30 thoughts on “MS Word Keyboard Shortcuts”

1. Nice list, Sue, and I’m sure it will be helpful to others.

   I use Word from Office 365 and all those commands are on my menu bar/ribbon/whatever it’s called for the document, and the paragraph menus show some of the slightly ‘fancier’ ones. I remember a few of the keystrokes from the ‘old’ days, but nowadays, I rely on the menu/ribbon/whatever.

   The ones I use most are cut, copy, and paste, and I have buttons on my mouse that handle those commands.

   Word also has a nice way of remembering what you’ve used recently in symbols, so I’ve never made a shortcut. Saves my aging brain.

   Today, we remember those who gave their lives–although even though it’s passive voice, I prefer ‘those who had their lives taken’ because I don’t think most of those who died in battle did so willingly.

   • I use Word from Office 365, too. The shortcuts are useful for those who don’t want to use their mouse. Thus, keeping their hands on the keyboard at all times. Hope you have a great day, Terry!

     • I do remember hating to take my hands from the keyboard, but I guess with so much available as a click now, and my inability to remember things the way I used to, I’ve changed my ways.

2. Thanks so much, Sue. This is gold. Maybe at some point you could add the shortcuts created when a cat walks across the keyboard when one is in mid-sentence or the combinations that come into existence when the side of a fist strikes multiple keys at random.

   Have a wonderful Memorial Day, Sue!

   • Hahahahahahahahaha! You brighten my days with your quick wit, SJ.

     Happy Memorial Day, Joe! xo

3. Sue, I use a majority of those shortcuts, learned by hunting them down over the years. Good to review a list.

   I write in Scrivener, beta and edit in Word, format in Vellum.

   Query: What is the point of highlighting italics? I was never asked to do that when writing for the Forbidden City. I have no idea why I would want to do that now.

   • Honestly, Jim, I have no idea why they ask me to highlight italics. The only response I’ve ever gotten was, “so the formatter doesn’t miss italicized words.” But since all five houses required it (including Rowman & Littlefield), I thought it was a standard thing. But if you never had to do it, then I’m baffled.

     • I can remember when you had to underline to show italics. Are these publishers using the current meaning of “highlight” or do they want you to do something else to call attention to it?

       • Highlight with a yellow stripe.

4. Wow, Sue. Thanks! This is great. I’m printing this one.

   I do my final editing in Word, then upload to Atticus. There was no instruction in the tutorials for Atticus that recommended/required highlighting. And, before using Atticus, when I uploaded my Word document to Kindle, I never highlighted italics. You have me curious now. I’ll be using Atticus again in the next few days. I’ll check to make sure the italics in the word document show up in the ePub and PDF.

   Thanks! And have a memorable Memorial Day!

   • Thrilled you found the post useful, Steve! So, Vellium and Atticus don’t require highlighted italics. Huh. Y’know, every house has their own quirks. But when all five asked me to do it, I figured this was the norm. Now, I’m stumped.

     Thanks, Steve! Wishing you a memorable Memorial Day, too!

     • Sue, I would bet that what your publisher told you–so they don’t miss italics–is really the reason they wanted you to highlight the italics. Italics could be easy to miss.

       When we format in Vellum or Atticus or Kindle, we are working directly with what goes into the “printer.” Your publisher might work with some other program that exists between your edited Word document and their printer. Just a guess.

       • Makes sense, Steve. Thanks!

5. Happy Memorial Day, Sue. This is a fantastic list of short-cuts. I only have a few memorized, delete, cut, copy, past, undo. When I taught basic MS Word classes at the library, those were the ones I’d teach students.

   Some of these I’d either never run across, or had forgotten, such as the paragraph navigation. That will come in handy 🙂

   In general, I’m like Terry in that I use the ribbon and menu short cuts in MS Office 365, but it’s always helpful to have keyboard shut cuts handy.

   I’m an indie. I either draft in Pages or Word (usually the latter), edit in Word, and format in Vellum. I’d never heard about highlighting italics. Years ago, when I submitted typed manuscripts of my short stories to various magazines, of course italics were underlined, and I persisted with that habit with my first few novels (now trunked). These days, I italicize when needed. Typically to emphasize a word in the narrative (close 3rd or 1st POV) or in dialogue.

   Hope you have a wonderful day!

   • That brings back memories, Dale. My trunk novels are in Courier font with character names in all caps and underlined italics. Hahahaha!

     Thanks! Wishing you an amazing holiday, Dale!

6. Thanks for this great list, Sue. Shortcuts save Time, and we all need more of that! I’m especially fond of Ctrl-Z to undo my last action.

   I use Scrivener to write and the final draft goes into Word. I use Vellum to format, but I don’t highlight italics. I hope you’ll ask your publisher why they request that. I assume the published book does not have italics highlighted, right?

   Enjoy your Memorial Day and have a great rest of the week.

   • Thanks, Kay. Time is a commodity these days, right? Especially for writers.

     Italics are not in the finished version. They highlight so the formatter doesn’t miss italicized words.

     Wishing you and yours a relaxing Memorial Day! It’s good day to read. 🙂

7. Golden, Sue. Copied and printed off. Control Z is a get-out-of-jail-free card, and it works on a lot of social media and blog site comments – it’s also WordPress friendly.

   I format ebooks on Calibre which is an easy tool once it gets to know you. As for highlighting italics, I never do it. I see italics as a form of highlighting. Happy Memorial Day and we’ll talk later.

   • Good to know that Ctrl-Z is so versatile, Garry. Thanks for the tip!

     You sure will. 😀

8. Thanks for these, Sue. I’m more inclined to customize the commands ribbon (is that what it’s called?) along the top of my screen, but these are great to know.

   As for highlighting italics, I’m not even sure what that means. You mean, literally mark them with a yellow stripe? I have never been asked to do that in 26 books, all traditionally published. The closest thing to that was back in the 1990s, when WYSIWYG was brand new, and my publishers at the time wanted me to use the underline function for italics, but that ended ages ago.

   • I hoped you’d weigh in, John. Highlighting italics seemed odd to me at first, too, but I guess it’s an easy way for the formatter to spot italicized words. As long as the highlight doesn’t end up in the finished project, I just do as I’m told. 😉

     I believe it is called the ribbon, yes.

     Enjoy your day, John!

9. I use Pages which translates just fine to Word, most ebook formats, and PDF. My personal Mac favorite shortcut is Control-Mouse Scroll which makes the monitor zoom in and out as needed. The eyes aren’t what they used to be.

   • Thank you for the tip, Marilynn! I’m constantly adjusting zoom on my Mac.

10. I wish you all a meaningful and contemplative Memorial Day, one that resonates with the full spirit of sacrifice and patriotism that Abraham Lincoln expressed in his speech at Gettysburg, November 19, 1863. I suggest we make reading this a part of today’s memorial ritual.

    http://www.abrahamlincolnonline.org/lincoln/speeches/gettysburg.htm

    When I’m not on my Chromebook, I work in LibreOffice, a 2010+ variant of OpenOffice. I design my covers and contract covers in LibreDraw. I create and edit stage and film scripts in LibreWriter, using its Styles feature, something more powerful than many of the shortcuts listed above.

    • 🙂

11. Thanks for this comprehensive list, Sue. I use both a PC and a Mac so this is doubly helpful.

    • Fantastic, Debbie!

12. A great list, Sue. I use most of them in Word already, but there were a few I definitely intend to add.

    I once had a fellow programmer who would not use his mouse to navigate documents or web pages or anything else and used shortcuts instead.

    Apropos of nothing but your love of animals, today I rescued a tiny spider from my garage sink. Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V’d him to a shrub outside instead of Ctrl-X.

    • Hahahaha. That’s awesome, Dan!

13. Thanks for the shortcuts! These are awesome! Will be sharing them.

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