Video:How to Use Microsoft Word Shortcut Keys

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Transcript:How to Use Microsoft Word Shortcut Keys

Hi, I'm Shane Murphy, your technology guru for About.com. Today we'll look at the ins and out of using shortcut keys in Microsoft Word.

Enable Screen Tips When Using Microsoft Word Shortcut Keys

Using shortcut keys is an essential skill to master if you want to create and edit documents with maximum efficiency, especially when performing repetitive tasks like duplicating paragraphs or creating slight variations in content on the same table template.

A helpful way to learn these commands is to enable screen tips for shortcuts, which will display the shortcut when you hover your mouse over a function. To do this, click on the office button then "Word Options" at the bottom. Click the advanced tab. Under the display heading, select the box for "Show Shortcut Keys in Screen Tips."

Common Microsoft Word Shortcut Keys

There are some commonly shortcuts that you should learn first though:

• Ctrl + A selects all of the content on your document
• Ctrl + S saves your document
• Ctrl + Z undoes your last change
• Use Ctrl + C to copy something
• Then Ctrl + V to paste it
• Ctrl + N opens up a blank document
• Ctrl + O opens a previously saved one
• Ctrl + F brings up the search option to scan your document

Many of these shortcuts work identically for other Microsoft office programs such as Excel, so try using the different shortcuts to save time across your multi-document projects.

Check out About.com's dedicated word processor channel for more useful information on customizing your Microsoft Word documents. Thanks for watching. To learn more, visit About.com.