These universal keyboard shortcuts should work in any program
Copy (CTRL + C) and Paste (CTRL + V) are just two examples of keyboard shortcuts that usually work in any program. But there are more of what I call universal keyboard shortcuts.
When I learn a new program, after I get past the basics, I always look for the most important keyboard shortcuts that can help me do the stuff I do often much quicker. It’s something I encourage everyone to do because I know keyboard shortcuts are much faster than moving the mouse, clicking on the application menu, selecting an option, then clicking again to launch.
The problem is that each app comes with its own keyboard shortcuts. Not only that, but the same app may have different keyboard shortcuts on Macs compared to the Windows version. Yes, that’s possible. I’m looking at you VLC.
Anyway, despite this I still believe it’s worth learning keyboard shortcuts, at least for the actions you do more often.
Still too much for you? At least try and learn the following universal shortcuts. The following list of shortcuts will work in most programs under most operating systems.
Copy (Ctrl + C), Cut (Ctrl + X) then Paste (Ctrl + V) - copy or cut text, files, folders, and paste, move to another document or place.
Undo (Ctrl + Z) a previous action and Redo (Ctrl + Y or Ctrl + Shift + Z) the action you just undid. Keep pressing to undo or redo more actions.
Move focus to next element (Tab) or move focus to previous element (Shift + Tab) - you can use this to move between fields in a form, elements in a webpage or document.
Select multiple items in a list (Shift + Left click) - Click the first item, press and keep Shift pressed, click on another item to select all items in between, including the two clicked items. You can also press the arrow keys to expand or contract the selection. Also works to select text in documents.
Select individual items from a list (Ctrl + Left click) - Click on the first item, press and keep Ctrl pressed and then click on multiple items to select them. They don’t have to be consecutive.
Move the text cursor one word at a time (Ctrl + Arrow keys) - use this to move inside a document with precision.
Select complete words in a document (Ctrl + Shift + Arrow keys) - use this to select multiple words in a document.
Get Help (F1) - sometimes you need to just read the documentation. A quick press of the F1 key will bring the current app help on screen.
Select all items in a folder or everything in a document (Ctrl + A) - use this to select all files and subfolders in a folder or all text and items in a document. You can copy and paste them later in another location.
Navigate to beginning of line (Home), end of line (End), beginning of document (Ctrl + Home), or end of document (Ctrl + End).
Select text from cursor to beginning of line (Shift + Home), end of line (Shift + End), beginning of document (Ctrl + Shift + Home), or end of document (Ctrl + Shift + End) - you can copy, cut, and paste the selection.
Print from any program (Ctrl + P) - this will bring on screen the print dialog box where you can select further options (orientation, print quality, number or copies, range of pages to print etcetera).
Find anything in the current document of webpage (Ctrl + F) - if there are more matches for what you are searching keep pressing Enter to move o the next occurrence in the document/webpage.
Zoom in (Ctrl + Plus), Zoom out (Ctrl + Minus), and reset the default zoom level (Ctrl + 0) - works in most documents, photo editors, and webpages.
Open a new document (Ctrl + N) or an existing document (Ctrl + O).
Save changes (Ctrl + S) - do this regularly to make sure you never lose your work.
Do you know more universal shortcuts? I’m curious if I missed something important, so leave a comment if I did.
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