Keyboarding Functions Would you like to learn some shortcuts? Of course you would! Everyone wants to know how to do something faster or more easily. Well, here are some tips for doing some commands using your keyboard instead of your mouse and the menu bar or toolbars. Various commands tell the computer what you want it to do. For example, if you want to save your document, you can either click on the Save icon or you can go to File>Save. Key commands tell the computer what to do by pressing different keys on the keyboard. To use the save command, you can press the Ctrl + S keys at the same time, and your document will be saved. Many of the key commands use the Ctrl key plus another key to start the command. Look at the picture below where you can see what the combinations are for some of the editing commands. Look on the right side of the drop down menu. With Microsoft Word open, click on the Edit command. Notice the various key commands listed on the right side. What is the key command for Copy? What is the key command for Paste? What are the other key commands listed there?
Practice 1 1. Open a blank Word document. Type in the first verse of the poem, Annabel Lee below by American poet Edgar Allen Poe. Do not worry about creating the box around the text. It was many and many a year ago, In a kingdom by the sea, That a maiden there lived whom you may know By the name of Annabel Lee; And this maiden she lived with no other thought Than to love and be loved by me. 2. Save this document in your class folder as Key1. Use the Ctrl + S keys. 3. Copy the first 4 lines of the poem using the Ctrl + C keys. 4. Press Enter at least 4 times after the poem. 5. Paste the copied lines where the cursor is now. Use the appropriate key command for pasting. (Can you remember what it is?) 6. Highlight this section. Press the Delete key. 7. Oops! That s not what you wanted to do. Bring back the text by using the Undo key command. Check under the Edit menu if you re not sure what the keys are. Review 1. What are key commands? 2. Why are they useful to know? 3. What is the key command for copying? 4. What is the key command for pasting? 5. What command is generated by Ctrl + Z?
Practice 2 1. Open a blank document. Save it as Key2 using the Save key command. 2. Type in the following text, the second part of Edgar Allen Poe s famous poem: I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea; But we loved with a love that was more than love- I and my Annabel Lee; With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven Coveted her and me. 3. What happens if you press Ctrl + A? You should see all of the text highlighted. This is the Select All command. It allows you to select everything in a document, which is handy if you want to copy it all and paste it somewhere else. 4. Copy the text and paste it several spaces below the first. Use the Ctrl+ C and the Ctrl + V keys to carry out the copy and paste commands. 5. Highlight the first line of the first set of lines (I was a child and she was a child.) Open the Font dialog box (Format > Font.) Change the font to Arial, 14, bold, and change the font color to blue. 6. Highlight the first line in the second set of copied lines. Repeat the command to change the font by using Ctrl + Y (the Redo command.) Notice that the font and style change, matching the first line in the first set. The Redo command can save you time because you don t have to use your mouse again to carry out the same command. Review 1. How do you select everything with a key command? 2. Why is the Redo command handy? 3. Can you think of another time when you might want to use the Redo command? (Hint: think about commands you have to use your mouse for.)
Practice 3 There are many commands to carry out in Microsoft Word, and many of them have key commands assigned to them. Below are some of the basic commands and the key commands that go with them: Command Name Modifiers Key Bold Ctrl+ B Center Para Ctrl+ E Change Case Shift+ F3 Copy Ctrl+ C Cut Ctrl+ X Doc Close Ctrl+ W Double Underline Ctrl+Shift+ D Font Ctrl+ D Grow Font Ctrl+Shift+. Italic Ctrl+ I New Default Ctrl+ N Command Name Modifiers Key Open Ctrl+ O Paste Ctrl+ V Print Ctrl+ P Print Preview Alt+Ctrl+ I Redo or Repeat Ctrl+ Y Save Ctrl+ S Save As F12 Select All Ctrl+ A Underline Ctrl+ U Undo Ctrl+ Z Type in the following verse from Poe s Annabel Lee poem: And this was the reason that, long ago, In this kingdom by the sea, A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling My beautiful Annabel Lee; So that her highborn kinsman came And bore her away from me, To shut her up in a sepulchre In this kingdom by the sea. Using the key commands from the table above, carry out the following commands: Highlight the first word in Line 1. Make it bold. Underline the second line. Double underline the third line. Select all of the text. Change the font to Verdana, size 12, color green. Undo this command. Select Line 3. Increase the font size by 2. (Do the command twice.) Do a print preview.
For more information You can find a list of all the key commands by going to Tools>Macro>Macros (or Alt+F8.) Click on the arrow and select Word Commands in the Macros in box. Scroll down to ListCommands. Click Run. Select Current menu and keyboard settings. A new Word document will appear which lists all the key commands currently available. It s a long list! You can also create your own shortcut key commands if you wish. Try this: 1. Go to Tools>Customize. Click on Keyboard at the bottom of the dialog box. 2. In the Categories box, click on Format. 3. Note that the AllCaps (for all capital letters) command is currently Shift+ Alt+ A. Change it to Alt+ A. 4. Click Close. 5. Select some text in your document and press Alt+ A. Did it change to all capital letters? 6. Remove the customized text by going back to Tools>Customize>Keyboard>Format. Select AllCaps. Notice the current commands listed in the dialog box. Select Alt+ A and click Remove at the bottom. Here is the rest of Annabel Lee, by Edgar Allen Poe in 1849. The angels, not half so happy in heaven, Went envying her and me- Yes!- that was the reason (as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea) That the wind came out of the cloud by night, Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee. But our love it was stronger by far than the love Of those who were older than we- Of many far wiser than we- And neither the angels in heaven above, Nor the demons down under the sea, Can ever dissever my soul from the soul Of the beautiful Annabel Lee. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side Of my darling- my darling- my life and my bride, In the sepulchre there by the sea, In her tomb by the sounding sea.