17 Keyboard Shortcuts You Must Know

There are probably thousands of keyboard shortcuts out there but here are my top 17 shortcuts that I use frequently and find the most useful. Together, they probably represent 85% of all my shortcut use.  I'm still amazed at how many people don't know these...

I use both Macs and PC so I'm listing the shortcuts required for each one (If I know it!).  I'll always list the Mac shortcut first (Mac / PC).  You'll notice how similar they are, so if you learn them on one platform they are easy to learn on the other.

Some of them have to be tried out to fully understand them.  I made a printable version of these that you can download if you want to keep it handy.

The Super Basics

Everyone should know these! All of these use the Command Key on the Mac (⌘) or the Control Key if you are on a Windows machine (Ctrl).  Memorize these.  You will use them all the time.

Navigation Shortcuts

Some of these might be new for you, give them a try.  I use these without even thinking about it anymore.  On the Mac I use the Run Application (Spotlight) to launch just about everything, rarely using the Dock. I prefer Chrome as my browser of choice.  Here are more Chrome shortcuts: Mac Shortcuts || PC shortcuts

Web Browsers
You probably spend a lot of time on the Web.  There are shortcuts that can help you here too.  Check these out.  Find (in page) is a great one to show students to help them become more efficient researchers.  Full Screen mode works great with LCD projectors.  The ⇧ represents the Shift key on the Mac.

Table 1 - Run Commands
These are my most used Run commands.  I like being able to launch applications without having to open the Start menu or get to the desktop.

Take the time to learn and memorize these shortcuts.  Quite often they are the fastest way to do something on the computer so they can be a time saver.  If you watch a tech-savvy person work on the computer they will use them all the time.  You can find even more shortcuts by doing some Google searches or simply look on the menu bar of your favorite programs and you'll see the keyboard shortcut typically listed next to many of the commands.