Microsoft Word is one of the most used programs Worldwide. Every day millions of people use it, whether they are students or people who use it for their work. Being a program that we use so frequently, it is good to know some keyboard shortcuts that will allow us to use it better.
Therefore, below we leave you with a guide where you we show the best keyboard shortcuts for Microsoft Word. A series of shortcuts that will allow us to carry out actions in this document editor in a simpler, faster and more comfortable way. So you will be able to make better use of this program on your devices at all times.
The reality is that we have many keyboard shortcuts available for Word, which we can then use in both Windows 1 and Windows 11, for example. It is also about shortcuts that will make life much simpler for all types of users in the Microsoft office suite. Anyone will be able to take advantage of them.
Keyboard shortcuts in Microsoft Word
Word is a frequently used program. For this reason, these keyboard shortcuts are something that will allow us to better use this program on our devices. The idea is that we are going to be able to carry out some of the functions that are available in this program in a much simpler way. So they will save us time when we are working on a document, which is exactly what users who use Word want.
It is possible that many of you already use some shortcuts on a daily basis in this program. Although the number of keyboard shortcuts that we can use in Word is very wide. Much broader than many users may think, since over time new ones have been incorporated, as new functions have been added to this program. So you can also perform these new actions in a simpler way at all times.
The shortcuts that we show you can also be used in the various versions of this office suite. So if you use the classic Word, you can use them without any problem. In addition, they are also available in other versions such as Word Online, the version of the editor that we can use in the browser. In this way, all users will be able to benefit from these shortcuts and make better use of this program on their devices.
List of keyboard shortcuts in Word
As we have mentioned, we are faced with a fairly extensive list of keyboard shortcuts for Word. We mention each of these shortcuts that we can use, in addition to the action that will allow us to carry out each of them. Therefore, if you were looking to know a specific action in a Word document, these shortcuts will allow you to carry it out without any problem. As we have said, the editor adds new shortcuts over time. So there will always be new options available to us. This is the list of the most prominent or important keyboard shortcuts that we can currently use in Word:
- Ctrl + A: Open files.
- Ctrl + B: A search is carried out
- Ctrl + C: Copy the selected content.
- Ctrl + D: Align text to the right in the document.
- Ctrl + E: Select all content in that document in Microsoft Word
- Ctrl + G: Save As (save the document).
- Ctrl + H: Tabulate the text.
- Ctrl + I: Go to…
- Ctrl + J: Justify the text to the right and left of the document.
- Ctrl + K: Make that letter become italic
- Ctrl + L: Replace text in the document.
- CTRL+M: Change the font of the text.
- Ctrl + N: Make the letter bold (the letter you have selected)
- Ctrl + P: Print document.
- CTRL+Q: Align text to the left
- Ctrl + R: Close the document we are using at that moment
- Ctrl + S: Text underline
- Ctrl + T: Center / Align the text to the center of the document
- Ctrl + U: Open a new blank document in Microsoft Word
- Ctrl + V: Paste the text or content you copied.
- Ctrl + X: Cut that selected text or content.
- Ctrl + Y: Allows you to redo the last change that was made
- Ctrl + Z: Allows you to undo the last change made
- Ctrl+SHIFT+F: Allows you to change the font used in the text
- Ctrl+SHIFT+W: To apply text styles in the document.
- Ctrl + SHIFT +>: Increase the font size at a certain point
- Ctrl + SHIFT +: Decrease the font size at a certain point
- Ctrl + +: Superscript access
- CTRL + (: Show or hide Microsoft Word formatting symbols
- Ctrl +: Reduces the font size
- Ctrl +>: Increases the font size in the document.
- Ctrl + 1: Single line spacing
- Ctrl + 2: Double spacing
- Ctrl + Home: Places the cursor at the beginning of the open document
- Ctrl + End: Place the cursor at the end of the page we are on
- Ctrl + Enter: New paragraph.
- Ctrl + Del: Delete a word to the right of the cursor in that document.
- Ctrl + Backspace: Delete a word to the left of the cursor
- Ctrl + Page Up: Go back to the previous page
- Ctrl + Page Down: Advance to the next page
- Ctrl + Left Arrow: Moves the cursor to the next word to the left
- Ctrl + Right Arrow: Moves the cursor to the next word to the right of the cursor
- Ctrl + Up Arrow: Move the cursor to the previous paragraph in Microsoft Word
- Ctrl + Down Arrow: Moves the cursor to the next paragraph in the document
- Ctrl + Alt + Q: Go to «What do you want to do?».
- Ctrl + ALT + Shift + S: Microsoft Word styles menu
- Ctrl+ALT+R: The trademark symbol (®)
- Ctrl+ALT+T: The trademark symbol (™)
- Ctrl + Shift + 1: title 1.
- Ctrl + Shift + 2: title 2.
- Ctrl + Shift + 3: title 3.
- Shift + Enter: line break.
- Ctrl + Shift + Enter: column break.
Function keys
Function keys also help us to perform actions in Word, so we can also use them in our keyboard shortcuts at all times. They are not something known to many users, but it is good to know, since that way we can also use them when we are editing a document on the device. These are the actions that we are going to carry out with them in the program:
- F1: help.
- F2: move text or graphics.
- F4: repeat the last action.
- F5: open find and replace.
- F6: go to next panel
- F7: Open Review.
- F8: expand the selection.
- F9: update fields.
- F10: view access keys to Menus.
- F11: next field.
- F12: Save.
Create your own shortcuts
Something that many users may not know is that Word is a program that also gives us many customization options. since it is possible also create our own keyboard shortcuts in it. So if there is an action that we want to perform or that we do frequently, but that does not have its own shortcut in this program, we will be able to create one ourselves, so that it fits us. This is a good way to make more efficient use of this program on our device. This is an option that many users are not aware of.
This will also allow you assign a certain key combination for some function in the program. So if there are combinations that do not seem logical to you, or that you do not use, you can change this to your liking. It is a way to be able to use Word in the best possible way. In addition, the change is not complicated, since it only requires a few steps in the program itself. These are the steps we have to follow:
- Open a Word document on your computer.
- Go to the File menu at the top of the screen.
- Go to Options.
- In the left panel of the screen, we go to the option called Customize Ribbon.
- We can now select the option and we will see the key combination used for it.
- At the bottom is the “New Shortcut Key” option.
- In that box, enter the new key combination you want to use for this action in Word.
- Tap OK to confirm.
- Repeat the process if there are other functions where you want to do this.
This is a simple way to customize Word. If there are many actions with which we want to do this, we will only have to repeat the process in all of them. It is not something complicated, but we do have to consider what are those keyboard shortcuts that we want to use in this case. Since you have to avoid repeating keyboard shortcuts that are used for other functions, and there may be cases where a certain shortcut is in use for another function, but we don't want to use it. Whenever you want, you can reverse this process, so you don't have to worry if there is a shortcut that doesn't work or that we don't find it as comfortable as we thought it would be.