Six Keyboard Shortcuts You Should Know

Lifehacker: Six Keyboard Shortcuts Every Computer User Should Know

According to a statistic published in The Atlantic, 90% of computer users don't know what Ctrl+F can do. As a result, we've put together a list of common, handy shortcuts and tricks that every computer user should know. If you have a friend or family member who could use a lesson or refresher, send this post along.

Before we get started, let's tackle some basics. The CTRL is an abbreviation for Control, and it's the main key on your Windows PC that you use for keyboard shortcuts. If you have a Mac, you also have a Control key, but your primary keyboard shortcut key is Command. Like Alt/Option and Shift, these are modifier keys. When you press them, nothing obvious happens. When you press them along with another letter or number, however, you can make your computer do things faster. We're going to talk about some handy shortcuts you can use with these keys.

Control+F (or Command+F on the Mac)

Obviously we have to begin with Control+F since the statistic is begging for it. Control+F, or Command+F on a Mac, is the keyboard shortcut for the Find command. If you're in a web browser and want to search text on a web page, pressing Control+F will bring up a search box. Just type in that search box and it'll locate the text you're typing on the page. Control+F may work in other applications, too, when you need to find something. For example, Microsoft Word and other word processing applications use this keyboard shortcut.

Control+N (or Command+N on a Mac)

Pressing Control+N, or Command+N on a Mac, is the command for creating something new. In a web browser, this will make a new window. In a word processing, image editing, or other document-based application this keyboard shortcut will create a new document.

Control+S (or Command+S on a Mac)

Now that you know how to create a new document with your keyboard, you should also know how to save one. Control+S, or Command+S on a Mac is the keyboard shortcut for saving a document. If this is the first time you've saved the document you'll be presented with a new window that'll ask you what to name it and where you want to save it. If you've already saved it once before, this keyboard shortcut will simply save your changes.

Control+P (or Command+P on a Mac)

If you want to print the document you just made, Control+P, or Command+P on a Mac, is the keyboard shortcut that will open the print window. From there you'll be able to check your settings, choose a printer, etc. When you're ready, just click print and your document will be printed. This keyboard shortcut works in pretty much any application with printable content, including your web browser.

Alt+F4 (or Command+Q on a Mac)

Alt-F4 (and sometimes Control+W or Control+Q), or Command+Q on a Mac, is the keyboard shortcut for quitting the current application. In Windows it will quit the currently open that's in focus on the screen. On a Mac this is also generally the case, but sometimes it's not as clear. To know which application is going to quit when you perform this keyboard command, just look in the upper left corner to see it's name.

Enter (or Return on a Mac)

The enter key, or return key on a Mac, is useful for a lot of things. When a dialog window pops up and asks you to press okay or cancel, you can usually just press Enter instead of clicking okay. In Windows you can tell which button will respond to enter because it'll have a dotted box inside of it. On a Mac the button will be blue instead of gray. Enter can also be used for other things, like submitting forms on web pages from any text field in that form.

Six Keyboard Shortcuts Every Computer User Should Know

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From Cool Tools: New Trent External USB Batteries

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New Trent has consistently made the most powerful and reliable external USB batteries for USB-devices like the iPhone. Look at the New Trent website to decide which product is right for you, then look at the reviews on Amazon for confirmation of my first sentence.

The newest battery, IMP1000, has 11,000 mAH capacity, about 5-6 recharges for an iPhone 4. Before I bought my IMP500 I researched extensively before buying. Since then I have used this battery under extreme conditions for the last two years, and am more than satisfied.

-- Kim 

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Cool Tools: New Trent External USB Batteries

Quickly Add Screenshots to an Email in Outlook 2010

Outlook Tip: Quickly Add Screenshots to an Email | BNET

One of Outlook 2010’s most underrated and overlooked features is Insert Screenshot, which makes it incredibly quick and easy to paste a screen grab into the body of an e-mail.

That’s mighty handy if you want to, say, get team feedback on your new redesign of the company landing page, or share a snippet of spreadsheet data without actually sharing the spreadsheet. (”Just look at these numbers!”) Here’s how it works:

1. Create a new email message.
2. With your cursor in the body of the message, click the Insert tab, and then click Screenshot.
3. Outlook shows you thumbnails of all currently open windows. (If you can’t quite make out what’s what, mouse over any thumbnail for a description.) Click the one you want and presto: A full-size screenshot lands right in the body of the email.

If the image is too large (or even not large enough), you can click and drag any of the corner handles to resize it.

Now, if you want to insert just a clipped portion of a window rather than the entire thing, you can — but it’s a little more involved:

• Bring that window to the foreground, then put the new-message window on top of that.
• Repeat Step 2 above.
• Instead of clicking one of the thumbnails, click the Screen Clipping button at the bottom of the selection tool.
• Now you’ll see that window from Step 1, but sort of whited out. Click and drag your cursor to select the area you want pasted into the email. As soon as you release the mouse button, presto: The snippet gets pasted.

Once you do this a couple times, you’ll find it becomes second nature. And you’ll wonder why you wasted so much time capturing screenshots manually, saving them to disk, then attaching them to emails.

That said, if you want a little more control over your screenshots, there’s always the Windows Snipping Tool.

Outlook Tip: Quickly Add Screenshots to an Email | BNET

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10 Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Word

Cheat Sheet: 10 Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word. The name's practically synonymous with "productivity app." If you're reading this article at work you've probably got a Word doc open right now, and you might think you've got a good handle on Microsoft's word processor. We'll bet you don't know as much as you think you do. Don't believe us? Read on for 10 quick tips and tricks for Microsoft Word.

Be Selective with How You Select

You already know that double-clicking selects a single word, and you probably figured out that triple-clicking selects an entire paragraph. But if you just want to select a single sentence, hold down Ctrl and click on any word. To select an entire table, hold down Alt and double-click.

Add a Comment Box

When a friend or family member sends you a document to proofread, don't waste your time writing a lengthy email detailing all the horrendous mistakes you found; mark up their Word file instead. Highlight a portion of text, click the Review tab in the Ribbon bar, and select New Comment.

Insert Bullets and Number Lists Using Your Keyboard

When inspiration hits, lifting your fingers off the keyboard to use your mouse can mess up your mojo, but what do you do if you need to insert a bullet or numbered list? It's simple: type an asterisk and hit the spacebar to auto-create a bullet list. You can do the same with numbers and dashes.

Use the Built-In Thesaurus

You don't need to hop online to use a thesaurus, the folks in Redmond had the good sense to bundle one in Word. To use it, highlight an entry and press Shift+F7. Pretty simple, right? Or maybe we should say it's trouble-free, straightforward, effortless, uncomplicated, or painless.

Backup/Transfer Your Settings

Nearly every customization you make to Word gets saved in the Normal.dot template, a hidden file that you should keep backed up. You'll find it by navigating to C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Templates. Be sure to enable viewing of hidden files, folders, and drives.

Extend Word's Trial Period

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Microsoft allows you to test drive Office 2010 free for 30 days; after that, you have to pony up for a license and activate. Or you can ‘rearm' Office for another 30-day trial, up to 5 times for a total of 180 days. To rearm, open an elevated command prompt and go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\OfficeSoftwareProtectionPlatform and run OSPPREARM.exe. If you installed the 32-bit edition of Office on a 64-bit OS, replace Program Files with Program Files (x86).

Insert Screenshots into Word

One of our favorite new features in Word 2010 is the ability to glue screen grabs right into the document we're working on. Just use the Print Screen key as normal to grab an image, and then go to Insert > Illustrations > Screenshot.

Hop Back and Forth with Bookmarks

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To add a bookmark in Word, position your cursor and go to Insert > Links > Bookmark. Give your bookmark a name and click Add. To jump back to that point, just go back to the Bookmark menu, highlight your entry, and click Go To.

Select Text Vertically

Did you mess up your numbered list? Maybe some funky symbols got placed at the beginning of each sentence when you copied over an email. Whatever your reason for wanting to select text vertically, you can do so by holding down the Alt key and using your mouse cursor.

Password Protect Work Documents

One of these days, you're going to punch your obnoxious roommate square in the face for digging around your personal documents. Or better yet, just lock your docs. To password protect a Word document, click on File > Info > Protect Document > Encrypt with Password.

Cheat Sheet: 10 Tips and Tricks for Microsoft Word