No matter how experienced you are with computers, there’s always a sense of excitement when you discover a new shortcut that simplifies your life. While the Windows key is a relatively recent addition to keyboards, it offers a range of useful shortcuts that you’ll find yourself using on a daily basis. These shortcuts can be applied across various applications, including word processors, email, and social media.
1. Zoom in or out
Increase your productivity by zooming in or out while you work without interrupting your flow. Simply press CTRL and use your scroll wheel to zoom in or out. Additionally, some websites and apps, such as Google Maps, allow you to zoom in and out by scrolling up and down.
2. Change the size of icons
If your icons are either too small or you have too many of them, you can easily adjust their size. By clicking on your desktop background, holding CTRL, and scrolling your mouse wheel up or down, you can increase or decrease the size of all your icons simultaneously. This helps maintain consistency among them.
3. Select a word or paragraph
While most people are familiar with double-clicking to launch applications, double-clicking can also be used to highlight a word when you’re working with text in a document or on a webpage. However, have you heard of triple-clicking? By triple-clicking, you can quickly highlight an entire paragraph. This trick also works with URLs, making it a handy feature you’ll use frequently.
4. Select a column of text
Highlighting a column of text is easy in Excel, but did you know you can do the same in a Word document? Simply hold down ALT and left click, then drag your cursor over the text you want to highlight. Release the ALT key and mouse button, and you’ll see a context menu with options for your highlighted text.
5. Copy and move items
Copying and pasting text is a common task, but there’s a shortcut that saves you time. Highlight the text you want to copy, hold down CTRL and left click, then drag the text to the desired location. Release the mouse button, and your text will be copied and pasted there. To move text, use SHIFT + left click and drag it to a new location. The text will disappear from its original location and appear in the new one.
6. Open a link in a new browser tab
When you want to open a link without leaving your current page, you can right-click and choose the new tab option. However, there’s a simpler way! Just click on the link with your scroll wheel to automatically open it in a new tab.
7. A new way to scroll
Aside from using the scroll wheel to navigate through multiple pages or screens, you can press it in to activate a different scrolling function. A small circle with a dot and two arrows will appear. Now you can move your mouse up and down to scroll the page, offering a more comfortable scrolling experience. Some mouse models even have tilting scroll wheels, allowing you to scroll horizontally by tilting the wheel left or right.
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