caps Lock.
5. Ctrl+Shift+Esc: Another Windows-only shortcut. This one brings up the Task Manager so you can keep a close eye on your processes to make sure your computer is running at peak efficiency . (Ctrl+Alt+Delete doesn’t do the same thing!)
6. Shift+whatever: In many cases, shift + another shortcut will do the same thing in the reverse direction. Alt-tabbing and accidentally passed by the window you want? Hold shift to navigate left! Tabbing through fields and skipped a field? Hold shift while tabbing to go backwards!
7. Ctrl+Enter (Firefox/IE/Opera): In any of these browsers, you can simply type a domain name into the address bar, hit Ctrl+Enter and the browser will format the domain for you! For example, if you enter “google” and hit Ctrl+Enter, you’ll automatically get http://www.google.com! Looking for .net or .org? Try Shift+Enter and Ctrl+Shift+Enter respectively (Firefox/Opera only)!

Note: when you type a single word and hit Enter in your web browser, it does not automatically add in “http://www.” and “.com” for you. It queries a search engine with that word, and forward you to the most likely link you were looking for. This isn’t 100% accurate and it adds a slight delay (inefficiency!).

For the really hardcore keyboard fanatics, there is no acceptable text editor other than Vim. Steep learning curve but you’ll never feel more efficient editing text! There’s definitely more shortcuts out there, feel free to suggest common ones you use in the comments – keep an eye out for part 2 of this series on keyboard shortcuts

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This entry was posted on Sunday, February 25th, 2007 at 11:21 pm and is filed under Efficiency. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.