I’ll cover my head in shame: I only discovered keyboard shortcuts about a year ago. There, I said it.
Here are a few shortcuts that take out excessive mouse use and — cumulatively over thousands of computer movements per week — save hours and hours.
There a million and one “shortcuts,” but learning them all takes forever. The headache savers below are those I use almost every time I touch a computer. Though self-evident to most techies, I hope a few Luddites like me will find them a revelation. If using a Mac, use the Cmd key instead of Ctrl…
For Firefox (get off of the slow and virus-prone Internet Explorer):
Ctrl-K – Takes you directly to the search box at the upper right, where you can search Google, Amazon, and more with one click (Enter)
Ctrl-L or F6 (latter PC) – Takes you to the URL field to type in a new web address (Hint: just type in the name of a company or person — no “www” or “.com” — and hit enter to find their website, if it exists)
Ctrl-T – Opens a new tab
Ctrl-D – Bookmarks the page
Ctrl-+ – Increases font size on any webpage
Ctrl-[-]- Decreases font size
Ctrl-0 [zero] – Returns font to original size
For Gmail:
First, go to “settings” to the upper-right of your inbox and turn on keyboard shortcuts. There are a lot of them, but there are my faves:
c – compose a new message
tab + return/enter – send message
u – return to inbox (or previous conversation list)
r – reply
a – reply all
f – forward
e – archive
and my favorite of all:
# – delete message
What are your favorite keyboard or computer shortcuts?
Put your computer enthusiasm into a comment and then shut the beast down for the weekend 🙂
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Related links:
The Not-To-Do List: 9 Habits to Stop Now
12 Filtering Tips for Better Information in Half the Time
Chapter 6 – The Low-Information Diet: Cultivating Selective Ignorance
Odds and Ends:
Congrats to Joe Ceklovsky for his new world record: 600-lb. bench press at 148 lbs. bodyweight! (video here)
I love the sport of powerlifting and have worked with Joe for close to two years. He is not only one of the strongest humans I have ever seen (which is saying a lot — here’s another friend), he is humble and a testament to a sport where success is still measured in performance and not the size of your paycheck. Here is his e-mail to me:
“I have some more news for you. I competed yesterday and broke the record again twice. I hit 575lbs. and then I did 600lbs. which is 4.06 times my bodyweight, which — as of right now — is the biggest pound-for-pound bench press in the history of powerlifting. I also attempted 620 and got it about 3/4 of the way up. This is something I have been aiming for since you did the very first article on me for Powerlifting USA. I thought you would like to know that the goal that you & I discussed in that phone conversation finally has been achieved. I look forward to speaking with you soon.”
Congratulations, Joe! This will go down in the history books. More than 4x bodyweight? Unreal.
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