It’s safe to say that almost everyone uses at least one product from the Microsoft Office suite, whether for business or personal use. As many of you know, repetitive strain injuries (RSI) and overuse syndromes (OSS) can be particularly frustrating when you’re typing out emails, writing essays, or doing basic data work in Excel. One way we’ve been exploring to prevent flare-ups is by improving how we use our computers and the software we rely on. This brings us to Microsoft Office Keyboard Shortcuts.
You’re probably already familiar with these, and we’ve mentioned them numerous times on our website and in previous newsletters. Common shortcuts like “Ctrl + V” (paste) and “Ctrl + C” (copy), or “Command + C” and “Command + V” for Mac users, are built-in features. Both Word and Excel also allow users to create custom shortcuts to streamline tasks and reduce repetitive actions. To find and create your own shortcuts in word follow these steps
Windows
→ File
→ Options
→ Customise Ribbon
→ Keyboard shortcuts: Customise
Mac
→ Tools
→ Customise Keyboard
You’ll see a window with Categories on the left and Commands on the right. From here, you can find the specific command you want to create a shortcut for and assign a key combination.
For example, if you want to zoom to 200% without using the mouse, follow the steps to open the Customize Keyboard window. In the Categories box, scroll through the commands and search for the Zoom 200% command. In the Press new keyboard shortcut box, enter your desired key combination. Windows will inform you if that combination is already assigned to another shortcut. For example, I’ll use Ctrl + 0 (as shown above). Simply click Assign, and the new shortcut will appear in the Current keys box. Once you click OK, you can zoom to 200% using your new shortcut!
The process of creating your own shortcuts is very similar on both Windows and Mac computers. At the bottom of the Customize Keyboard window, you’ll notice a Save changes in dropdown menu. This menu lets you choose where to save your custom shortcuts. You can save them to specific documents or apply them to all documents, depending on your needs.
For a step-by-step guide on how to set up shortcuts on a Windows machine, check out the video below!
