Essential Shortcuts and Hints

1. Printing Portions Only - General Windows
2. To Get a File to Open With Another Program
3. Windows Shortcuts
4. Office Shortcuts
5. Moving Shortcuts
6. Things to Do To Keep Your Computer Happy:
   • Stop The Auto-loading Already!
   • Use Built-in Programs To Maintain Your Machine
   • Clean it Up
7. In Symbolic Form – MS Word
8. Whole List of Your Shortcuts

Printing Portions Only - General Windows

You can handle the problem of printing only a portion of a document’s pages by copying what you wanted into a blank Word document and then printing it. But, whether you’re trying to print from Word, a web page or an email, the following works:

First of all, you need to highlight the selection you want to print.

Now open the File pull-down window at the top left of the screen and single-click on Print. Don’t click on any of the various toolbar <Print> buttons; they’re shortcuts that assume you want to print the entire document. Go through the File menu instead.

The Print window opens. In the Print Range section there’s an option marked Selection. Single-click this option and then single-click OK. The area you highlighted will now be printed.

Note that, with e-mails, the sender’s information will also be printed, and that, with websites, the URL will automatically be printed too.

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To Get a File to Open With Another Program

Sometimes, a file may “forget” which program is its parent program, or you may want to open a file (especially an image file) with another program. To do this, you need to left-click on the file once to select it, and then hold down the shift key and right-click it once (newer operating systems don't require the shift key). A list of options will be presented to you which includes “Open With”. When you select that, a list of programs that exist on your computer will appear. Scroll through the list until you come to a program you wish to use to open this file.

If you do not wish to open the file with the chosen program permanently (and, by the way, any files like it), do not check inside “Always use this program to open this type of file”. But if you know, for example, you want all jpg’s to open in Microsoft Photo Editor, then choose “PHOTOED” from the list, and check inside the box. Afterwards, any file of similar type that you double-click will open in the chosen program.

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Windows Shortcuts

The following are shortcuts that are common, not only to Office but to most Windows programs.

• Ctrl+C copies whatever is selected and puts it into the clipboard.

• Ctrl+X cuts whatever is selected and puts it into the clipboard.

• Ctrl+V puts whatever is in the clipboard into the document.

• Ctrl+A selects everything.

• Ctrl+Z undoes the last thing you (or Office) did.

• Alt+Tab (the "cool switch") cycles through all running applications; if you're lucky, you can use it to get out of an Office app if it freezes.

• Ctrl+Alt+Del (the "three finger salute") brings up the Windows Task Manager (in Windows XP) or the "Close Program" box (in Windows 9x) so you can kill a frozen Office app.

• Windows key + F – brings up a “find” box which enables you to search for a file by location, name, or date.

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Office Shortcuts

PowerPoint:

• When your presentation is interrupted by discussion, helpless laughter or fisticuffs, press the letter B key (or the period key) to put up a blank black slide. Or press W (or the comma key) for a blank white slide. Either way, your audience can now focus on you, or each other.

Microsoft Word

• Save All.
  When you're done for the day, you don’t have to close each document you have open, saving changes to each one. Just press Shift as you open the File menu. You’ll discover that the Save command now says Save All, which saves all of the open documents at once. (Tip- within-a-tip: Pressing Shift as you open the File menu also changes the Close command to say Close All.)

• Instant Text.
  Next time you need some dummy text -- to test a font or a layout, for example -- you'll love this! Type "=rand(8,10)" into your document (without the quotes). Word instantly fills the screen with "The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog," over and over again. The first number specifies the number of paragraphs, and the second tells word how many sentences to put in each paragraph. (Can you say, "The Shining"?)

• Whole-sentence highlighting.
  Just as you can save time by double-clicking to select a word, you can select a whole sentence just by double-clicking anywhere inside it while pressing the Ctrl key (Windows) or Command key (Mac).

• Whole-paragraph highlighting.
  To the left of each paragraph is a skinny, invisible selection-strip area; you'll know your cursor is there when it becomes an arrow. Once it's there, a double-click neatly selects the entire paragraph to its right. (Three clicks there selects the whole document.)

• Going back.
  No matter where you are in a document, the fantastically useful Go Back command scrolls directly back to the last place you clicked -- which usually means the last place you edited -- even if it was in another open document. In fact, each time you use the Go Back command, your insertion point jumps among four places -- the last three edit spots and your current position. The Go Back keystroke in Windows is Ctrl+Alt+Z; on the Mac, it's Command-Option-Z.

• Delete the last word.
  Let's face it: As you're typing along, rushing to get your precious thoughts down before they evaporate, you'll make the occasional typo. When time is of the essence, it's far faster to slap the "delete the last word I typed" keystroke (Ctrl+Backspace on Windows, Command-Delete on Mac) than to backspace exactly the right number of times. You'll find this trick useful when trying to find just the right word, too: "He looked disdainfully" ... no, wait, "disinterestedly" ... no, make that "sadly” at the empty sundae dish.

• Menu Shortcuts.
  You can hold down the Alt key and press any underlined letter (look carefully; you will see them) in an Office menu, and Office will act as if you clicked on that menu item. For example, Alt+F is the same as clicking on the File menu; Alt+F, then X, is the same as clicking on File >Exit.

• Shift+F5 "goes back" to the last place you edited in a Word document

• Selecting different parts of a document.
  Select the first item, hold down Ctrl, select the next, hold down Ctrl and select the next, and so on.

• To select big pieces of a document, don't click at the beginning and drag your mouse down - Word (in particular) will flip-flop all over the place. Click at the beginning, hold down the Shift key, click at the end, and then let go of the Shift key.

• To nudge a graphic.
  Click on it, hold down the Alt key and drag.

• And this shortcut drove me crazy for the longest time --- because I didn’t know I was using it! If you click the “insert” key (accidentally like me, or deliberately), you change the cursor from the default insert cursor (when things move over when you type in front of them) to a type-over cursor, which over-writes what is in front. Be sure to click the “Insert’ key again to toggle back to the default setting

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Moving Shortcuts

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Stop The Auto-loading Already!

Whenever you start Windows, a group of programs load up into the System Tray on your Taskbar at the bottom of your screen. Some of them you want, some of them you don't. If you want to keep the programs on your PC, but just don't want them to load when you start Windows, try removing program icons from Start > Programs > StartUp. When you remove these icons, you aren’t really deleting the programs, but just keeping them from starting up automatically.

But there are still programs loading which aren't in that folder; they load more furtively. The most effective way to stomp out these unwanted start-ups is to locate the option within each program which lets you switch auto-loading on or off. Almost all of them have one. For example, the invasive RealPlayer has an option you can access via its View Menu > Preferences > General tab > StartCenter Settings button. Disable StartCenter and you can rid yourself of the pre-loaded RealPlayer (it'll squawk about it, but don't let that stop you!). There are similar options in MSN Messenger, ICQ and many other programs.

If that seems like too much trouble, or if you can't find an auto-launch option in the particular culprit, you can use the System Configuration Utility. Click Start > Run > and then type msconfig in the Open box and click OK. Click the Startup tab.

Take a look down the list and see what's getting loaded at startup. If you're not sure what a particular entry refers to, it's better to leave it alone. Otherwise, you can stop a program from auto-loading by removing the checkmark / tick beside its entry.

Click OK. You'll be prompted to reboot and when you do so, you'll be informed that Windows is using selective startup. You can click the box to hide this message on future boot-ups.

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Use Built-in Programs To Maintain Your Machine

• Scan Disk – This program (accessed, like the other programs here, by clicking on Start > Programs > Accessories > System Tools) should be used maybe once a month to keep your hard drive in good condition.
• Disk Defragmenter – Should be used after several programs have been installed or uninstalled to maintain the electronic efficiency of your hard drive.
• Disk Cleanup – This program will get rid of extra files that accumulate in your computer as a result of surfing the Net, or installing and uninstalling programs.

With newer operating systems like Windows XP, it works a little differently. Scandisk was an important System Tool in Windows prior to Windows XP. Fortunately, the feature still exists in a different format. To access it, single-click on the <Start> menu with your left mouse button, then single-click on the <My Computer> option.

In the My Computer Window, single-click your right mouse button on your local hard drive, i.e., <Local Disk (C:)>. In the shortcut menu that appears, single-click on the <Properties> option with your left mouse button.

When the Local Disk (C:) Properties Window opens, single-click on the <Tools> tab. Under the "Error-checking" section, single-click on the <Check Now...> button.

In the Check Disk Local Disk (C:) Window that appears, single-click inside the two boxes titled, "Automatically fix file system errors" and "Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" to activate these options (no checkmark, not active). Single-click on the <Start> button.

Please note that the other major maintenance program, the Disk Defragmenter, is also located here.

The Checking Disk Local Disk (C:) Prompt Window will appear to explain that the Disk Check Utility feature can only work the next time you restart Windows. Single-click on the <Yes> button to allow the disk check to occur, then restart your computer.

The Disk Check Utility will run before it gets to Windows, so don't worry when a blue screen appears. This is a good blue screen and is NOT what technicians in the industry like to refer to as, "The Blue Screen of Death". The process can take a long time, so you might want to schedule disk checking for when you don't need your computer for a while.

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Don't Eat Lunch at the Keyboard . . .

• Actually Clean the Machine – use compressed air cans to spray out the dust that covers moving parts of your computer – especially the fans that keep your computer from overheating. Take the mouse apart carefully by turning the dial at the bottom counter-clockwise to remove the mouse ball. Then, you can clean the rollers inside by removing any hair, etc. you find there. Do not drop the mouse ball, as it needs to be perfectly round to do its job.

• Keep Your Hard Drives no More Than 80% Full -- This allows you to defragment the drives effectively; if the Drive is too full, this program cannot do its job.

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In Symbolic Form – MS Word

Word allows you to insert a variety of symbols not found on your keyboard. To insert a symbol into a Word Document, single-click the Insert pull-down menu with the left mouse button and then single-click the Symbol option.

The Symbol window opens. You’ll see a large area filled with various boxed symbols, and a scroll bar you can use to navigate up and down the list.

If you can’t find the symbol you’re looking for, try using the Subset pull-down menu at the top right of the window. Single-click on it to open a list of different symbol lists. To select a symbol subset, just single-click on its name.

Once you find the symbol you need, single-click the box containing that symbol. It will now appear as a larger box, allowing you to verify that it’s the symbol you want. Then single-click on the Insert button and the symbol will appear in your document.

If you use a symbol frequently, you may want to assign it a shortcut key. Select the symbol you want by single-clicking it, and then single-click on the Shortcut key button. The Customize Keyboard window will open, with the symbol you selected listed in the Commands box. Single-click in the box marked Press new shortcut key. Now press the keyboard combination you want to use. If that particular keyboard combination is in use, the function currently assigned to that combination will be displayed beneath the Press new shortcut key box. Single-click the Assign button to assign your selected shortcut key to the symbol you chose, and then single-click the Close button. You can now insert that specific symbol into a Word document by pressing the shortcut key.

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Whole List of Your Shortcuts

To find a comprehensive list of the shortcut keys available for your operating system, open your My Computer Window and single-click on the Help menu. Then, on the Help Topics option. In the Window that opens, single-click on the Index tab. In the text box title, type in "shortcut keys" and you should receive several help options from which to choose.

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