Function Key Shortcuts

Escape

  • Esc is used to back out of situations. When you find yourself in a place where you don’t want to be, try the Esc key. In
    PowerPoint this key will stop a running slide show. The keyboard combination Ctrl + Esc will open the Start menu.

While working in an application, depressing this key will bring up the applications help menu. If there is no open application

F1

  • Will open  Windows Help.

F2

  • Choose this key to rename a selected item.
    Alt + Ctrl + F2 to open a new document in MS Word
    Ctrl + F2 to open print preview in MS Word

F3

  • Depressing this key will display the Find: All Files dialog box.
    Shift + F3 will change case in MS Word. Continue to press F3 (with the Shift key depressed) to toggle through all choices.

F4

  • Holding  down the Alt key while depressing F4 closes the current active window.
    If there is no active window this opens the Shut Down dialog box.
    Repeat  an action with F4. For example, if your last action was to format a  word as Bold, you can repeat the procedure by highlighting another word and depressing F4. This continues to work until your next action.
    (Thanks to George Held for this shortcut)

F5

  • Select this key to refresh the contents of a dialog box, such as the Save As or Open dialog boxes, or in a window such as a Windows Explorer window. Open the Find and Replace dialog box in MS Word
    F5 + Ctrl + Shift to insert a bookmark in MS Word Use this key to start a slide show in MS PowerPoint

F6

  • F6 + Ctrl + Shift to move to a previous window in MS Word
    F6 + Ctrl + Alt to move to a previous window in MS Word

F7 

  • Perform Spell and Grammar check in MS Word
    F7 + Shift when a word is highlighted to access the thesaurus in MS Word

F10

  • Activates Menu Bar options. Use right and left arrows to select menus and down arrows to display pull down menus.
    F10  + Shift – Depressing this key combination will display the selected item’s shortcut window. This is the menu that is displayed by right-clicking.

F11

  • In Internet Explorer this key will  allow you to toggle back and forth between full screen view (all  toolbars compressed into one thin line) and normal view  In Excel this key will make a chart using data that you have highlighted

F12

  • Open a new document in MS Word
    F12 + Ctrl + Shift to print in MS Word
    F12 + Shift to Save in MS Word
    F12 to open the Save As dialog box in MS Word

Print  Screen

  • Don’t look at your printer after pressing this key. This sends  a copy of whatever is on the screen to the clipboard. One common use of  this action is to paste the clipboard into Paint to copy a portion of an image for use in another application. As an example look at the Windows logo in the Windows key section of this page. That was produced by copying a small portion of the desktop image and pasting into a web page developer. If you wish to copy only the active window, hold down the Alt key, then tap on the Print Screen key. It will copy only that window that is active, not the whole desktop.

* (Asterisk)

  •  Ctrl + Shift + * to select the current region around an active cell in MS Excel. This can be quite useful in creating charts.

Hyphen (dash)

  • Ctrl + – (Hyphen) to bring up the Delete dialog box in MS Excel
  • Ctrl + [ to decrease font size of highlighted text one point at a time (MS Word and MS PowerPoint)
  • Ctrl + ] to increase font size of highlighted text one point at a time (MS Word and MS PowerPoint)

P

  • Ctrl + P to print in many applications
    Ctrl + P to bring up the pen if you are in a PowerPoint show

E

  • E to erase whatever you drew using the pen in a PowerPoint show

A

  • Ctrl + A to select all in many applications
    Ctrl + A to replace the pen with the arrow pointer if you are in a PowerPoint show

B

  • Ctrl + B to make selected text Bold
    B to make the screen Black if you are in a PowerPoint show

W

  • Ctrl + W to close a window
    W to make the screen White if you are in a PowerPoint show

Z

  • Ctrl + Z to undo (to Zap an error)

X

  • Ctrl + X to cut selected text or images

C

  • Ctrl + C to copy selected text or images

V

  • Ctrl + V to paste text or images that have been cut or copied

S

  • Ctrl + S to save a document

D

  • Ctrl + D to make a favorite in Internet Explorer

Tab 

  • This key can be used to move forward through options in a dialog box.
    Ctrl + Shift + Tab can be used to move backward through the options.
    Ctrl + Tab allows movement from one open window to the next in an application with more than one open window.
    Alt  + Tab displays a list of open application windows. Keeping Alt
    depressed and selecting Tab cycles through the list. Releasing selects
    the highlighted application window.

Shift

  • The obvious use of this key is to allow selection of capital letters when depressing the  alphabet characters, or selecting the characters above the keys on the row just below the F keys.
  • Depressing the Shift key while inserting a CD-ROM will bypass auto play. Use the keyboard combination
  • Shift + Delete to permanently delete a selected item, not simply moving it to the Recycle Bin.
    Shift + arrow key(s) to extend the area of selected data in MS Excel Adding  the Shift key to most keyboard shortcuts will perform the reverse  action.
  • For example: Spacebar scrolls down in IE but Shift + Spacebar scrolls up, in MS Excel depressing the Enter key moves to the cell below  and Shift + Enter moves to the cell above, likewise in MS Excel depressing the Tab key moves to the cell to the right and Shift + Tab moves to the cell to the left.

Ctrl – Depressing

  • Ctrl key while clicking allows multiple selections. Holding the Ctrl
    key down and pressing another key will initiate quite a few actions.
    Some of the more common are listed in the table below:
    Ctrl + Shift + * to select the current region around an active cell in MS Excel. This can be quite useful in creating charts.

Hyphen (dash)

  • Ctrl + – (Hyphen) to bring up the Delete dialog box in MS Excel
  • Ctrl + [ to decrease font size of highlighted text one point at a time (MS Word and MS PowerPoint)
  • Ctrl + ] to increase font size of highlighted text one point at a time (MS Word and MS PowerPoint)

In order to provide timely and reliable service, the first point of contact for all technical assistance must be made to the IT Help Desk. To contact the IT Help Desk, submit a service request (on-campus), call the Help Desk at (502) 597-7000 or send an email to helpdesk@kysu.edu.