Most of the time you spend at a keyboard at work is not typing new words. It is fixing, moving and re-reading what is already there. The people who look fast are usually just not reaching for the mouse every few seconds.
The two delete keys are not the same. Backspace removes the character before the cursor, to the left. Delete removes the one after it, to the right. Knowing which you want saves a small fight every time.
Control and a letter. Hold Control, tap the letter: C copies, X cuts, V pastes, Z undoes, S saves, F finds, P prints. Control Z is the one to learn first, because it makes mistakes cheap and that makes you braver.
Move without the mouse. Control with the left or right arrow jumps a whole word instead of a letter. Home goes to the start of the line, End to the end of it. These three save more time than anything else on this page.
Select without the mouse. Hold Shift while you move and you select as you go. Shift with the arrows selects letter by letter, Control Shift with the arrows selects word by word, and Control A selects everything.
The one to be careful with. Control S saves. Get in the habit of tapping it every few minutes, especially on a shared or public computer where somebody else may need the machine or the power may go.
You need to correct a word at the start of a long line you have just typed.
What happens: Your hands leave home position twice and your eyes leave the screen. Done a hundred times a day this is a large part of why some people look slow at a keyboard.
What happens: Right, and your hands never leave the keyboard. This is most of what looking fast actually is.
My keyboard has no Home or End key
Many small laptops put them on the arrow keys under a function key, often marked Fn in a different colour. Look for small text on the arrow keys. If they genuinely are not there, Control with the arrows still works and gets you most of the benefit.
Is Control the same on every computer?
On Windows and on most machines you will meet at an internet cafe or in an office, yes. On an Apple computer the same shortcuts use the Command key instead. The letters do not change, only the key you hold.
I pressed something and my text disappeared
Control Z, immediately, and repeatedly if you need to. It steps back through what you did. This is why it is the first shortcut to learn: almost nothing you do at a keyboard is permanent if you know it.
Before you move on
- Learn Control Z first, then C, V and S
- Use Home and End instead of the mouse
- Tap Control S every few minutes without thinking about it
Check what you know
4 questions. Have a look at what this lesson asks.
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