Keyboard shortcuts can be very useful tools. When using keyboard shortcuts, you will need to hold down multiple buttons at a time.  The order that you will press them is indicated in the shortcut. You can hold down the first keys of a shortcut as long as you need to in order to find the final key on your keyboard.  The final key will do the shortcut. No matter how long I press Alt or Ctrl or Start, nothing will happen unless I press the final button. 

Alt+TAB: This changes the program you are using to a different program.  If you hold down Alt and press Tab once, you will switch to the program you were last using.  If you continue to hold down Alt after pressing Tab once, you can see the different programs you have open.  You can click on the program you want to go to or change the program by pressing Tab any number of times until the program you want has a box around it. 

Alt+F4/Apple+Q: This closes the program that you are currently in.  If no programs are open, then this will open the shutdown box. 

Ctrl+Page Up or Page Down: This allows you to switch tabs in your browser.  If you can type in a text box, it will not work, but in that case, just click outside of the text box. 

Ctrl+W: This closes the current tab in your browser. 

Start+up arrow: This maximizes the program so that it fills your entire screen. 

Start+down arrow: This minimizes the application.  If the application you are in fills your entire screen, this shortcut will make it the size it was before it was maximized.  If the application you are in does not fill your entire screen, this shortcut is the equivalent of pressing the _ button at the top of your program.  Even though it is open, you will no longer see the program window. 

Ctrl+S: This saves what you are doing.  This is handiest in Office programs, but it also works in most browsers if you want to save a copy of a webpage (e.g., online receipts). 

Ctrl+Print Screen: This takes a screenshot to your clipboard, which you can then paste, as an image. 

Alt: At the top of most programs, there is a bar that says File, several other things, and then Help.  If you cannot see this bar in a program that you are using, pressing Alt will make it show up if it exists in the program. 

Tab: Aside from creating indentations in Word, you can also use Tab to go to the next selection.  We use this most often in a form with many boxes to fill out. After you complete the first box, you can press Tab to go to the next box instead of clicking. 

More options are available on our previous blog post: