Send yourtips [email protected]Web User Masterclass12 - 25 June 2019 65TA KE IT TO THE NEXT LEVEL
More advanced tipsfor whenyou’re feeling braveand more. An extra shortcut in Gmail is
Ctrl+ Enter, which sends the email.
Shortcuts can be used in unexpected
places, such as websites, when you’re
typing forms and comments on web
pages orwriting social-media posts;
and can sometimes be used in places
where there are no formatting buttons
available to click with a mouse. When
typing a Facebook post, for example,
the text can be edited with the Cut,
Copy and Paste keyboar d shortcuts.
Start and switch to taskbar
programs
Does it matter how you orde r the icons
on your taskbar?Yes, because pressing
Windows+1 switches to the first
program, Windows+2 the second,
Windows+3 the third and so on.
Run a program – such as Chrome,
for example – and you’ll see an icon
appearon the taskbar. Right-click this
and select ‘Pin to taskbar’. You can now
click and drag your taskbar icons left or
right to rearrange them and place your
most us ed items first. There’s no need
to reach for the mouse to launch them,
just pr ess Alt+n, where ‘n’ is the number
of th e icon. Ignore Cortana and Task
View icons, Edge is usual ly numberone
(unles s you’ve already removed it).
Toggle betweenprograms
If you have two, thre e or more programs
running simultaneously, press Alt+Tab
to switch to the last program used. Hold
down Alt and repeatedly press Tab
to cycle through all running programs,
then let go when the one you want
is se lected.
This shortcut can also be used to
clos e programs. If several programs are
running , hold down Alt and press Tab
until the program you want is
highlighted, then press Delete (while
still holdingdown Alt) to clos e it.
Windows+Tab works in a similar way
and it can be used with multiple
desktops, too. Press Windows+Tab to
display your desktops at the top of th e
screen, allowing you to create new
virtual desktops (click the plus icon)
and select them. Don’t go through this
screen to switch desktops, though –
instea d, press Ctrl+ Windows+lef t/right
arrow keys to switch to the previous
or next desktop.
Shift+Alt+N. You’ll have touse trial
and error to find a key combination
that isn’t already assigned elsewhere.
Click OK and you can now use this
keyboar d shortcut to launch the
program, no matter what you’re doing
or which program you’re using.Control programs using
shortcuts
There are some useful commands that
can be used in most programs, such
as pressing the Tab key to move to
the next option. In pr ograms and web
pages, when fi lling in a form suchas
a loginor registration, pressing Tab
jumps to the next box, whil e Shift+Tab
jumps to the previous box.
This works with other controls and
not just text boxes. Open the Settings
app in Windows 10 and pick a section.
Pres s Tab and the currently selected
item, indic ated by a box aroundit,
jumps to the next item. Open Explorer,
click Home to open the homeribbon
toolba r and tap Tab. Each toolba r
item highlights in turn. Pres sing Enter
is like clicking the selected item.
Click a web page and you can often
press Tab and Shift+Tab to jump from
link to link. Pres sing Enter is lik e
clicking a link.
You can open the run box to start
a program – it’s most often used with
system tools. Pres s Windows+R to
open the run box, then typeregedit,
cmd,services.msc,msconfigor
diskmgmt.mscfor example.Move and resize windows
Sometimes a bug can position a
window with the titlebar off the top
of th e screen. This means it can’t be
clicked and dragged with the mouse,
but don’t panic – you can use the
keyboar d to move it back on the
screen. Pres s Alt+Spacebar, then ‘M’
and use the cursor keys to move the
window aroundthe screen.
Open Settings in Windows 10 and
go to System, Multi-tasking and turn
on ‘Snap windows’. You can now
combine the Windows key with the
directional arrows to move and resize
program windows on the desktop:
Windows+right arrow snaps to the
right side of th e screen; Windows+left
snaps to the left; Windows+up
maximises the window; and
Windows+down minimises it.
Pres s Alt+F4 toclos e a program,
which is easier than using the mouse.Capture your screen
The Print Screen key, often
abbreviated to Print Scrn or PrtScn,
saves a screenshot to the clipboard.
Windows+PrtScn saves it to Pictures\
Screenshots. You can changethis in
Windows 10 by opening Settings and
going to ‘Ease of Access’, then
Keyboard. Scroll down to the ‘Print
Screen shortcut’ section and switch
to opening the screen-snipping tool
instea d of saving the screen.
Pres s Windows+Shift+S to capture
whole screens or to snip and save
part of th e screen. A toolba r appears
at the top of th e screen with screen-
saving options. Let the mouse hover
over each icon to see a description.Use shortcuts to start
programs
Instea d of hunting for programs in
the Start menuor clicking aroundthe
icons on the taskbar, you could
create your own keyboar d shortcuts
to run them. Right-click the desktop
and select New, Shortcut, then click
the Browse button and find a
program on your hard drive, such as
‘notepad.exe’ in the C:\Windows
folder. Click Next and nameit
Notepad (or whatever it’s called).
Right-click your newly created
desktop shortcut and select
Properties, then open the Shortcut
tab, click the ‘Shortcut key’ box andAlt+Tab switchesbetween programs; assign it a key combination, such as
Ctrl+Alt+Tab makes the thumbnails stick
Create a desktop shortcut, then edit the
properties and add a keyboard shortcut