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The Handy Four: Using the Keyboard for Editing
by By Jim Gaffney, SouthWest International Personal Computer Club Tri-County Computer Club, Orville, OH www.tricountycc.org - January 21, 2001 at 18:54:15:
They’ve been around since DOS. They can make your work a whole lot easier. Yet, they are largely ignored. Computer users have become so addicted to the mouse that they frequently ignore using the keyboard. I’m referring, of course, to “keyboard shortcuts” — keystrokes that will accomplish common editing functions (and more). Let’s revisit the most common. The “Handy Four” are the four keys just to right of the left-hand shift key. The functions they accomplish are among the most common and frequently used.
+Z—Undo. This is actually a “Break” key. Old-timers may remember it as the escape from “ED”, the original ASCII text editor. It accomplishes from within Windows applications the same thing as that funny looking left-hook button on the toolbar.
+X—Cut. Why didn’t they use Control and C? Well, then what would you use for Copy? Next best choice is X—when you “X” something out you are deleting it. And besides, the X looks a little bit like an open pair of scissors.
+C—Copy. All right!!! We finally got one that is logical.
+V—Paste. V = Paste? Well, aside from the fact that it is in a group next to the previous three shortcuts, you can think of it as an inverted caret or a wedge. Thus, the combination will insert whatever has been placed on the clipboard (copied or pasted) into the application at the location of the cursor. So why do I use these keystrokes in deference to the mouse? Actually, I use them in concert with the mouse. If I select text with the mouse, I can easily cut or copy with my left hand using the shortcuts. I then reposition the insertion point with the mouse, and paste back in using the shortcut keys via my left hand. (OK, so you “lefties” have got a problem—but you’ve probably already given up and started using the mouse with your right hand, anyhow).
I use the technique a lot in capturing information from e- mail messages and pasting it into my address book or a database. Then, too, there are a lot of applications out there whose authors have carelessly neglected to include undo, cut, copy, and paste on their menus. Or maybe you have the toolbars turned off at the moment? Or perhaps the application window is scrolled up where you cannot see the toolbar on the screen? If you forget the “Handy Four”, just click “E dit” on the menu bar of most any Windows application— from that drop-down, you can quickly refresh your memory of Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V. And while I’m at it, let me throw in two more handy key combination that while not part of the “Handy Four”, they will help you work faster. (After a recount there are three extras.)
+F4—This combination will exit an application. I use it frequently in the classroom for closing programs that students have carelessly left open at the end of a class period. It does the same thing as selecting File, and then exit or clicking the “X” button on the program title bar. F2—The F2 key is an universal edit key. If you have selected a filename in Explorer, a cell in Excel or perhaps field data in Access, striking the F2 key places you into the edit mode.
F5—The F5 key is an update key. If you find that your desktop icons or MS Office shortcut bar buttons are incorrectly displayed, striking the F5 key will frequently re-scan and correct the problem. Likewise, if you have recently created a file and it appears at the bottom of the directory, the F5 will rescan and display the filenames alphabetically.
Use your keyboard. It may not always be the best choice, but frequently it can be.
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