Want to improve your productivity and efficiency at working on MS word? We are sharing with you some of the most useful Microsoft Word keyboard shortcuts to help you save time and speed up your work.
Microsoft Word is the most popular word processing software and most of us use it for our daily tasks. We use both keyboard and mouse while working on it. However, you may not have realized that using mouse again and again kills much time. We can save this time by using keyboard shortcuts. Using them will make our work much faster and convenient than before.
Here are several MS Word shortcuts keys that can increase your productivity at work. Every shortcut serves unique purpose. Read On!
General Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts
| Shortcut | Description |
| Ctrl+N | Opens a new blank MS word document. |
| Ctrl+O | Opens an existing document. It opens a dialog box through which you can browse and select the desired document to open it. |
| Ctrl+S | Saves your document anytime during work. |
| F12 | Opens the ‘Save As’ dialog box which enables you to name the file. |
| Ctrl+W | Closes the current document. |
| Ctrl+Z | Undoes the last action. It can be used many times in a row. |
| Ctrl+R | Redoes the action. It also can be used several times continuously. |
| Ctrl+F | Searches a document. |
| F7 | Checks spelling and grammar. |
| Alt+Ctrl+S | Splits a window into two parts. |
| Ctrl+Alt+V | Shows the Print Layout View. |
| Ctrl+F2 | Shows the Print Preview View. |
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MS Word Shortcut Keys to Navigate Through Document
| Shortcut | Description |
| Ctrl+Left/ Right Arrow | Moves the cursor one word to the left or right from its current position. |
| Ctrl+Up/Down Arrow | Moves the cursor up or down one paragraph. |
| End | Brings the cursor to the end of the current line |
| Home | Brings the cursor to the beginning of the current line |
| Ctrl+Home/End | Takes you to the beginning or end of the document. |
| F5 | Opens the Find and Replace dialog box. The ‘Go To’ tab is selected by default. You can go to any page, section or line quickly. You can also find and replace text using Find tab and Replace tab. |
| Shift+F5 | Takes the cursor to the last point where it was placed for editing or insertion. It can be used 3 times in a row to move to previous 3 cursor locations |
Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts For Selecting Text
| Shortcut | Description |
| Ctrl+A | Selects the entire document. |
| Shift+Left/Right Arrow | Selects one character to the left or right. |
| Ctrl+Shift+Left/Right Arrow | Selects one word to the left or right. |
| Shift+Up/Down Arrow | Selects one line up or down the current cursor location. |
| Ctrl+Shift+Up/Down Arrow | Selects text to the beginning or end of paragraph. |
| Shift+End/Home | Selects every element to the beginning or end of line. |
| Ctrl+Shift+Home/End | Selects elements to the beginning or end of the document. |
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MS Word Shortcut Keys For Editing Text
| Shortcut | Description |
| Ctrl+C | Copy the current selection to the clipboard. |
| Ctrl+X | Removes the current selection and copies it to clipboard. |
| Ctrl+V | Pastes the current clipboard contents. |
| Ctrl+Backspace | Deletes one word to the left. |
| Ctrl+Delete | Deletes one word to the right. |
| Alt+Shift+R | Copies the header or footer from previous sections. |
MS Word Shortcut Keys For Character Formatting
| Shortcut | Description |
| Ctrl+B | Formats text as bold. |
| Ctrl+I | Apply italics formatting. |
| Ctrl+U | Underlines the selected text. |
| Ctrl+Shift+D | Double underline the selected text. |
| Ctrl+Shift+W | Underlines the text but not spaces between the words. |
| Ctrl+[ or ] | Increases or decreases the font size of the current selection. |
| Ctrl+= | Makes the selected text into subscript |
| Ctrl+Shift+= | Makes the selected text into superscript. |
| Ctrl+Shift+A | Formats letters case into uppercase. |
| Ctrl+Shift+K | Formats letters case into lowercase. |
| Ctrl+Shift+C | Copies the formatting of the selected text. |
| Ctrl+Shift+V | Pastes the formatting onto selection. |
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Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts: Paragraph Formatting
| Shortcut | Description |
| Ctrl+M | Increases the current or selected paragraph’s indent. |
| Ctrl+Shift+M | Reduces the paragraph’s indent. |
| Ctrl+T | Increases a hanging indent of the current or selected paragraph |
| Ctrl+Shift+T | Reduces a hanging indent of the paragraph |
| Ctrl+E | Aligns text to both the left and right margins |
| Ctrl+L | Aligns text of the selection to the left |
| Ctrl+R | Aligns text of the selection to the right |
| Ctrl+1/2/5 | Sets spacing between the paragraphs. Ctrl+1 is used for single spacing, Ctrl+2 for double and Ctrl+5 for 1.5 lines spacing |
| Ctrl+0 | Removes one line spacing before a paragraph |
| Ctrl+Shift+N | Applies the normal style to the paragraph |
| Alt+Ctrl+1/2/3 | Applies the Heading styles |
| Ctrl+Shift+L | Applies the List style to the paragraph |
| Shift+Enter | Inserts a line break |
| Ctrl+Enter | Inserts a page break |
| Ctrl+Shift+Enter | Inserts a column break |
MS Word Shortcut Keys: Working on Tables
| Shortcut | Description |
| Tab | Selects the contents of the next cell in a row. |
| Shift+Tab | Selects the previous cell in a row. |
| Alt+Home/End | Selects the first or last cell in a row. |
| Alt+Page Up/Page Down | Selects the first or last cell in a column. |
It’s a tough task to learn all these shortcuts especially for beginners. But as every MS shortcuts key might not be useful for you based on the type of work you do on Word hence, you can learn the ones that you use most often. Be patient, give yourself some time and practice. Once you have memorized them and are able to recall them instantly, you can see your productivity skyrocket to new levels.
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