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Keyboard shortcuts everyone should know

The keyboard shortcuts everyone should know on Windows and Mac: copy, paste, undo, tabs, screenshots and moving through text one word at a time.

Keyboard shortcuts save you a trip to the mouse dozens of times a day. Learn the ones below once and you will use them everywhere, whatever program you are in.

The essentials

On Windows, most shortcuts use Ctrl. On a Mac, the same letter goes with Cmd (⌘).

Action Windows Mac
Copy Ctrl+C Cmd+C
Cut Ctrl+X Cmd+X
Paste Ctrl+V Cmd+V
Undo Ctrl+Z Cmd+Z
Redo Ctrl+Y or Ctrl+Shift+Z Cmd+Shift+Z
Select all Ctrl+A Cmd+A
Find Ctrl+F Cmd+F
Save Ctrl+S Cmd+S
Print Ctrl+P Cmd+P
New tab Ctrl+T Cmd+T
Close tab Ctrl+W Cmd+W
Reopen closed tab Ctrl+Shift+T Cmd+Shift+T
Switch windows Alt+Tab Cmd+Tab
Screenshot of an area Windows+Shift+S Cmd+Shift+4

Two of them deserve a special mention. Undo is your safety net: it brings back text you deleted by accident. Reopen closed tab does the same for a tab you closed too quickly, and pressing it again brings back older ones. To switch windows, hold Alt (or Cmd) and tap Tab until you reach the one you want; on a Mac, Cmd+Tab switches between apps.

Moving through text

These work in almost any text box, email or document, and they are where touch typists save the most time:

  • Ctrl+Left or Ctrl+Right (Option+arrow on a Mac) jumps one word at a time.
  • Home and End go to the start and end of the line (Cmd+Left and Cmd+Right on a Mac).
  • Add Shift to any of them to select as you move: Ctrl+Shift+Right selects the next word, Shift+End selects to the end of the line.
  • Ctrl+Backspace (Option+Delete on a Mac) deletes the whole previous word.

Together, they let you fix a typo three words back without touching the mouse.

Shortcuts follow the letter

A shortcut follows the letter printed on the key, not its position. On a French AZERTY or German QWERTZ keyboard, Ctrl+Z is the key marked Z, wherever it sits, and the same goes for every letter in the table.

Make them stick

  • Learn two or three at a time and make yourself use them for a week, until your hand goes there on its own.
  • Ctrl, Z, X, C and V sit together at the bottom left, so one hand handles the most common shortcuts while the other stays on the mouse.
Practice

Put it into practice

The lessons take you through the keyboard a few keys at a time, with a keyboard on screen that shows each finger.

Start the first lesson

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