Time-saving Keyboard Shortcuts

These days, some of us spent more time on computers than we do off them. Not all of this time on your keyboard is useful, though. You can save some time, and do what you enjoy instead of mindless clicking and typing, with these keyboard shortcuts. Every time you use a shortcut, you save the bit of time it takes for your hand to go to the mouse and click something, or the longer bit of time it would take you to type the same thing a large number of times, for example. These time saves add up, and can make a great impact. It's very important to know many great keyboard shortcuts and commands to save this time, and improve your digital prowess. So, here are many of the most important keyboard shortcuts that you'll consistently find a use for:

TAB NAVIGATION

Going between tabs can be a bothersome chore sometimes. Luckily, there are two very handy keyboard shortcuts just for this. Ctrl + [number] automatically sends you to the tab number that you selected. Ctrl + 9 takes you to the right-most tab in your window. You can also use Ctrl + Tab and Ctrl + Shift + Tab to go one tab to the right/left, respectively. 

TAB CLOSING

Ctrl + w is responsible for closing the tab that you are on. It saves you from having to go to a mouse/mousepad, moving to the top of the screen, and clicking the little "x" button. You can do all that, but just by pressing two keys with two fingers. An alternative to Ctrl + w is Alt + f4. Using Alt + f4 closes your current window. If you're on a browser, this means closing the window, along with all of your tabs. However, if you're playing Fortnite, Alt + f4 gives you free V-bucks.

TAB/WINDOW OPENING

You can open a tab by using Ctrl + Tab. What's really special is that you can open the tab that you last closed with Ctrl + Shift + Tab. Accidentally close a tab? Easy dubs. Some pesky dyude comes up to you and closes your window? Just press three keys.

You can open a new browser window if you are already in that browser by hitting Ctrl + N. Doing Ctrl + Shift + N opens a browser in an incognito window so you can do cheeky stuff, if you know what I mean.

COPYING/PASTING

Ctrl + X cuts the selected text. What does cutting mean? It copies the selected item to the clipboard but removes it as well. You can then paste it as normal, through Ctrl + V. This can be especially useful if you're trying to restructure or reorganize a piece of text, and want to switch some paragraphs around. Ctrl + C is the shortcut to copy text, which saves it to the clipboard without changing the onscreen text. Same as last time, just paste normally with Ctrl + V.

ALT + TAB

Alt + Tab allows you to switch between open windows. One moment you're on Task Manager, two keys later and you're doing something completely different on Google Chrome. Handy, especially if you have organized browser windows. A variant of this, Ctrl + Alt + Tab, lets you see all of your windows and lets you switch to the one you prefer more easily, but requires mouse-moving or the arrow keys to be pressed.

ALT + [LEFT/RIGHT]

Pressing Alt + ← allows you to go back to the last page you were viewing on the current tab. If you wanted to see something on the page but then accidentally clicked on some link, Alt + ← can save you the time of going to your browser's history just to get back on that page. Alt + →  moves forward in the history.

CTRL + CLICK

Ctrl + a click from the mouse on a link opens the link in a new tab. An alternative to this is Shift + Click, which opens the link inside a newly created window. 

CTRL + F

Ctrl + F opens a text box that allows you to search a page for a keyword. This can be very useful. Say you're combing a Wikipedia article for one specific tidbit  of information. Just hit Ctrl + F, type a word related to that information, and your computer kindly shows you where to go.

CUSTOM KEYBOARD MACROS

Lastly, you can create your own keyboard shortcuts, using recording tools (like Macro Recorder) or code them yourself (with a program like Auto Hotkey). These customized shortcuts can save you time in almost anything. If you're playing a game, you might need an auto clicker. If you're practicing your online ebook speed-reading, you might want to press the right arrow key to turn the page every 30 seconds. If you're trying to get yourself to take breaks from your computer, you can make it so that every 30 minutes, your controls wacc up so horribly, they'd drive you insane if you sat at your desk for longer. Endless possibilities.