How-to: Keyboard Shortcuts

Keyboard shortcuts can save time and help prevent repetitive strain injuries. Here are some shortcuts for commonly-used browser and system functions. These shortcuts are based mainly on the Windows operating system, but I have included some notes for Mac users as well. There are many more shortcuts to available, including shortcuts specific to other operating systems (i.e., Linux) and browsers (i.e., Opera). For more shortcuts, run a Google search for “keyboard shortcuts”.

Notes for Mac OS X users:

• Mac OS X uses Cmd instead of Ctrl; Option instead of Alt; Return instead of Enter.
  
• The function keys (F1 through F12) are usually only applicable to Windows, since Mac OS X reserves these for other functions.

Browsing

	Internet Explorer	Firefox
Go Back to the last page	ALT + <--	ALT + <--
Go Forward to the next page	ALT + -->	ALT + -->
Stop the page from loading	Escape (Esc)	Escape (Esc)
Stop background sounds	Escape (Esc)	Escape (Esc)
Refresh/Reload the page	F5 or Ctrl + F5	F5 or Ctrl + F5
Go to your Homepage	Alt + Home	Alt + Home
Scroll down	Spacebar	Spacebar
Scroll up	Shift + Spacebar	Shift + Spacebar
New window	Ctrl + N	Ctrl + N
Close the window	Alt + F4	Alt + F4
Right click (context menu)	Shift + F10	Shift + F10
Increase the text size	Ctrl + +	Ctrl + +
Decrease the text size	Ctrl + -	Ctrl + -
Find on this page	Ctrl + F	Ctrl + F
Print	Ctrl + P	Ctrl + P
New tab		Ctrl + T
Next tab		Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + PageDown
Previous Tab		Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl + PageUp
Close tab		Ctrl + F4

Windows: System and Programs

Open Start menu	WindowsKey* or Ctrl + ESC
Open Windows Explorer	WindowsKey + E
Switch between open programs	Alt + Tab
Delete item permanently (without placing it in the Recycle Bin)	Shift + Delete
Minimize all open windows	WindowsKey + M
Maximize all open windows	WindowsKey + Shift + M
Close window/program	Alt + F4
Open a menu	ALT + underlined letter in menu
Open File	Ctrl + O
Help	F1
Select all the items in the current window	Ctrl + A
Find & replace menu	F5
Copy	Ctrl + C
Cut	Ctrl + X
Paste	Ctrl + V
Bold	Ctrl + B
Underline	Ctrl + U
Italic	Ctrl + I
Redo the last action	Ctrl Y
Undo the last action	Ctrl Z

*WindowsKey =

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q126449
http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2006/02/08/527702.aspx
http://www.mozilla.org/support/firefox/keyboard