Club Benefits
They say you can’t teach an old dog new tricks but you really can. You can also learn something new every day as an amazing thread on Meta’s Threads has proven.
User sarajaclynschwartz innocently asked others to "nerd out with me" and list their favourite keyboard shortcut. Those reading certainly stepped up, creating a thread with more than 1,700 responses and a whole bunch of amazing shortcuts.
Many of those commented that they’d never come across many of the shortcuts before and it’s fair to say there’s a heap of stuff that will have passed by a good number of us.
Sure, Ctrl+Z saves us all daily. But your Windows or Mac keyboard is hiding better tricks. Let's find dive in.
1. CTRL-SHIFT-T
If you’ve accidentally closed a tab in your web browser, just press Ctrl-Shift-T (or press Cmd-Shift-T if you’re using a Mac) and, hey presto, you’ll be able to pick up where you left off.
This saves you having to trawl through your browsing history and you can press it multiple times to retrieve all the tabs you need.
What’s more, if you close the entire browser by mistake, don’t fret. Just open a fresh browser window, use the keyboard shortcut again and all the tabs will be restored.
2. Windows-V
You’re not restricted to pasting the last thing you copied. Instead, you can press Windows logo key-V and open the Windows Clipboard History where multiple items can be stored and used.
You may be prompted to turn on the clipboard history: if you can’t see your clipboard, it’ll be because it’s not active. You can also pin items and these will be retained when you restart your PC.
3. ALT+0176
Need the degree symbol to indicate a temperature? You won’t find it on the keyboard but if you hold down ALT and type 0176, it’ll appear. Hot stuff, eh? Just note this will only work on keyboards that have a 10-key numeric pad.
There’s actually a lot more of these. Get the Euro symbol with ALT+0128, ALT-0151 for an Em-dash and 14 for a musical note, for instance. They’re worth exploring.
4. Control-Shift-Esc
Ok, so I am familiar with this one but it’s definitely worth sharing. Press Control-Shift-Esc and you can instantly open Windows Task Manager.
From there, you can force close those troublesome apps, check your system’s resources and decide which programs you want to load on startup — the fewer of these, the faster your computer will boot.
5. Control-+
Struggling to read something on a webpage when you’re using a browser? Then enlarge the text using this handy shortcut: press Control and +.
If you’re using a Mac, use Command and + instead but the effect is the same. When you’re done and want to return to normal, just press Control and – (or press Command and –) to make everything smaller again.
6. Control-K
This one works in Word, Google Docs, LibreOffice, email apps and more. Just highlight text, press Control-K and you can insert a hyperlink.
If you use this one Chrome, Edge or Firefox, you can jump to the address or search bar where you can immediately start typing. A nice little timesaver.
7. Command-Shift-Up Arrow
This is a great keyboard shortcut to use in a word processor. Press Command-Shift-Up Arrow and you’ll be able to select all of the text above your cursor position. You can also press Command-Shift-Down Arrow: this will select all of the text below your cursor position.
Don’t stop there either. Press Command-Shift-Left Arrow to select all text to the left and press Command-Shift-Right Arrow for all text to the right.
Cast your vote above, and let us know your absolute favorite shortcut in the comments below!
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