Although many of us use MS Word on a day-to-day basis, only a few of us take advantage of its potential. More seasoned users of MS Word or Microsoft Word use shortcuts and tricks to easily and quickly work on MS Word.
Here is a list of the choicest 10 MS Word shortcuts to make working on a word document fun and interesting.
Unique MS Word Shortcuts
I. Use Wildcard to Find and Replace Word(s)
Use wildcard characters to find and replace the word(s) in an MS Word document. Wildcard characters could be a question mark (?) to represent a single character or an asterisk (*) to mean a string of characters.
On the Home page click on Editing>Replace>More>
Check the Use Wildcards box>
Fill texts in the Find what and
Replace with boxes.
In this example document, the word ‘Text’ is mentioned as T*t using a wildcard to be replaced with the word ‘Message’.
II. Paste Text without Formatting
When content is copied from another word document or a different source and pasted on a new word document, it displays the original format of the writing. To prevent that from happening use the shortcut Ctrl + ALT + V to display the pop-up menu called Paste Special. Choose the Unformatted Text option and click on OK.
Mac users can press Ctrl +Command + V to paste unformatted text.
III. Deleting Texts without Selecting Them
It is possible to delete text word by word in a jiffy without selecting them. To do that left-click on the end of the text, then press Ctrl + Backspace which will start deleting the words. Continue to hold down the buttons on the keyboard until the start of the content that needs to be deleted has been reached.
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IV. Highlight Text Quickly
Here is an easy trick to quickly highlight a big chunk of content in the document to change text color, font, size, etc. Left-click on the start of the text, press the Shift key on the keyboard and left-click on the end of the content. The whole area will be highlighted to make the necessary changes.
V. Know the Definition of a Word
When copy-pasting content from a different source or reading another person’s document, one ought to come across certain words that they may not understand. To ensure that the words are used in the proper context, the reader can easily look up the meaning or definition within the word document itself.
Highlight the word, right-click on it and click on Search. A pane on the right-hand side would be displayed with possible definitions or meanings.
VI. Open File Browser in Word
The fastest way to open a file in a word document is to press the Ctrl + F12 keys simultaneously on the keyboard to open the browser window.
VII. Insert Current Time and Date
To include the current date stamp in a document, click the Shift + Alt + D keys on the keyboard and Shift + Alt + T to include the time stamp.
VIII. Inserting Dropped Capitals
Using dropped capital to make the start of a paragraph look interesting is a great idea. To get this effect, highlight the word then go to the Insert tab>Text>Drop Cap>Dropped.
IX. Create a Table Quickly
Type as shown below using the plus and minus signs below and hit Enter.
+———-+———-+———-+
A table will be created with three columns and a single row. The width of the columns will vary depending on the number of the minus symbol used. The plus sign can be increased or decreased to increase or decrease the number of the columns. To add to the number of rows, press the Tab key.
You can simply copy the pattern here and paste in on your Word file. Then, hit enter.
X. Creating Custom Lines
It is extremely easy to create a custom line by using certain characters to separate the content of the document.
To create the lines as shown above enter the below-given characters 3 times and then press ENTER.
- ===
- ––
- ***
- ###
- ___
- ~~~
There is an ocean of functionality in Word. Since it is not possible to include them all in one article, we have identified 10 unknown but most needed MS Word shortcuts so you can improve the way you work and please your boss with a timely submission!
