90 Percent of US Doesn’t Know CTRL+F
August 23rd, 2011I was surprised when I read a recent article reporting that 90% of people don't know how to use CTRL+F.
I don't expect most patrons I work with to know keyboard and mouse shortcuts, but it's obviously more widespread than that. I use shortcuts a lot, and will sometimes get stopped during a meeting or presentation and asked what the heck I just did. Which might be the best way to teach shortcuts - in context and with a demonstration*.
But of course, my first impulse when reading the article was to make a list of common and helpful shortcuts to hand out to patrons - so I added that to my to-do list. There already are lists of available shortcuts, even a list of lists, but I like BoingBoing's approach - make a short-list limited to ten (or three) that can improve everyone's computer experience.
So here's what I've come up with so far (which are Windows-centric) - do you have any more to add to the list?
Shortcut | Description |
---|---|
CTRL+C | Copy highlighted text |
CTRL+X | Cut highlighted text |
CTRL+V | Paste highlighted text |
CTRL+Z | Undo last action |
CTRL+Y | Redo last undo |
CTRL+P | Open print window |
CTRL+F | Find on page |
CTRL+H | Find and replace |
Right-click | With mouse; provides useful menu on just about anything |
A little more advanced shortcuts...
Shortcut | Description |
---|---|
CTRL+TAB | Go to next tab (in Firefox and other tab-based applications) |
CTRL+SHIFT+TAB | Go to previous tab (in Firefox and other tab-based applications) |
ALT+TAB | Tab through open applications |
ALT+SHIFT+TAB | Tab through open applications backwards, but it's awkward (for me) to press these keys |
WindowsKey+E | Open Windows Explorer File Manager (I wouldn't add this one to the list for patrons, but I didn't know about it so just wanted to share it here) |
Again, these are primarily for Windows, since that's what we use in the library. I'll work on making up a handout for patrons and post it here in case anyone else would like to use it too.
It'll be handy for the library, but since most new devices don't use physical keyboards, we'll also have to learn a whole new crop of shortcuts and methods. For instance, a patron wanted to copy/paste something on her iPad, and we had to look it up on YouTube to figure it out.
*When helping patrons, I always point out the shortcut codes on the right of menus - almost everyone misses those. I tell them not to try to memorize all of them, but if they find they're going back to the same menu item often, see if using the shortcut is easier. Of course, Office 2007's ribbons don't display the shortcut codes, so that has changed things.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:11 am
A few I tend to use frequently and like to show patrons are SHIFT+TAB when filling out a form and you need to move back. I also like to show them CTRL+ and CTRL- to zoom the webpage in and out.
August 23rd, 2011 at 9:34 am
Handing out or posting shortcut lists is a great idea. That said, I haven’t had a lot of success teaching the older members of my family how to use keyboard shortcuts– they just want to keep clicking on things the way they always have been.
August 23rd, 2011 at 10:02 am
Start-R give you the Run box.
Start-D and Start-M Minimize all open windows.
Start-L locks the sessions and requires the password to log back in.
Start Pause/Break give you the System Properties.
Ctrl-Insert is another way to Copy.
Ctrl-Delete is another to Cut.
Shift-Insert is another way to Paste.
Alt-Space brings up the window right click menu.
Start-Tab in Vista and Win 7 gives you a cooler way to scroll through your open programs.
Ctrl-Shift-Esc gives you the Task Manger without having to hit Ctrl-Alt-Del and click the button.
Alt-PrintScreen copies only the currently active window rather than the whole screen.
Anything one can do to avoid touching the mouse is a step in the right direction. People would be 100x more efficient than having to keep moving your hand back and forth.
August 23rd, 2011 at 10:04 am
Oh, and in Firefox and Chrome: Ctrl-1 goes to the first open tab, Ctrl-2 the second, Ctrl-3 the 3rd, etc…
August 23rd, 2011 at 11:42 am
In case it is helpful, a lot (but not all) of the common Windows shortcuts work for macs as well, with the “command/apple” key replacing “control”.
August 23rd, 2011 at 2:35 pm
I probably started using a lot more keyboard shortcuts after I developed “trigger thumb” from intensive mousing related to work. Thanks for ‘WindowsKey+E’, I think I will probably use that quit a bit.
Ctrl+page up takes you to the browser tab on the left, Ctrl+page down the tab on the right.
Ctrl+Home to the top of the window, beginning of the doc., Ctrl+End to the end.
Ctrl+left arrow/right arrow moves your cursor one word at time, Ctrl+Shift+left arrow/right arrow highlights text one word at a time, if you hold down the key it continues.
August 23rd, 2011 at 4:00 pm
I can’t believe no one has mentioned my personal favorite (and one of the first ones I usually teach patrons). Ctrl+S to save! 🙂
August 23rd, 2011 at 7:13 pm
@Amelia: good one – some patrons don’t even know that Tab will get them to the next form field. And holy smokes I can’t believe I left out Ctrl+ and Ctrl- – those are great.
@Chris: I’m with you – either all-mouse or all-keyboard, because it’s the switching back and forth that slows and irritates me. I can’t believe I forgot Ctrl+Delete et. al., and good one on Alt+PrintScreen
@Ayse: that’s always worked in my experience too, but my Mac experience is so limited I always want to test and retest things before I tell anyone about them. The list on Wikipedia include Mac commands though, so I’ll look through those more closely.
@Thomas: I forgot about most of those – I definitely use Ctrl+End and arrows to move around documents – thanks.
@JG: That one is right up there with Ctrl+P for me – thanks for reminding me.
Oh, and Ctrl+A is a good one, too.
August 24th, 2011 at 12:08 pm
Don’t forget the almighty Ctrl-S
for Save
August 25th, 2011 at 12:09 am
Alt+F4 for closing a program.
ESC for stopping a loading page.
Sometimes shortcuts also make computer instruction easier. The “Start + Pause/Break” in Chris’s comment is a great example. For a computer class, I made instructions for getting system information, then expanded them when I realized the steps were different for different operating systems. Then I bumped into “Start + Pause/Break,” and one line “Hold Start and press Pause/Break,” replaced all my other effort.
August 25th, 2011 at 6:40 am
Windows + D will minimize all you windows
August 25th, 2011 at 7:36 am
More browser shortcuts (for non-IE decent browsers):
Ctrl-T – New Tab
Ctrl-W – Close Tab
Ctrl-Shift-T – Reopen closed tabs. (Can be done more than once)
Ctrl-Shift-N or Ctrl-Shift-P will get you into Privacy mode depending on the browser
Ctrl-Shift-Del in most will get you a window to delete cookies, temporary files, etc.
Ctrl-D – bookmark the current page
Ctrl-H – show history
August 25th, 2011 at 1:44 pm
Ctrl+A – Select all Is a good one for the list. It is handy for copy and pasting, especially for patrons that are not great with a mouse yet. Useful for when you want to copy a large amount of text but have trouble getting it all highlighted when the page needs to scroll. But I agree that keeping the list short and basic is a good idea. So go minimal vs. comprehensive.
August 26th, 2011 at 1:56 pm
Recently had someone ask how to refresh a page (the new appearance of explorer was throwing him off) and taught him F5.
The ones I use constantly and windows-left arrow and windows-right arrow to create split screens. Have taught that one to some coworkers. This, though, only works on newer windows versions, 7 definitely. Not sure about Vista. Does not work in XP.
August 27th, 2011 at 8:37 am
[…] I was reading The Atlantic article about people not knowing about Ctrl+F, the last paragraph mentioned Google’s AGoogleADay.com campaign. I had never heard of this, […]
August 31st, 2011 at 10:17 am
Ctrl F is great, but the greatest is Ctrl Z in word processing. As soon as you/they realize they’ve messed up their document, Ctrl Z to the rescue.
August 31st, 2011 at 7:00 pm
Neat list.
I use pretty much all of those but hadn’t heard of ctrl+tab/ctrl+shift+tab for Firefox. I’ve been opening several FF windows in order to alt+tab it for toggling ease, but now I don’t have to! Thanks!
September 1st, 2011 at 3:08 pm
@Oleg: You are welcome – it’s a little tricky, but I’m sure you’ll get used to it quickly. Something else you can do with tabs is drag and drop them to rearrange them – I do this all the time, too.
September 6th, 2011 at 8:43 am
[…] of Basic Keyboard Shortcuts September 6th, 2011 Thanks everyone who contributed their favorite keyboard shortcuts. I picked what I thought were the most helpful for someone fairly new to computers, and put […]
September 24th, 2011 at 8:21 am
[…] headphones either. To double-check, I visited the Sony's product webpage for this television. I did Ctrl+F to search for headphone on the page, but there was no mention – and disappointing product images, […]
June 28th, 2012 at 5:12 pm
Ctrl + Mouse Scroll up/down – Zoom in/out of most browsers, graphics work, and MS Office, and even the desktop. Same function as Ctrl +up/down but I often have one hand on the keyboard and one on the mouse. I don’t think this was an option on XP.
Alt + Cursor left/right moves you Back and Forward in browsers and Windows Explorer.
Alt + Space + M – Minimize the current window… works great from the “home typing position” to quickly hide from the boss what you REALLY do on company time.