# What is your favorite keyboard shortcut that almost nobody uses? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 17, 2018, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803 "2018-08-17T19:32:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 7:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/61 "2018-08-20T19:42:41Z")
> [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](#): > > Remap the \ key–which exists only as a legacy from the days of mechanical typewriters–to \ or \. > > Stranger Sometimes it COMES IN HANDY!!! 😉 ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/62 "2018-08-20T20:09:28Z")
One more: in Excel and Google Sheets (and maybe other spreadsheets), Ctrl ; inserts today’s date, and Ctrl shift ; inserts the current time. Useful if you use a spreadsheet to keep daily logs or record data. ---
**Author:** ![Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/half_man_half_wit/32/21766_2.png) [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Half_Man_Half_Wit)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/63 "2018-08-20T20:21:08Z")
Oh and by the way, there are certain notebook vendors that have elected to move the Fn-key to the lower left corner, like [so](https://lnv.i.lithium.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/10023i665B45F51790CCA2?v=1.0). You know, where Ctrl has been since forever. One of our customers has such laptops. So every single time when I copy and paste something, I’m hitting what I think is Ctrl-V in growing frustration because nothing pastes, only to then realize that I hadn’t copied anything in the first place. Half the time, the text I’d been wanting to copy is from a now-closed prompt, website, or whatever, too. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/64 "2018-08-20T20:42:55Z")
**Half Man Half Wit** ’s post reminds me that I frequently use CTRL+HOME/END to get to the top/bottom of a document, and on the work laptop I’ve been using since the start of the year the HOME and END buttons can only be accessed by first pressing Fn. When I’m at my desk I use a wireless keyboard, so it’s only an issue when I take the laptop to a meeting…which doesn’t happen often enough for me to have adjusted to that keyboard’s layout. Usually, if I’m trying to quickly get to the start/end of a document in a meeting I don’t have the patience to re-find the Fn key (which, mercifully, is at least on the correct side of CTRL) and then deliberately hit CTRL+Fn+whatever; I wind up just using the scroll bar. ---
**Author:** ![Osano](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@Osano](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Osano)\ **Post date:** [August 20, 2018, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/65 "2018-08-20T21:01:28Z")
Shift+spacebar+ctrl+= (insert row with same formatting and formulas in excel Alt+248 (degree sign) Alt+8776 (aproximate symbol) I saw someone added the one for todays date and time. Those are my go to shortcuts superscript and subscripy as well i suppose. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/66 "2018-08-21T00:39:35Z")
> [@Misnomer](#): > > I never would have guessed that CTRL+Z/X/C/V/Y/F weren’t common. I use MS Word for a living, though, so that could be why. 🙂 I was wondering that, too. I don’t use Word all that much these days, but all those have been engrained in me as THE standard keyboard shortcuts, as in, if you use keyboard shortcuts of any kind, those are the first six you learn. Well, and maybe Cntrl-Alt-Delete. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/67 "2018-08-21T02:06:21Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > CTRL + F will open a window where you can type in a word or phrase you want to find on a page. I’ve taught about a dozen coworkers this, and to a one they seem to think it’s nearly magical. How they all never considered the possiblity that there was a mechanism built in so could find something on a page is beyond me. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2018, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/68 "2018-08-21T05:17:35Z")
> [@Lumpy](#): > > In YouTube: , and . to advance/rewind video one frame at a time. That’s when the video is paused. Click anywhere on the progress bar of a YouTube video to move focus there, then pgup/pgdown to scroll the video 1 minute forward/backward. Scrollwheel-press on any Firefox bookmarks folder to open all the bookmarks in that folder in the same Firefox window. If there are too many, a message will ask if you want to proceed. Shift-leftclick on any Firefox bookmarks folder to open all the bookmarks in that folder in a new Firefox window. In iTunes for desktop, hover the cursor over the song’s progress bar, then use the scrollwheel to move forward/backward in the song. Each detent click on the scrollwheel moves the current position 5% of the song’s length. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/69 "2018-08-22T14:47:15Z")
I’m not sure how commonly known these are: - In a text input situation (input box, Word, etc), shift + arrow key selects (highlights) text. Useful for deleting, cutting or copying a block of text: move cursor to the end of the block, use shift + arrows to move to the beginning of the block, then take action. - Similarly, shift + End selects everything from the current cursor position to the end of the line. ---
**Author:** ![wonky](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wonky/32/393_2.png) [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/70 "2018-08-22T15:03:28Z")
alt0151 (— (em dash)), alt0167 (§) control z, y, x, c, and v, and control-shift-k (small caps) are my most used shortcuts. ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/71 "2018-08-22T15:36:20Z")
> [@wonky](#): > > alt0151 (— (em dash)), alt0167 (§) > [@Osano](#): > > Alt+248 (degree sign) > Alt+8776 (aproximate symbol) I’ve seen Alt-numbers key combinations in the past, but I can’t figure out now how to make them work. How do you actually do these? By the way, Chrome for the past couple of months has not been showing highlighted text. When I try to select a block of text in order to delete it from the quoted section, no highlight shows up, but when I hit the delete button the text I had tried to highlight disappears. Chrome is the only program that does this. Has anyone seen it before? ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/72 "2018-08-22T16:01:37Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > I’ve seen Alt-numbers key combinations in the past, but I can’t figure out now how to make them work. How do you actually do these? Hold down alt and type 0151 on the numeric keypad. If you don’t have a numeric keypad, then I don’t know how to access them. ---
**Author:** ![Jasmine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jasmine/32/2964_2.png) [@Jasmine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jasmine)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/73 "2018-08-22T16:10:26Z")
I use the windows key plus “L” to lock my machine. Since I’ve been doing tech support in school districts, not one person to whom I’ve mentioned it knew of its existence. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/74 "2018-08-22T16:11:08Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Hold down alt and type 0151 on the numeric keypad. If you don’t have a numeric keypad, then I don’t know how to access them. If it’s a laptop without a numeric keypad, there’s usually a part of the main keyboard that also functions as the numeric keypad once you hit the Num Lock key. That should work for these special characters. Personally I can’t be bothered to memorize those codes. I rely on auto-correct as I mentioned earlier. I have Office set up so that +/- auto-corrects to ±, \mu to μ, imes to ×, \degree to °, etc. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/75 "2018-08-22T16:20:33Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > If it’s a laptop without a numeric keypad, there’s usually a part of the main keyboard that also functions as the numeric keypad once you hit the Num Lock key. That should work for these special characters. > > Personally I can’t be bothered to memorize those codes. I rely on auto-correct as I mentioned earlier. I have Office set up so that +/- auto-corrects to ±, \mu to μ, imes to ×, \degree to °, etc. The only ones I’ve memorized are alt-0150 (en dash) and alt-0151 (em dash) because I used to be real nitpicky about their use. It’s been about 15 years since I’ve regularly used a Windows machine, but I still have those alt codes engrained in my brain and muscle memory. ---
**Author:** ![eschereal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eschereal/32/18939_2.png) [@eschereal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eschereal)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/76 "2018-08-22T16:31:06Z")
> [@Half\_Man\_Half\_Wit](#): > > Oh and by the way, there are certain notebook vendors that have elected to move the Fn-key to the lower left corner, like [so](https://lnv.i.lithium.com/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/10023i665B45F51790CCA2?v=1.0). You know, where Ctrl has been since forever. My peeve about the placement of the Fn key is a different one. I like to use page-down to read a long document/webpage; on a full keyboard, you can just comfortably tap the page-down key, but on the condensed keyboards that I have seen, page-down becomes Fn-down-arrow, which means it now takes two (normal-sized) hands to page down, because the arrow keys are on the opposite corner of the keyboard. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/77 "2018-08-22T19:12:38Z")
> [@CurtC](#): > > Windows key + M =\> Minimize all windows I use one that’s similar to minimize all windows except the one I’m working on. Grab the window you’re working on with the mouse and shake it back and forth a little to collapse all the other windows. Give it another jiggle to reopen all of them. ---
**Author:** ![K364](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/k364/32/5_2.png) [@K364](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/K364)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/78 "2018-08-22T19:39:47Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > CTRL + F will open a window where you can type in a word or phrase you want to find on a page. > [@elfkin477](#): > > I’ve taught about a dozen coworkers this, and to a one they seem to think it’s nearly magical. How they all never considered the possiblity that there was a mechanism built in so could find something on a page is beyond me. Blow their minds with ctrl-h (Search and Replace… Word and Excel and maybe some others. In a browser it shows History) ---
**Author:** ![CurtC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ce73a5/32.png) [@CurtC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CurtC)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/79 "2018-08-22T19:56:43Z")
> [@Hampshire](#): > > Grab the window you’re working on with the mouse and shake it back and forth a little to collapse all the other windows. Give it another jiggle to reopen all of them. That one is not working for me. Maybe because I’m still on Windows 7. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803/80 "2018-08-22T21:55:35Z")
> [@K364](#): > > Blow their minds with ctrl-h (Search and Replace… Word and Excel and maybe some others. In a browser it shows History) Ctrl-g repeats the last search. Ctrl-f \ does too, but ctrl-g is faster. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-your-favorite-keyboard-shortcut-that-almost-nobody-uses/819803.md?page=5)