I used to sit in awe watching the IT people blaze through my computer, rifle through the files, and manipulate the web like an Indian Snake Charmer. Speed and efficiency is the name of the game. The secret to their success is their ability to use “Shortcuts.”

If you play close enough attention, you’ll see they don’t touch the mouse often. In fact, Deep, an IT master guru at my office, flips the mouse up-side-down and relies solely on the keyboard shortcuts.

It takes years of practice to perfect shortcuts but understanding a few basic shortcut commands can help you master the keyboard!

Here are a few of the most popular shortcuts:

THE BASICS:

Undo
PC: CTRL + Z
MAC: CMD + Z

Redo
PC: CTRL + Y
MAC: Shift + CMD + Z

Cut
PC: CTRL + X
MAC: CMD + X

Copy
PC: CTRL + C
MAC: CMD + C

Paste
PC: CTRL + V
MAC: CMD + V

Select All
PC: CTRL + A
MAC: CMD + A

SURFING THE WEB SHORTCUTS:

Open New Tab
PC: CTRL + T
MAC: CMD + T

Open New Window
PC: CTRL + N
MAC: CMD + N

Open a Link in a new Tab
PC: CTRL + Left Click
Mac: CMD + Left Click

Quickly Close A Tab
PC: CTRL + F4
MAC: CMD + W

Quickly Close Your Browser
PC: ALT + F4
MAC: CMD + Q

SCREENSHOT SHORTCUTS:

Often we need to “save” what we see on the screen and send it to your web guy or save a portion of a website for future reference. Sorry PC users, but this is where MACs shine!

Copy Screenshot of the entire screen

PC: Print Screen or CTRL+Print Screen
MAC: Ctrl+ Shift+ Cmd+3
Save a Screenshot as a .jpg

PC: (none at this time, sorry)
MAC: Shift + CMD + 3
Save a “Section” of the screen

PC: (none)
MAC: Shift + CMD + 4

EDITING DOCUMENTS SHORTCUTS:

Save
PC: CNTL + S
MAC: CMD + S

Save As
PC: CTRL + Shift + S
MAC: CTRL + Shift + S

Delete right of cursor
PC: DEL
MAC: Fn+backspace

Delete word right of cursor
PC: CTRL+ DEL
MAC: Opt + Fn + Backspace

Go to start of the line
PC: Home
MAC: CTRL + A

Go to end of line
PC: END
MAC: CTRL + E

Go To Find
PC: CRTL + F
MAC: CMD + F

Understanding shortcuts will help make you more efficient and effective on the computer; shaving precious time and money! Enjoy the keyboard charming!