Oldies but Goodies: Part 1

September 5, 2018

Recently, I spent some time writing explanations for a few of the buttons on the Microsoft Excel® 2016 menu ribbon. As a self-confessed "mouse person," I've been under the impression that clicking a button on the ribbon, or even employing right-clicks for shortcut menus, is the easiest way to make changes to whatever I'm working on. Surprisingly though, if you hover your mouse over a button, you'll be shown not only the button's name and what it does, but also its keyboard shortcut.

How amazing that pre-mouse key combinations are still available! How can it be possible that we're still holding on to old-fashioned keyboard shortcuts from the past? Those who cherish keyboard shortcuts will tell you that they allow you to maintain the natural rhythm of your typing and keep your fingers on the keyboard. Using a mouse, as handy as that is, tends to interrupt "the flow."

Most of us probably use a mix of mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts—depending on the day, time, and what's convenient at the moment. If you're primarily a mouse user and aren't familiar with keyboard shortcuts, here's a basic list of key combinations you may want to try:

Ctrl + Z — Undo an action

Ctrl + Y — Redo an action

Ctrl + X — Cut a selected item

Ctrl + C — Copy a selected item

Ctrl + V — Paste the copied/cut item

Ctrl + A — Select all text or objects

Ctrl + F — Open a search box to find specific content

Ctrl + H — Open a search to find specific content and then replace it with different content

MCPL offers programs at many of its branches that focus on Microsoft applications such as Word and Excel, and many of these classes demonstrate keyboard shortcuts. Lynda.com also has special short videos highlighting some of these key combinations for a variety of programs. At first, adopting keyboard shortcuts may take some practice, but eventually, they will become automatic as you enhance your computing knowledge.