Happy Thought for 22 September 2023

 Have a Happy Thought: 

We all know that Ctrl + z is the most important keyboard shortcut. So important, that it would be good to have in real life.

(For those that haven't learned this yet - congratulations, your life is now easier! Ctrl + z is "undo". It undoes whatever it is you last did, including accidentally deleting everything you've been working on for the last 3 hours. The one thing it can't 'undo' is if you've closed your document without saving. So you should also become very familiar with Ctrl + s, which will save your document.) (for those that really don't know, if you see commands with the + sign, this means that you press and hold the first key in the sequence, then you press the second, so you end up holding both of them down together. You don’t have to hold them for long - I do my faves like "ctrl + z" within a fraction of a second. )        

I have recently learned two other shortcuts that work on Windows computers. One is amazing. The other is… imagine me saying "amazing" with just the absolute most sarcasm you can imagine.

  • Win + Period (Win + .) opens the emoji menu  🤩👍

○ It also gives you quick access to the symbols menu!! This will be a massive time-saver for anyone that uses symbols or the occasional letter from a non-English script in their writing… such as α, ≤, £, ℃

  • Shift + Ctrl + Alt + Win + L opens LinkedIn (the only saving grace is that this is so complicated that you would never stumble across this on accident)     


The rest of this is turning into another Public Service Announcement, you're welcome.      

Important windows Shortcut Keys

  • Alt + Tab: Switch between open programs.
  • Win + Tab: Show all active programs in mini-screens so you can toggle to the one you want using the arrow keys/enter
  • Windows Key + D: Minimise all windows and display the desktop.  (excellent for when your coworker comes around your desk and shouldn't be seeing what you're working on. Or for when your boss/spouse comes around your desk and shouldn't see that you're actually not working…)
  • Windows Key + L: locks your computer (so you have to enter your password to get back in. another excellent habit to have, every time you stand up from your desk, especially if you are working in public, or with sensitive information that not everyone around you has/should have access to)
  • Windows Key + Up Arrow: Maximize current window.
  • Windows Key + Down Arrow: Un-maximize current window (so it takes up only part of the screen. Helpful for when say a Zoom call has the Zoom controls at the top of your screen so you can't access the menu or other tabs)
  • Ctrl + F4: Close active document (does not work with some applications). (remember to hit Ctrl + s first!)
  • Alt + F4: Quit active application or close current window. (again: Ctrl + s first)
  • Ctrl + PageUp/PageDown: Switch between tabs (leftwards/rightwards) within a program (like tabs in Chrome/Internet explorer/any internet browser)
  • F5: (in any internet browser) reload the page.
  • Shift + F5: reload the page from scratch, ignoring any locally saved or cache information. Great for when an internet page seems to "hang" or just get stuck.

 Some other shortcut keys in Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc) that might be of use to you, in a pleasing graphic format:

 


Many more at https://turbofuture.com/computers/keyboard-shortcut-keys>  This is also a great resource in case your keyboard or mouse start behaving differently, or a little notice pops up like "sticky keys on" and you have no idea what that means or how to turn sticky keys back off… It also includes shortcut keys for Apple / MacOS computers for a few applications.


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