Whether you realize it or not, a lot of your time at the computer is probably spent moving your hands from the keyboard to the mouse and vice-versa.  I know I get tired of reaching for my mouse constantly while I’m browsing the web or using other applications on my computer.  It would save a lot of time if the things I do most often could be accomplished without the constant switching between keyboard and mouse.  The good news is that these time savers exist in the form of “keyboard shortcuts”.  The bad news is it can be difficult to figure out what these shortcuts are.  However, once you become familiar with keyboard shortcuts, you will be able to work much more efficiently.  Below you will find some keyboard shortcuts for common applications that should help make your life easier!

Shortcuts in Internet Explorer 7 & Mozilla Firefox

If you’re anything like me, I bet you use your web browser as much if not more than many of the other programs on your computer.  These shortcuts are my top time savers when I’m browsing the web:

Navigate to the Address Bar

mPressing the [Alt] and the [D] at the same time will move your cursor into the browser address bar so you can start typing a website URL.  The alternative to this is to reach for your mouse, move it up to the address bar and click.  You probably do this dozens of times a day, now you don’t have to.

Navigate to the Search Box in your browser

Pressing the [CTRL] key and the [E] key at the same time will move your cursor into the search box in your browser.  From there you can start typing and hit [Enter] to get the search results from your favorite search engine.  The alternative to this is moving your mouse to that area and clicking.  Sure it’s minor, but hey – it’s easy.
 

Open a new tab in your current browser

Pressing [CTRL] and [T] will open a new tab in your current browser.  After you hit [CTRL] and [T] you can then hit [Window key] and [D] to move your cursor to the address bar to type in the new website address you would like to visit.  If you are browsing a website and would like to click on a link and open it in a new tab hold down the [CTRL] key when clicking on the link.

Alternatively you can hit [Alt] and [D] to move your cursor to the address bar.  Then you can type in a website address such as “www.webascender.com” but if you hit enter it will take you away from the current website you are viewing.  If you hit [ALT] and [Enter] it will actually open up that website in a new Tab for you.
If you did this without shortcuts you would have to click to open a new tab, click in the address bar, then type in the address and click or press enter.

Switching between tabs in your browser

Have multiple tabs open in your browser?  [Ctrl] and [1] will take you to the first tab, [Ctrl] and [2] to the second, [Ctrl] and [3] to the third tab, etc.  This is an easy way to switch between websites using your keyboard.

Moving forward and backward in your browser

Instead of reaching for the mouse and clicking your back button or forward buttons you can use the keyboard shortcuts

Here are my top shortcuts for Microsoft Outlook

Creating a new email message

[Ctrl] and [Shift] and [M] at the same time will open a new mail message regardless of the screen you are on in Outlook.  This is a very useful shortcut.

After you type your message use [Alt] and [S] to send it!

Auto complete the to: address for you

Occasionally when you are emailing someone relatively new to your contact list or someone you haven’t corresponded with recently when you start typing their name Outlook doesn’t auto complete it.  By hitting [Ctrl] and [K] Outlook will check your contact list and try to finish it for you.
 

Switching between your Inbox and the Calendar

Looking at your email and need to quickly check your calendar? Hit [Ctrl] and [2] to show your calendar.  Hitting [Ctrl] and [1] will take you back to your inbox.  Contacts should be [Ctrl] and [3], and your tasks [Ctrl] and [4]

I don’t imagine you will start using all of these immediately, but pick a few favorites to get started with and try to work them into your normal web browsing and email routines.  In the future I will release my favorite Microsoft Word shortcuts that will help you make documents faster and more consistent.