Article Summary
Knowing the right Microsoft Word shortcut keys can instantly speed up formatting, editing, and navigation tasks. This article covers essential CTRL shortcuts, ALT key combos, and how to create custom shortcuts. You'll work faster and smarter in Word every day.
One of the best ways to increase your productivity is to take advantage of shortcut keys in Microsoft Word. Word includes shortcuts for most common functions right out of the box, though you can also declare your own shortcuts. In this article, we will take a look at some of the most commonly used shortcuts in Word, how to use ALT key shortcuts, and how to create your own shortcuts.
For more power-user tips on Word, check out this course on advanced functions in Microsoft Word 2013.
Common Shortcuts in Microsoft Word
Let’s take a look at the shortcut keys you’ll turn to most often in your everyday tasks:
|
Function |
Shortcut |
Description |
|
Bold |
CTRL + B |
Makes the text bold |
|
Italic |
CTRL + I |
Italicizes the text |
|
Underline |
CTRL + U |
Underlines the text |
|
Increase Font Size |
CTRL + SHIFT + > |
Increases the font size by one factor. Same as pressing the |
|
Decrease Font Size |
CTRL + SHIFT + < |
Decreases the font size one facto. Same as pressing the |
|
Left Align |
CTRL + L |
Aligns the selected text to the left |
|
Center Align |
CTRL + E |
Aligns the text to the center |
|
Right Align |
CTRL + R |
Aligns the text to the right |
|
Justify |
CTRL + J |
Justifies the selected paragraph |
|
Font Format |
CTRL + D |
Opens the font format window where you can select the font size, family, color, etc. |
|
Indent Paragraph |
CTRL + M |
Indents the selected paragraph. Equivalent to pressing TAB once. |
|
Show/Hide Formatting Symbols |
CTRL + * (i.e. CTRL + SHIFT + 8) |
Shows all the formatting symbols on page. Same as pressing the |
|
Change Font |
CTRL + SHIFT + F |
Opens the font format window with the font highlighted. A faster way to change font than pressing CTRL + D |
|
Increase Font Size by One Pt. |
CTRL + ] |
Increases font size by only one point, regardless of current size. |
|
Decrease Font Size by One Pt. |
CTRL + [ |
Decreases font size by only one point, regardless of current size. |
|
Redo |
CTRL + Y |
Repeats the last action |
|
Undo |
CTRL + Z |
Undo the last action |
|
Find |
CTRL + F |
Find specific text/characters in the document |
|
Replace |
CTRL + H |
Replace specific text/characters in the document |
|
Select All |
CTRL + A |
Selects all text on the page. Useful for copy-pasting entire documents |
|
Copy |
CTRL + C |
Standard keyboard shortcut for copying anything. Applicable across Windows |
|
Cut |
CTRL + X |
Instead of making a copy, removes the text from the current location and copies it to the clipboard, from where it can be pasted into another location |
|
Paste |
CTRL + V |
Pastes anything from the clipboard into your current location |
|
Save |
CTRL + S |
Saves the current document in your specified location |
|
Open |
CTRL + O |
Opens an existing document |
|
New |
CTRL + N |
Creates a new document |
|
Move Cursor One Word to the Left |
CTRL + |
Moves the cursor one word to the left |
|
Move Cursor One Word to the Right |
CTRL + |
Moves the cursor one word to the right |
|
Move Cursor to Line Start |
CTRL + Up-arrow |
Moves cursor to the beginning of the current paragraph |
|
Move Cursor to Line End |
CTRL + Down-arrow |
Moves cursor to the end of current paragraph |
|
Delete Word to the Left |
CTRL + Backspace |
Deletes any element to the left of the current cursor position |
|
Delete Word to the Right |
CTRL + Delete |
Deletes any element to the right of the current cursor position |
|
Move to Document End |
CTRL + End |
Moves cursor to the end of the document |
|
Move to Document Start |
CTRL + Home |
Moves cursor to the beginning of the document |
|
Single Line Spacing |
CTRL + 1 |
Changes line-spacing to single space |
|
Double Line Spacing |
CTRL + 2 |
Changes to double line spacing |
|
Save As |
F12 |
Opens the ‘Save As’ dialog box |
|
|
CTRL + P |
Opens the Print dialog box |
|
Find/Replace |
F5 |
Opens the find/replace/go-to dialog box |
|
Spell Check |
F7 |
Opens the spell check |
|
Insert Link |
CTRL + K |
Inserts a link at the current location |
button. After 12pt, font size increases by two points with each press.
button. After 12pt, font size decreases by two points with each press.
button.To learn how to use all the functions listed above, check out this guide to MS Word for intermediate users.
How to Use the ALT Key Shortcuts
You’ll notice that the above list leaves out several functions such as inserting images, tables, etc. This is because Word doesn’t have built-in shortcuts for these functions. However, instead of creating your own specific shortcuts (see below), you can use Word’s powerful ALT key shortcuts to trigger these functions.
Let’s see how this works:
1. Press the ALT key on your keyboard. You’ll see a bunch of letters floating above different tabs.
2. Pressing any of the keys will show you shortcuts for different functions in that particular tab.
For example, if I want to change the font, I can press ALT, then H (to highlight the Home tab), then quickly press F twice (since the shortcut for changing font is ‘FF’ as seen above). This will highlight the font selection menu.
Once you get the hang of this, it’ll boost your productivity twofold. Inserting an image, for instance, becomes as easy as pressing ALT, then N (for ‘Insert tab’), then P (for ‘Picture’). Inserting a table, on the other hand, requires pressing ALT, then N, then T. You can insert SmartArt by pressing ALT, N, M; bookmarks by pressing ALT, N, I, and an equation with ALT, N, and E.
You can learn about more advanced Word features in this course.
How to Create Your Own Shortcuts
Sometimes, Microsoft’s built-in shortcut keys won’t suffice. In such a situation, you’ll need to create your own shortcuts. Thankfully, Microsoft Word makes this pretty easy to do – just follow the instructions below to get started.
1. Go to File -> Options
2. Click on ‘Customize Ribbon’, then click on ‘Customize…’ next to Keyboard shortcuts
3. In the window that pops up, you can declare your own shortcut keys for individual functions on different tabs. To create a new shortcut, you just need to highlight the appropriate function, press the desired shortcut in the ‘Press new shortcut key’ field, click ‘Assign’, and press okay.
For example, to change the shortcut for ‘Increase Indent’ (the 
That’s it! After clicking ‘Assign’, you can start using the shortcut right away!
Want to use more advanced Word features? Take this course to discover how to best use Microsoft Word 2013.
What are your personal favorite Word shortcuts? Let us know in the comments below!