Keyboard shortcut of the week: Sub- and Superscript

Occasionally we have to make use of subscripts or superscripts in our documents. The most common use of these is with dates, as in 20th. There the 'th' is a superscript; that is, smaller text that is raised. Subscripts are most often used in technical language such as if we refer to water as H2O. There the subscript is the '2'; smaller text that is lowered.To switch to subscript mode or to change...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: Windows 7 Taskbar

After a long hiatus, keyboard shortcut of the week returns to 'Bloody Computer!' This week, we will look at new features of the Windows 7 taskbar.You can open any program on the taskbar by holding the Windows key [shown right] and pressing the item number on the taskbar. For example, to open Internet...

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OpenOffice Keyboard Shortcuts

Writer, the word processor in OpenOffice.org, uses many of the same keyboard shortcuts as MS Word. The shortcuts for selecting, editing and formatting text follow established standards. Whereas Writer has a keyboard shortcut for 'Paste special' (Ctrl + Shift + V) - something missing in Word - it does...

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Faster word processing revisited

Do you wish to be able to use your word processor more efficiently? Would you like to be able to edit a piece of text without having to reach for the mouse every few seconds? If your answer is 'yes' then this selection of time-saving keyboard shortcuts are for you. They should work in any text editor on Windows (and possibly on other operating systems too), whether you are using a word processor...

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Windows Hopping reprise

Hopping Between WindowsHave you ever needed to swap windows while you are using the keyboard? Have you needed to jump quickly from that email you are composing to the report you are supposed to be writing? Then try holding down Alt key and pressing the Tab key. Select the window you want and release...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: Alternative windows hopping

In a previous post I mentioned that you can hop between open windows by holding down the Alt key and pressing the Tab key repeatedly. A little dialog box will open that in Windows XP or 2000 looks like this:And in Windows Vista looks like this:There is an alternate way of hopping between windows that...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: Chrome

Regular readers will know that I have recently started falling out of love with Mozilla Firefox (but not enough to switch back to Internet Explorer). The latest version does not seem to have addressed any of my gripes, and actually appears to have made many of matters worse. Not only is Firefox's memory...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: a view of Word

There are a number of ways in which you can view a document in MS Word. You can switch between these different layouts by selecting them from the 'View' menu, or you can use keyboard shortcuts to quickly switch between them.My preferred choice is 'Print layout', which can be selected by holding down the Ctrl and Alt keys and pressing P.To select the 'Normal layout' hold down the Ctrl and Alt keys...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: New, Open, and Save

Just about every Windows application works with documents, which you will create, open and save at various stages. These three functions have associated keyboard shortcuts that work with most if not all the applications that you use regularly. I use the word document here to refer to anything that can be created or edited with software, whether that is a piece of music, an image or some other project.New...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: a few for Firefox

Here are a few keyboard shortcuts for Firefox to mark the release of version 3 of that browser (which I express my initial opinions about at the bottom of this post). These should all work in Windows and Linux, for Apple Macs simply substitute the Ctrl key with the Cmd key.Full screen modeTo hide the...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: align, centre and justify

By default, all text in Microsoft Word is aligned to the left (except if the default language is set to Arabic or another script that reads right to left). You can change the alignment of the current paragraph by clicking on these buttons on the Formatting toolbar.But as you have probably guesed by...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: create your own

If you have a program that you use a lot you can create your own combination of keys to run it. In this tutorial we will set up a keyboard shortcut for Microsoft Word.The keyboard combination is associated with a shortcut rather than the program itself. So we need to locate a shortcut for Word. You...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: Quickly Open Link in New Tab

This tip should be of interest to all the Entrecard chain-droppers out there (you know who you are). It works in Internet Explorer (version 7 and later), Firefox, and Safari.If you hold down the Ctrl key when you click on a link on a website the browser will open the linked page on a new tab, saving you having to right-click on the link and selecting 'Open Link in New Tab' (or 'Open in New Tab' on...

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Using AutoText in Word

If there are things that you find yourself typing regularly, there is a way of increasing your productivity. By using Word's AutoText feature you only have to start typing a few letters of your name or postal address before it offers an option to fill the rest of the text for you. Word comes with a...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: The Case of MS Word

When using a word processor it is quite common to forget that that the CapsLock key has been left on, or you might decide that a piece of text looks better in capital letters (also known as upper case: small letters are known as lower case).Thankfully MS Word has a keyboard shortcut that lets you cycle between different cases and formats. All you need to do is highlight a piece of text, hold down...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: email name look-up

When using MS Outlook, Outlook Express and Outlook Web Access on Internet Explorer you can quickly look up names in your contacts and address books with a keyboard shortcut.Let us assume you are looking for a 'Thomas Jones', you can type 'tho jo' in the 'To..' field of a new email and hold down the...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: undo and redo

Just about every windows application has an 'undo' feature and most have a 'redo' feature. These are a lifesaver on those frequent occasions that we make a mistake in what we are doing, and in the case of 'redo', when we realise that we were right the first time.The undo/redo feature will either be...

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Keyboard shortcut of the week: Explorer

A short and sweet post today, after so many lengthy ones.Here is a shortcut that I have mentioned in passing before: to open Windows Explorer (the Windows file browsing software) hold down the Windows key (the one with the Windows logo on it) and press E.Note: this may not work if you have certain applications open, to remedy this hold down the Windows key and press D then...

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Mouse stopped working: how to reinstall

The first thing to do when your mouse stops working is to check the cable connection. There is no point reinstalling the mouse if it isn't plugged in.The next thing to try is to reboot the PC. I have written instructions on how to reboot a PC using the keyboard.If after checking the cables and restarting...

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How to reboot Windows using the keyboard

I was writing a post on how to reinstall the mouse using the keyboard when I realised that rebooting the PC using the keyboard would be a required step in the process. So I decided to dedicate a whole post to that topic. I will give a few examples of how this can be done.Using the Start Menu· Press...

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