Discovering Keyboard Shortcuts on Your Laptop
By "For Dummies" February 24, 2008
 | |
| Excerpted from Laptops For Dummies Quick Reference* | |
On your laptop, you can do almost everything from the keyboard that you can do with a mouse (or touchpad), including manipulate text. This article shows you some of the most useful commands.
 | On your laptop, you can do almost everything from the keyboard that you can do with a mouse (or touchpad), including manipulate text. This article shows you some of the most useful commands. |
If you want to select, copy, or move text, you can use the commands in Table 1.
Table 1: Commands to Manipulate Text
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
Select all | Ctrl+A |
Select block of text | Highlight a block of text |
Copy selected text or image to the Clipboard | Ctrl+C |
Cut selected text or image | Ctrl+X |
Paste selected text or image | Ctrl+V |
Undo the previous action | Ctrl+Z |
Delete selected text or image | Delete |
Delete selected item permanently, without placing the item in the Recycle Bin | Shift+Delete |
Rename the selected file | F2 |
When you need to move an insertion point, use the commands in Table 2.
Table 2: Commands to Move an Insertion Point
| Where You Want to Move the Insertion Point | Shortcut |
|---|---|
The beginning of the next word | Ctrl+right arrow key |
The beginning of the previous word | Ctrl+left arrow key |
The beginning of the next paragraph | Ctrl+down arrow key |
The beginning of the previous paragraph | Ctrl+up arrow key |
When working with programs in open windows, you may find the commands in Table 3 helpful.
Table 3: Commands to Use in Open Windows
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
Switch between open items | Alt+Tab |
Switch to the previous open program | Alt+Shift+Tab |
Cycle through items in the order they were opened | Alt+Esc |
Open the shortcut menu for the active window | Alt+spacebar |
Display the shortcut menu for the selected item | Shift+F10 |
Display the System menu for the active window | Alt+spacebar |
Display the Start menu | Ctrl+Esc or Windows key |
Display a drop-down menu | Alt+underlined letter in menu's name |
Perform a command from an open drop-down menu | Underlined letter in command's name |
Open the next menu to the right or a submenu | right arrow key |
Open the next menu to the left or close a submenu | left arrow key |
Table 4 gives you some useful Windows commands.
Table 4: Windows Commands
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
Search for a file or folder | F3 |
View the properties for a selected object | Alt+Enter |
Close the active item or quit the active program | Alt+F4 |
Close the active document | Ctrl+F4 |
Update the active window | F5 |
Cancel the current task | Esc |
Open the Task Manager | Ctrl+Shift+Esc |
You can find some of the most common Microsoft Internet Explorer commands in Table 5.
Table 5: Microsoft Internet Explorer Commands
| Task | Shortcut |
|---|---|
Open the Organize Favorites dialog box | Ctrl+B |
Open the Search bar | Ctrl+E |
Start the Find utility | Ctrl+F |
Open History | Ctrl+H |
Open Favorites | Ctrl+I |
Open the Open dialog box | Ctrl+L or Ctrl+O |
Open another browser window with the same Web address | Ctrl+N |
Open the Print dialog box | Ctrl+P |
Update the current Web page | Ctrl+R |
Close the current window | Ctrl+W |
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