Most Useful Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts

Summary

This tutorial details a selection of the most useful and frequently used keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Word, going beyond the basic copy, cut, paste, undo, and redo functions. It covers shortcuts for saving, printing, spell check, finding text, text formatting, page breaks, repeating actions, navigating the document, and copying formatting.

Highlights

Basic and Essential Keyboard Shortcuts00:00:00

The video starts by acknowledging common keyboard shortcuts usable across many programs: Ctrl+C for copy, Ctrl+X for cut, Ctrl+V for paste, Ctrl+Z for undo, and Ctrl+Y for redo. These are foundational for any computer user.

Quick Save and Print00:00:45

For quickly saving your document, the shortcut is Ctrl+S. To bring up the print options, use Ctrl+P. These save time by keeping your hands on the keyboard.

Spell and Grammar Check and Find Text00:01:24

Tapping F7 opens the spelling and grammar check feature. Ctrl+F opens the navigation panel, allowing you to quickly find specific words or phrases within large documents.

Text Formatting Shortcuts: Bold, Italic, Underline00:02:23

To apply or remove formatting without using the mouse: Ctrl+U for underline, Ctrl+B for bold, and Ctrl+I for italics. Remember to toggle them off if you don't want the formatting to continue.

Automatic Page Break00:03:42

Instead of repeatedly pressing Enter to move text to a new page, use Ctrl+Enter to insert an automatic page break, ensuring clean document breaks.

Repeat Last Action (F4)00:04:30

The F4 key repeats your most recent action. This can be useful for repeating deletions, typing the same word multiple times, or reapplying a formatting change.

Jump Back to Previous Cursor Location (Shift+F5)00:05:14

Shift+F5 instantly takes your cursor back to its last three previous locations, which is very helpful when navigating and editing large documents.

Extend Selection with Shift + Arrows00:05:59

After selecting a word (double-click) or paragraph (triple-click), you can extend the selection precisely by holding Shift and pressing the left or right arrow keys, avoiding the need to re-drag the mouse.

Copy and Paste Formatting (Ctrl+Shift+C and Ctrl+Shift+V)00:07:21

Ctrl+Shift+C copies the formatting of selected text. Then, Ctrl+Shift+V pastes only that formatting to other text, leaving the content itself unchanged.