I normally muse about philosophical things on this blog, but this entry is specific to a very practical matter. What are the most productivity enhancing keyboard shortucts (For Windows) that you can do solely with your left hand? (Why solely with your left hand? Because (a) most of the cool shortcuts are left-handed, and (b) many of these shortcuts can benefit from also using the mouse, which most people use with their right hands.) This is by no means an exhaustive list -- it's just a list of productivity-increasing keys that I use a lot.
I will put these together based on the "special" key that accompanies it.
1. Alt-tab. If you don't know alt-tab, your productivity may as much as double for certain jobs. Alt-tab allows you to switch between applications without using the mouse and without going to the taskbar. If you keep holding alt, you can tap tab and rotate through the open applications. And if this doesn't make sense, try it. Now, imagine you are trying to copy from one application and paste into another ... Woohoo!
1b. Ctrl-tab. This does the same thing as alt-tab, but inside a single application that is tabbed (like Internet Explorer, Excel, etc.)
2. Ctrl-[key] (key: A, S, Z, X, C, V, T)
I assume most people know these, but they are extremely helpful, especially when modifying Office documents.
Ctrl-A: Select All. If you want to copy everything or delete everything, select it all this way.
Ctrl-S: Save. Instead of clicking the file, you just hit ctrl-S. I do this nearly obsessively because I have lost too much work over the years.
Ctrl-Z: Undo. If you want to go back, unstead of searching for that curvy arrow, just hit ctrl-Z. (Redo is usually ctrl-Y, but that requires a heck of a reach for the left hand.)
Ctrl-X: Cut.
Ctrl-C: Copy.
Ctrl-V: Paste.
Ctrl-T: Open a new tab (in an application that has tabs).
3. WindowsKey-[key] (key: [nothing], E, R, D)
WK-[nothing]: Hitting just the WindowsKey (the key with the curvy Windows icon) will bring up the Start menu.
WK-E: Open Windows Explorer (folders on the computer, not Internet Explorer)
WK-R: Open the "run" dialog. You can then type some neat things, like "calc" (to open the calculator), "notepad" (to open ... um ... notepad), "mspaint" (to open paint), or "msconfig" (to open an app to deal with startup items).
WK-D: Go to the desktop (i.e., minimize all applications). This can be very helpful if you have a window that won't go away, for some reason.
4. Alt-[key]. The alt key mainly messes with menus. If you have an application that hides the menus, just hitting Alt will often bring the menu up. If you hit a key, you can usually look to whatever letter is underlined in a menu to bring up that option (like alt-F for File, or alt-A for Save As).
Alt-F4 closes the current application. Ctrl-F4 closes the current tab, if the application has tabs).
5. Ctrl-Shift-Esc. Open Windows Task Manager (the thing let shows you what applications are open and lets you close them).
I'm not going to detail FN keys because not all keyboards have them and they are very specific to the particular hardware -- but just know that the normal paradigm there is for whatever color the FN key is, there will be similarly colored icons in the functions key above (and maybe other keys, like arrows) that let things work together. Sleeping, power options, display choice, etc., are usually controled by these combinations.
Enjoy!
I will put these together based on the "special" key that accompanies it.
1. Alt-tab. If you don't know alt-tab, your productivity may as much as double for certain jobs. Alt-tab allows you to switch between applications without using the mouse and without going to the taskbar. If you keep holding alt, you can tap tab and rotate through the open applications. And if this doesn't make sense, try it. Now, imagine you are trying to copy from one application and paste into another ... Woohoo!
1b. Ctrl-tab. This does the same thing as alt-tab, but inside a single application that is tabbed (like Internet Explorer, Excel, etc.)
2. Ctrl-[key] (key: A, S, Z, X, C, V, T)
I assume most people know these, but they are extremely helpful, especially when modifying Office documents.
Ctrl-A: Select All. If you want to copy everything or delete everything, select it all this way.
Ctrl-S: Save. Instead of clicking the file, you just hit ctrl-S. I do this nearly obsessively because I have lost too much work over the years.
Ctrl-Z: Undo. If you want to go back, unstead of searching for that curvy arrow, just hit ctrl-Z. (Redo is usually ctrl-Y, but that requires a heck of a reach for the left hand.)
Ctrl-X: Cut.
Ctrl-C: Copy.
Ctrl-V: Paste.
Ctrl-T: Open a new tab (in an application that has tabs).
3. WindowsKey-[key] (key: [nothing], E, R, D)
WK-[nothing]: Hitting just the WindowsKey (the key with the curvy Windows icon) will bring up the Start menu.
WK-E: Open Windows Explorer (folders on the computer, not Internet Explorer)
WK-R: Open the "run" dialog. You can then type some neat things, like "calc" (to open the calculator), "notepad" (to open ... um ... notepad), "mspaint" (to open paint), or "msconfig" (to open an app to deal with startup items).
WK-D: Go to the desktop (i.e., minimize all applications). This can be very helpful if you have a window that won't go away, for some reason.
4. Alt-[key]. The alt key mainly messes with menus. If you have an application that hides the menus, just hitting Alt will often bring the menu up. If you hit a key, you can usually look to whatever letter is underlined in a menu to bring up that option (like alt-F for File, or alt-A for Save As).
Alt-F4 closes the current application. Ctrl-F4 closes the current tab, if the application has tabs).
5. Ctrl-Shift-Esc. Open Windows Task Manager (the thing let shows you what applications are open and lets you close them).
I'm not going to detail FN keys because not all keyboards have them and they are very specific to the particular hardware -- but just know that the normal paradigm there is for whatever color the FN key is, there will be similarly colored icons in the functions key above (and maybe other keys, like arrows) that let things work together. Sleeping, power options, display choice, etc., are usually controled by these combinations.
Enjoy!
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