There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of something in a program and then having to take your hands off the keyboard to fumble for the mouse in order to access a menu function. This can become a real productivity killer, constantly derailing your train of thought and stretching out the amount of time needed to complete your task. In many cases, it wasn’t necessary for your fingers to leave the keyboard.

Microsoft has built a number of keyboard shortcuts into their operating systems, ranging from the venerable Windows 95 to Windows XP and Windows 7. These shortcuts are not only supported through most versions of Windows, but also within most application software that runs on Windows.

Here is a quick and dirty list of the most commonly used keyboard shortcuts, broken down by area…

Help shortcuts:

• [F1] Opens help for current program
• [WIN]+[F1] Opens Windows Help system

Standard application shortcuts:

• [Ctrl]+[C] Copies selected item to the Windows Clipboard
• [Ctrl]+[V] Pastes the contents of the clipboard to the right of your cursor.
• [Ctrl]+[X] Cuts the selected item and places it on the Clipboard. Useful when moving data and files around.
• [Ctrl]+[Z] Undo function — restores last edit made.
• [Ctrl]+[Y] Redo function — it can undo, your, um, undo.
• [Ctrl]+[A] Highlight all — highlights all text within the active window.
• [Ctrl]+[S] Save function — saves open document.
• [Ctrl]+[P] Print function — prints open document.
• [Ctrl]+[Home] Takes you to the very beginning of the open document.
• [Ctrl]+[End] Takes you to the very end of the open document.

Desktop shortcuts:

• [WIN] Opens Start Menu.
• [WIN]+[E] Opens Windows File Explorer.
• [WIN]+[M] Minimizes all windows open on desktop to taskbar.
• [WIN]+[SHIFT]+[M] Restores all programs from taskbar.
• [WIN]+[F] Opens Search function — used to find files.
• [ALT]+[TAB] Used to cycle between open applications — saves you from having to grab your mouse and start clicking on applications on the taskbar.
• [ALT]+[F4] Closes the current open program in Windows
• [Shift]… Holding down the Shift key while inserting a CD will prevent Auto-run from bringing up the CD contents.

Web browser shortcuts:

• [F5] Partial refresh — browser queries Web server for changed content, but will load images and older content out of system cache, if present.
• [CTRL]+[F5] Full refresh — forces complete reload of all page content, replacing any objects that may be present in the file cache.
• [F11] Toggles the browser between full-screen mode and normal window view.
• [Ctrl]+[O] Brings up the Open URL dialog in Internet Explorer.
• [Ctrl]+[L] Brings up the Open URL dialog in Mozilla Firefox.
• [Ctrl]+[N] Opens a new browser window (both IE and Firefox)
• [Ctrl]+[T] Opens a new tab (Firefox only)
• [TAB] Can be used to advance through form fields when submitting information to a Web site.

And there you have it. Print this page out. Pin a copy of it up near your computer, and work at memorizing these shortcuts. You’ll be amazed at how much wasted time you’ll reclaim in your work day.