Shortcuts for Writers: Google Commands & Microsoft Word
by Mark A. PriorAre you interested in saving time and effort while researching, writing, and editing? If so, these simple shortcuts can help:
“HEY GOOGLE” COMMANDS — harness the power of Google Assistant
I find these to be handy shortcuts for accessing many types of information in one step. It is unlimited what you can ask! Google will answer back in voice and/or text so you can explore topics further. Play with this function and get creative. To get started, try these commands:
Tell me the weather. (Today, the week, other locations, etc.)
Play my voicemail messages.
What’s my schedule? (Today, this week, etc.)
What’s the definition of XYZ?
Take me to XYZ intersection. (Google will pull up Google Maps and start navigation)
Tell me about XYZ. (Books, authors, movies, current topics, historical events, etc.)
MICROSOFT WORD — time savers
Copy and Paste are time savers. I use them to revise documents and to copy and paste text from other sources like Word documents, PDFs, and webpages (observe copyright laws when doing this). Copy and Paste is also useful for moving text around within a Word document.
Two Ways to Copy and Paste
Highlight the text to be copied and then enter Ctrl C (hold down the Ctrl key and enter C) to copy it into the buffer. This works in Word and when copying from outside sources.
If you are copying from inside Word, you can copy and remove by highlighting the text and then entering Ctrl X. To paste into Word, regardless of the copy method, place your cursor where you want to insert the copied text and then enter Ctrl V. To move a section of text within Word, use highlight and Ctrl X to copy and remove it and then place the cursor on the new location and enter Ctrl V to insert it.
MICROSOFT WORD — shortcuts for undoing and redoing changes
I use these when editing documents. If I decide I don’t want to keep the last change (or several changes) to the document, I un-do them. Similarly, I use the ‘re-do’ shortcut to re-do the last change or several changes (if possible).
Place the cursor anywhere within the active document: To un-do one or more changes, enter one or more Ctrl Z’s. To re-do one or more changes, enter one or more Ctrl Y’s. Note that the changes you un-do or re-do must be sequential, starting with the last one.
USE TEST DOCUMENTS and LEARN MORE
I recommend using ‘test documents’ until you’re comfortable with these shortcuts. Remember: commands may vary based on your hardware and software configurations.
The shortcuts in this post are some of my favorites. You can find them—and additional shortcuts—here:
Microsoft: Keyboard Shortcuts in Word (select “frequently used shortcuts”)
ABOUT MARK
Mark A. Prior has been writing technically off and on for the past 30 years in the IT field. He is now changing his principal focus to writing creatively but is also interested in sharing his writing related technical knowledge.