Keyboards are an integral part of our lives when using our desktop computers or laptops. While prolonged time spent using the keyboard can cause your arms to feel sore, some tricks can help reduce the time you spend typing on your keyboard. While most of us are aware of some common keyboard tricks like copying and pasting options, many other shortcuts come into the mix as operating systems keep updating over time.
When you’re working online, it’s easy to end up with more tabs than you know what to do with.
Here are 5 Keyboard Shortcuts to make life easier
Have you ever closed a website tab you weren’t actually ready to leave? There’s no need to dig through your browser history to get it back.
All you have to do is press Ctrl, Shift and T on your keyboard at the same time. (You can hold down the first two and then press the third.) If you have an Apple keyboard, use ⌘ (Cmd) instead of Ctrl.
This opens the last tab you had open, unless you’re using an Incognito or InPrivate window. (You can open one of those with Ctrl+Shift+N, by the way.) It works in the most common web browsers.
Ctrl+T: This opens a new tab. Ctrl++ and Ctrl+– : These two shortcuts increase and decrease, respectively, the zoom level of your browser. Great if you have problems reading small print.
Alt+Tab
If you’re working furiously between a web browser, text editor, and photoshop – or any combination of applications, then this quick app-switching shortcut will save you heaps of time.
This is a Windows shortcut, but Mac users have the equivalent ⌘+Tab. Hold Alt and tap Tab to cycle through the windows of all your open applications and bring the one you stop on to the front.
⊞ +E: Using the Windows key with E opens a Quick Access window showing your most recent files and frequently opened folders. For Macs, Opt+⌘+Space does close to the same thing.
Here Are A Few More Tips – Easily Refresh A Web Page
A lot of us spend time on feeds, and other websites, which are frequently updated with new information. Instead of hitting that refresh button on your browser, if you’re on a Windows computer you can simply hit F5 on your keyboard. Or CTRL + R (Command + R if you’re a Mac User).
If you’re making changes to a website and need a non-cached refresh, hit CTRL + SHIFT + R for a hard refresh. Simply replace CTRL with Command if you’re on a Mac.
One For Zoom – The mute all shortcut for hosts
This one can be very useful for all you Zoom newbies out there. If you are the host, you are able to mute everybody from talking, that way you don’t run the risk of too many people speaking over the top of each other and if they do, you can remind them who is boss!
Use Command (⌘)+Control+M: Mute audio for everyone except the host (only available to the host)
Take The Shortcut
Just because we use computers on a daily basis, doesn’t mean we’re using them in the best way possible. Familiarizing yourself with keyboard shortcuts will help you shave minutes, if not hours, off of your digital tasks in the long run. Sometimes the most arduous part of our jobs have to do with the sloth-like reality of finding the right window as you try to copy and paste from a document to a web browser.
But with keyboard shortcuts, such long winded tasks will become a thing of the past.
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