Often when people talk about productivity tips for freelancers, bloggers, or other web workers, they focus on "working smarter" and fail to address "working faster." You can gain a lot of speed productivity with new hardware, better software, or further education. But since these all cost a chunk of money or time, let's look at one of my favorite productivity boosters – shortcut keys. Note that they are all PC shortcuts (sorry Mac brethren, although I'm sure the Mac versions are about the same). Also, some of these shortcuts may depend on your software version or configuration.
Surfing the Web (with Firefox)
CTRL+ENTER: This shortcut makes entering a URL quicker. You just type in wakeuplater, hit CTRL+ENTER, and the www. and .com will be filled in for you. Furthermore, SHIFT+ENTER will send you to the www.wakeuplater.net and CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to www.wakeuplater.org
CTRL+CLICK: This opens the link you click in a new Tab (versus SHIFT+Click which opens the link in a new window). You can also open a link in a new tab with a middle mouse button click if you have one.
CTRL+PGUP and CTRL+PGDN: These two shortcuts help you go through all the tabs you now have open.
CTRL+W: Close a Tab.
CTRL+T: Open a Tab.
CTRL+F: Search for text in a webpage. You can also press "/" for a quick search version.
F11: Toggle to fullscreen mode. I use this sometimes for viewing Flash sites or when trying to show a client a site without having my toolbars interfere.
PGUP, PGDN, CTRL+HOME, CTRL+END: Honestly, I don't ever use my mouse to move a page around. I can use these four keys to move up, down, to the start, and to the end.
CTRL+U: View the source, even when the page is not fully loaded.
RIGHT CLICK: Not really a shortcut per se, but there are a huge number of options for just about anything you right-click on a page. Explore all the options sometime.
Text Manipulation
CTRL+ARROW KEYS: This is the ultimate text editing shortcut in my opinion. Normally when you use the arrow keys, you move one character at a time. Using CTRL+Arrow Keys lets you jump one word at a time. Combine this with SHIFT (CTRL+SHIFT+Arrow Keys) and you can edit a line/paragraph much quicker than you could by using a mouse.
CTRL+A: The shortcut for selecting all the text. Combined with CTRL+C and CTRL+V, you can move large chunks pretty quickly.
ALT+MOUSE DRAG: In many robust text editors, holding ALT while you mouse-highlight text lets you highlight text in a block fashion. So if you have text in columns, you can highlight just one of the columns for copying/cutting. Also great for getting rid of a column of unnecessary tabs.
HIGHLIGHT+TAB: In most decent text editors (i.e., not Notepad), you can move several lines over by highlighting and hitting Tab. This is a great help for coding if you like well-tabbed code.
CTRL+Z, CTRL+Y: Of course, CTRL+Z is a life saver, but not too many people use CTRL+Y, which lets you step forward through your changes after you've stepped backwards.
OS Manipulation
WINDOWS KEY+D: Go directly to your desktop.
WINDOWS KEY+E: Open Windows Explorer.
CTRL+SHIFT+ESC: Open the Task Manager for checking out processes and performance.
SHIFT+DEL: Skip the Recycling Bin and send the file straight to oblivion.
ALT+TAB: The holy grail of shortcuts used by multi-taskers everywhere. It lets you access all your open programs and makes you wonder why you even need a mouse.
Of course, there are many more shortcuts for other tasks as well as for oft-used applications such as Photoshop, Word, and Flash. All in all, considering how shortcuts increase work output dramatically, everybody should learn and use as many as they can.
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