Microsoft Word shortcut keys

Below is a listing of all the major shortcut keys in Microsoft Word. See the computer shortcut page if you are looking for other shortcut keys used in other programs.

Shortcut Keys	Description
Ctrl + 0	Adds or removes 6pts of spacing before a paragraph.
Ctrl + A	Select all contents of the page.
Ctrl + B	Bold highlighted selection.
Ctrl + C	Copy selected text.
Ctrl + E	Aligns the line or selected text to the center of the screen.
Ctrl + F	Open find box.
Ctrl + I	Italic highlighted selection.
Ctrl + J	Aligns the selected text or line to justify the screen.
Ctrl + K	Insert link.
Ctrl + L	Aligns the line or selected text to the left of the screen.
Ctrl + M	Indent the paragraph.
Ctrl + P	Open the print window.
Ctrl + R	Aligns the line or selected text to the right of the screen.
Ctrl + T	Create a hanging indent.
Ctrl + U	Underline highlighted selection.
Ctrl + V	Paste.
Ctrl + X	Cut selected text.
Ctrl + Y	Redo the last action performed.
Ctrl + Z	Undo last action.
Ctrl + Shift + L	Quickly create a bullet point.
Ctrl + Shift + F	Change the font.
Ctrl + Shift + >	Increase selected font +1pts up to 12pt and then increases font +2pts.
Ctrl + ]	Increase selected font +1pts.
Ctrl + Shift + <	Decrease selected font -1pts if 12pt or lower, if above 12 decreases font by +2pt.
Ctrl + [	Decrease selected font -1pts.
Ctrl + / + c	Insert a cent sign (¢).
Ctrl + ' +	Insert a character with an accent (grave) mark, where is the character you want. For example, if you wanted an accented è you would use Ctrl + ' + e as your shortcut key. To reverse the accent mark use the opposite accent mark, often on the tilde key.
Ctrl + Shift + *	View or hide non printing characters.
Ctrl +	Moves one word to the left.
Ctrl +	Moves one word to the right.
Ctrl +	Moves to the beginning of the line or paragraph.
Ctrl +	Moves to the end of the paragraph.
Ctrl + Del	Deletes word to right of cursor.
Ctrl + Backspace	Deletes word to left of cursor.
Ctrl + End	Moves the cursor to the end of the document.
Ctrl + Home	Moves the cursor to the beginning of the document.
Ctrl + Spacebar	Reset highlighted text to the default font.
Ctrl + 1	Single-space lines.
Ctrl + 2	Double-space lines.
Ctrl + 5	1.5-line spacing.
Ctrl + Alt + 1	Changes text to heading 1.
Ctrl + Alt + 2	Changes text to heading 2.
Ctrl + Alt + 3	Changes text to heading 3.
Alt + Ctrl + F2	Open new document.
Ctrl + F1	Open the Task Pane.
Ctrl + F2	Display the print preview.
Ctrl + Shift + >	Increases the highlighted text size by one.
Ctrl + Shift + <	Decreases the highlighted text size by one.
Ctrl + Shift + F6	Opens to another open Microsoft Word document.
Ctrl + Shift + F12	Prints the document.
F1	Open Help.
F4	Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+)
F5	Open the find, replace, and go to window in Microsoft Word.
F7	Spellcheck and grammar check selected text or document.
F12	Save as.
Shift + F3	Change the text in Microsoft Word from uppercase to lowercase or a capital letter at the beginning of every word.
Shift + F7	Runs a Thesaurus check on the word highlighted.
Shift + F12	Save.
Shift + Enter	Create a soft break instead of a new paragraph.
Shift + Insert	Paste.
Shift + Alt + D	Insert the current date.
Shift + Alt + T	Insert the current time.

In addition to the above shortcut keys users can also use their mouse as a method of quickly do something commonly performed. Below some are examples of mouse shortcuts.

Mouse shortcuts	Description
Click, hold, and drag	Selects text from where you click and hold to the point you drag and let go.
Double-click	If double-click a word, selects the complete word.
Double-click	Double-clicking on the left, center, or right of a blank line will make the alignment of the text left, center, or right aligned.
Double-click	Double-clicking anywhere after text on a line will set a tab stop.
Triple-click	Selects the line or paragraph of the text the mouse triple-clicked.
Ctrl + Mouse wheel	Zooms in and out of document.

Top 10 keyboard shortcuts everyone should know

Using keyboard shortcuts can greatly increase your productivity, reduce repetitive strain, and help keep you focused. For example, highlighting text with the keyboard and pressing Ctrl + C is much faster than taking your hand from the keyboard, highlighting the text using the mouse, clicking copy from the file menu, and then putting your hand back in place on the keyboard. Below are our top 10 keyboard shortcuts we recommend everyone memorize and use.

Ctrl + C or Ctrl + Insert

Copy the highlighted text or selected item.

Ctrl + V or Shift + Insert

Paste the text or object that's in the clipboard.

Ctrl + Z and Ctrl + Y

Undo any change. For example, if you cut text, pressing this will undo it. This can also often be pressed multiple times to undo multiple changes. Pressing Ctrl + Y would redo the undo.

Ctrl + F

Open the Find in any program. This includes your Internet browser to find text on the current page.

Alt + Tab or Alt + Esc

Quickly switch between open programs moving forward.

Press Ctrl + Tab to switch between tabs in a program.

Adding the Shift key to Alt + Tab or Ctrl + Tab will move backwards. For example, if you are pressing Alt + Tab and pass the program you want to switch to, press Alt + Shift + Tab to move backwards to that program.

Windows Vista and 7 users can also press the Windows Key + Tab to switch through open programs in a full screenshot of the Window.

Ctrl + Back space and Ctrl + Left arrow / Right arrow

Pressing Ctrl + Backspace will delete a full word at a time instead of a single character.

Holding down the Ctrl key while pressing the left or right arrow will move the cursor one word at a time instead of one character at a time. If you wanted to highlight one word at a time you can hold down Ctrl + Shift and then press the left or right arrow key to move one word at a time in that direction while highlighting each word.

Ctrl + S

While working on a document or other file in almost every program pressing Ctrl + S will save that file. This shortcut key should be used frequently anytime you're working on anything important.

Ctrl + Home / End

Move the cursor to the beginning or end of a document.

Ctrl + P

Print the page being viewed. For example, the document in Microsoft Word or the web page in your Internet browser.

Page Up / Space bar and Page Down

Pressing either the page up or page down key will move that page one page at a time in that direction. When browsing the Internet pressing the space bar will also move the page down one page at a time. If you press Shift and the Space bar the page will go up a page at a time.

What are the F1 through F12 keys?

Question

What are the F1 through F12 keys?

Answer

Commonly known as "function keys", F1 through F12 may have a variety of different uses or no use at all. Depending on the installed operating system and the software program currently open will change how each of these keys operate. A program is capable of not only using each of the function keys, but also combining the function keys with the ALT or CTRL key, for example, Microsoft Windows users can press ALT + F4 to close the program currently active.

Below is a short-listing of some of the common functions of the functions keys on computers running Microsoft Windows. As mentioned above not all programs support function keys and may perform different tasks then those mentioned below. If you are looking for more specific shortcut keys and function key examples we suggest seeing our shortcut key page.

F1

• Almost always used as the help key, almost every program will open the help screen when this key is pressed.
• Enter CMOS Setup.
• Windows Key + F1 would open the Microsoft Windows help and support center.
• Open the Task Pane.

F2

• In Windows commonly used to rename a highlighted icon or file.
• Alt + Ctrl + F2 opens document window in Microsoft Word.
• Ctrl + F2 displays the print preview window in Microsoft Word.
• Enter CMOS Setup.

F3

• Often opens a search feature for many programs including Microsoft Windows.
• In MS-DOS or Windows command line F3 will repeat the last command.
• Shift + F3 will change the text in Microsoft Word from upper to lower case or a capital letter at the beginning of every word.

F4

• Open find window.
• Repeat the last action performed (Word 2000+)
• Alt + F4 will close the program currently active in Microsoft Windows.
• Ctrl + F4 will close the open window within the current active window in Microsoft Windows.

F5

• In all modern Internet browsers pressing F5 will refresh or reload the page or document window.
• Open the find, replace, and go to window in Microsoft Word.
• Starts a slideshow in PowerPoint.

F6

• Move the cursor to the Address bar in Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.
• Ctrl + Shift + F6 opens to another open Microsoft Word document.

F7

• Commonly used to spell check and grammar check a document in Microsoft programs such as Microsoft Word, Outlook, etc.
• Shift + F7 runs a Thesaurus check on the word highlighted.
• Turns on Caret browsing in Mozilla Firefox.

F8

• Function key used to enter the Windows startup menu, commonly used to access Windows Safe Mode.

F9

• Opens the Measurements toolbar in Quark 5.0.

F10

• In Microsoft Windows activates the menu bar of an open application.
• Shift + F10 is the same as right-clicking on a highlighted icon, file, or Internet link.
• Access the hidden recovery partition on HP and Sony computers.
• Enter CMOS Setup.

F11

• Full-screen mode in all modern Internet browsers.
• Ctrl + F11 as computer is starting to access the hidden recovery partition on many Dell computers.
• Access the hidden recovery partition on eMachines, Gateway, and Lenovo computers.

F12

• Open the Save as window in Microsoft Word.
• Shift + F12 save the Microsoft Word document.
• Ctrl + Shift + F12 prints a document in Microsoft Word.
• Preview a page in Microsoft Expression Web
• Open Firebug.

Earlier IBM computers also had F13 - F24 on the keyboards. However, because these keyboards are no longer used they are not listed on this page.

Unix / Linux shortcut keys

Introduction

Shortcuts are designed to help shorten the time required to perform frequently used commands or actions. In the below sections we have listed keyboard shortcut keys that can be performed by pressing two or more keys at once. In addition to keyboard shortcut keys, we have also listed command line shortcut keys that can be typed in at the shell.

Not all of the below shortcut keys and command line shortcuts will not work on all variants of Unix and Linux. 

Keyboard shortcut keys

CTRL + B	Moves the cursor backward one character.
CTRL + C	Cancels the currently running command.
CTRL + D	Logs out of the current session.
CTRL + F	Moves the cursor forward one character.
CTRL + H	Erase one character. Similar to pressing backspace.
CTRL + P	Paste previous line(s).
CTRL + S	Stops all output on screen (XOFF).
CTRL + Q	Turns all output stopped on screen back on (XON).
CTRL + U	Erases the complete line.
CTRL + W	Deletes the last word typed in. For example, if you typed 'mv file1 file2' this shortcut would delete file2.
CTRL + Z	Cancels current operation, moves back a directory or takes the current operation and moves it to the background. See bg command for additional information about background.

Command line shortcuts

In addition to the below command line shortcuts, it is also helpful to use the alias command that allows you to specify a keyword for frequently used commands or mistakes.

~	Moves to the user's home directory.
!!	Repeats the line last entered at the shell. See history command for previous commands.
!$	Repeats the last argument for the command last used. See history command for previous commands.
reset	Resets the terminal if terminal screen is not displaying correctly.
shutdown -h now	Remotely or locally shuts the system down.

Apple Macintosh shortcut keys

Note that not all of the below shortcut keys will work in all versions of Mac OS.

Open Apple + Down	Opens the selected icon.
Shift + Click	Select the icon and add it to the set of those selected.
Tab	Highlight the next icon inside the folder, in alphabetical order.
Shift + Tab	Highlight the previous icon inside the folder, in alphabetical order.
Left arrow	Used when viewing by icon to select the icon to the left of the one highlighted.
Right arrow	Used when viewing by icon to select icon to the right of the one highlighted.
Up arrow	Used to select the icon above the one currently highlighted.
Down arrow	Used to select the icon below the one currently highlighted.
Open Apple + ?	Mac help
Open Apple + E	Eject
Open Apple + Shift + Up Arrow	Used to direct the input focus to the desktop level.
Open Apple + M	Minimize window
Open Apple + N	New finder window
Open Apple + Shift + N	New folder
Open Apple + W	Close the current window.
Open Apple + C	Copy the elected item to the clipboard.
Open Apple + X	Cut the selected item.
Open Apple + V	Paste item from the clipboard
Open Apple + L	Make alias
Open Apple + R	Show original item
Open Apple + T	Add to favorites
Open Apple + O	Open the selected icon.
Open Apple + F	Display the find dialog box.
Open Apple + G	Repeat the last find operation.
Open Apple + Shift + G	Takes a snapshot of the screen and saves it to a PICT file.