Since last week’s post was such a hit, I thought I’d follow it up with a very practical How To on getting faster using your computer.
If you’re a knowledge worker, these 25 shortcuts, once mastered, will save you five of the 10 hours per week that I promised you last week.
But first, a bit of backstory.
This topic has been on my mind because I got a fancy new keyboard a couple of weeks ago. The Keyboard.io is a split, ergonomic keyboard, similar in many ways to the very funky Kenesis Advantage I bought 20 years ago.
I bought the Kenesis because I was struggling with the early signs of carpal tunnel syndrome, and, having had a friend sidelined from typing for years by her crippling symptoms, I was not going to mess around. The Kenesis, combined with a trackball mouse that I learned to use with my left hand, solved my carpel tunnel problems, and I’ve been using both ever since.
The only problem with the original Kenesis is that it’s exceptionally ugly…as in, everyone who sees it stops and says “woah, what’s that?!”
Kenesis has, finally, upgraded the color scheme from the original Apple IIe beige, and you can now get an Advantage in a sleeker gray. Still, I was intrigued by the Keyboard.io when I saw it on Kickstarter two years ago, so I backed it and was eager to upgrade.
Out of the box, the Keyboard.io looked and felt amazing: it was the souped-up version of my old Kenesis, in burled wood, of all things!
But, while the Keyboard.io looked familiar, I discovered something terrifying when I plugged it in. While all the letters are in their normal place, everything else (the space bar, the Enter key, Control, Option, Command, all directional arrows, Page Up, Page Down, Esc and Tab) had been moved!
This might not seem like a huge deal…maybe it would impact me every now and then. But since I’m a relentless user of keyboard shortcuts, the new location of this set of keys ground my workday to a halt: while I could immediately type at a decent clip, I couldn’t do a single one of my keyboard shortcuts.
The result was that, for the first day with the Keyboard.io, I felt like I was operating at 20% speed when working. I was unable to use keystrokes to switch between apps. I couldn’t easily jump the cursor around, or highlight text, or switch channels in Slack. I was doing everything with my mouse instead, and it was tragically slow.
It occurred to me that this new pace is the pace that anyone who doesn’t use keystrokes has to work at. Terrible!
I was so frustrated, and also so unwilling to give up on my new keyboard, that I resolved to figure out and re-learn the essential keystrokes I use every day.
I’m happy to report that, four weeks in, I’m at about 90% of my original speed, and I’m loving the new Keyboard.io so much that I’m going to get myself another one (as soon as they are available.)
So that my pain and frustration don’t go to waste, I thought I’d share my list for anyone looking for more (free) throughput in their workday.
Master these (and, I’m sure, many many more that I don’t currently use but your friends/colleagues might) and you’ll be recapturing loads free time throughout your workday.
And yes, there are plenty of websites with lists of ALL the shortcuts for a given app, but you don’t want all of them, you just want the essential, must-use ones…these.
Managing Text / Cursor movement / Basics
| Action | Mac Keystroke | PC Keystroke |
| Copy | Cmd+C | Ctrl+C |
| Paste | Cmd+V | Ctrl+V |
| Undo | Cmd+Z | Ctrl+Z |
| Select All | Cmd+A | Ctrl+A |
| Underline / Bold / Italic | Option + U / B / I | Option + U / B / I |
| Move to next cell in a table | Tab | Tab |
| Move to previous cell in a table | Shift + Tab | Shift + Tab |
| Move cursor to next word | Option + Arrow (R or L) | Ctrl + Arrow (R or L) |
| Move cursor to the end of the line (Word) | Cmd + Arrow (R or L) | Ctrl + Arrow (R or L) |
| Highlight next word | Shift + Option + Arrow (R or L) | Shift + Ctrl + Arrow (R or L) |
| Highlight full line | Shift + Up/Down Arrow | Shift + Up/Down Arrow |
| Close a dialogue box | Esc | Esc |
Moving between Apps
| Action | Mac Keystroke | PC Keystroke |
| Switch between apps (forward) | Cmd+Tab | Alt+Tab |
| Switch between apps (backwards) | Cmd+Shift+Tab | Alt+Shift+Tab |
Gmail (full list here)
| Action | Mac Keystroke | PC Keystroke |
| Send email | Tab, then Enter | Tab, then Enter |
| Add someone to Cc: Line | Cmd+Shift+C | Ctrl+Shift+C |
| Add someone to Bcc: Line | Cmd+Shift+B | Ctrl+Shift+B |
| Mark an email as read | Shift + I | Shift + I |
| Mark an email as unread | Shift + U | Shift + U |
| Return to Inbox from msg | U | U |
| Add a hyperlink | Highlight the word, then Cmd+K, then paste in the URL | Highlight the word, then Cmd+K, then paste in the URL |
Slack (full list here)
| Action | Mac Keystroke | PC Keystroke |
| Search channels | Cmd+K, then type | Ctrl+K, then type |
| Line break in a message | Shift+Enter | Shift+Enter |
| Close a preview file | Esc | Esc |
| Add a hyperlink | Highlight the word, then paste (Cmd+V) | Highlight the word, then paste (Ctrl+V) |
