Office 2007 Shortcut Keys

One of the best ways to be a little more productive is to learn the hotkeys of a program. Also known as "shortcut keys" or "keyboard shortcuts", keyboard shortcuts are the way of using the keyboard to do things that you would otherwise do with the mouse. For example, a common hotkey in Microsoft Office is to hold down the control key and hit the P key. This will allow you to print without clicking around to do so.

Now there is no way that you're going to memorize them all, but what I think is efficient is to figure out something you're doing often, and to look up the hotkeys for that feature.


No, not THAT type of hotkey.

I've blogged in the past about some of these hot keys, but in the process of updating Microsoft Office, they've removed some of the hotkeys that I personally was used to, which makes me sad, but they've also added some, which is nice.

Where do you look those up? Well, if you Google it, you'll get a list, but at this point, you're dealing with a lot of people who have the Office 2003 lists up. You would figure that there's a comprehensive list for each of the programs on Microsoft's site ... but you'd be wrong. As far as I can find, they only have a set of Office 2003 shortcut keys on the site, not the Office 2007 ones.

One site that I've used for this purpose in the past is keyxl.com and they've done an excellent job of laying out shortcuts for the major Office tools at the links below. Definitely worth a look if you're wondering something like "How do I start a slide show from this slide instead of slide one?"**

Web Links

• Microsoft Word 2007 hotkeys
• Microsoft Excel 2007 hotkeys
• Microsoft Access 2007 hotkeys
• Microsoft PowerPoint 2007 hotkeys

** Answer - hold shift and hit f5

Mac Shortcuts

I realize that I am very PC-centric on this blog.

It's not because I dislike Macintosh - as a matter of fact, I worked with a place that used Mac exclusively, and also at one point gave up on Windows and ran Debian Linux on my home computer instead of Windows for a few years.

The Macintosh Web site has a lot of good stuff on it, including a list of shortcut keys (hotkeys). If there are any Mac users out there, you might find it of interest:

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1343

Windows Command Line

The Windows command line (Click on Start, Click Run, and type CMD) is a useful utility if you know the names of the commands. The problem is, unless you grew up knowing them, you are not going to know that you have to type CD to change directory or dir to show contents of a folder.

For those of you who might be interested in harnessing the power of the command line, you can visit the following Web site for the commands you can use from the command line:

http://www.ss64.com/nt/

PowerPoint shortcut keys (hotkeys)

I was a little surprised that I never posted this link, actually...

Hotkeys (or keyboard shortcuts) are one of the best ways to make yourself more efficient in a program. For example, tonight in my CIS 127 course, we were doing hyperlinks in PowerPoint. Part of it entailed creating something, and then putting it on ten slides.

Rather than copy and then move down a slide, right click, and then paste, move down a slide, right click and paste, etc., it can be much quicker to move down a slide and use the hotkey, control+V (hold down control, and hit the V key).

I'd never say it makes sense to memorize every hotkey in the program - that would be silly. Instead, I would say that if there is something you do often, you can make yourself more productive by finding the hotkey for it. If you find yourself clicking around, poke around for a hotkey. It's probably there.

PowerPoint hotkeys

Windows Shortcut Keys

I love hotkeys in programs. I actually had one student last semester point out that I rarely use the mouse, and it's true.

I ran across this list of keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) the other day:

http://www.wacug.org/kbshtcts.pdf

(It's a PDF file - this means you need the free Adobe Reader to view the file)

Enjoy your memorial day!

Word Shortcuts

As I've said before, shortcuts in programs will save you a ton of time. You're never going to memorize EVERY shortcut. Well, perhaps if you have a lot of time, but you get my idea here. If you find you are repetitively performing a task, find the hotkey for it!

Here's a list of Microsoft Word (hotkeys):
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290938


If you ever lose this link, Microsoft has some similar things in their in-program help.

Keyboard Shortcuts for Excel

I've always found that there are ways to become just a little bit more efficient using a program, especially by using hotkeys (also called shortcut keys, or key combinations). In my CIS 126 course last evening, we discussed some of the Excel keyboard shortcuts. Would you believe there are hundreds?

Microsoft has a complete list in their online help. Take a look - odds are you will find a hotkey that will make you more efficient!

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HP052037811033.aspx