Digital Simple » Keyboard

Show the desktop

Sherman — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 16:20:26 +0000

Yesterday I talked about using my desktop to hold files I need right now. It’s a great way to keep everything available, but I have a LOT of applications open. Moving everything out of the way could be a pain. Luckily there are keyboard shortcuts to help out.

On the PC you can use the Windows+D to minimize everything that’s open. You’ll get a clear view of everything on your desktop and all your open programs will be lined up along the bottom of your screen in the “Taskbar”. Hit Windows+D again to get everything back the way it was or click on one of your applications on the bottom of the screen to jump directly to that one.

Hit the F11 key on the Mac to move all your programs off to the sides of the screen. Hit F11 or click on one of your application on the side to get them back the way they were,

Windows+D / F11 offer a simple way to get that next file from your favorite new workspace!

Get an “F”

Sherman — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 16:17:01 +0000

If you lost something on your computer don’t panic; “F” = find. It’s incredibly handy once you get comfortable using it. Whether you’re looking for a word on a web page or a file in a folder. It’s simple to use…

Hit Ctrl+F. You should see a window open with a space to start searching. In some programs like Firefox the window opens on the bottom of the screen; other programs give you a pop up window.

The behavior is exactly the same on the mac except you hit +F (command+F). On both Mac and PC this works on most programs.

The F key is the Fastest way to Find what you’re looking for; Give it a try!

BONUS: If you need to find a file just click on empty space on your desktop and Ctrl /  + F; you’ll see a window open ready to find files!

Space Bar bliss

Sherman — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 15:45:40 +0000

I don’t like to scroll while I read web pages, it’s too disorienting. Instead, when I get to the bottom of the screen I hit the spacebar to move down the page. Each tap does a quick scroll of the screen so that what was on the bottom of the screen becomes the top. It’s a simple way to read a long article on a web page without having to scroll all the time.

Wanna move back up the page? Just hit Shift+Spacebar (shift key and the spacebar) to move up a page the same way… backwards!

Undo before anything else

Sherman — Wed, 19 Aug 2009 01:29:17 +0000

I’ve talked about this A LOT; but “Undo” is my first stop on almost every “oops” moment on the computer.

If I accidentally delete, move or rename files I didn’t mean to
If text moves or changes in an email or document that I want back
if something seems different on my computer but I’m not sure what

“Undo” isn’t just for typing; it works on almost everything you do on your computer. Here’s how.

If something happens on your computer you didn’t expect or want – anything really – hit CTRL+Z (that’s the control key and the Z key at the same time).

The same holds true on the Mac only hit Command+Z (that’s the “Apple” key and the Z key at the same time).

I know it seems strange but I’ve screwed a lot of things up on my computer that were repaired by hitting “Undo” – from little typos to deleted backups. And if it didn’t help it really didn’t hurt anything either. Give “Undo” a shot before you panic.

BONUS TIP: If you hit “Undo” and realize it’s not what you wanted hit Shift+CTRL+Z (Windows) or Shift+Command+Z (Mac) to “Redo” your Undo and get back to where you were

Rename a file

Sherman — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:24:55 +0000

I rename more files than I care to count. And it takes a lot of time when I have to use a mouse. Thankfully there’s a really, really fast way to rename a file with the keyboard

Highlight the file you want to rename and hit the F2 key on your keyboard. You’ll notice that the file name is highlighted. You can start typing the new name of your file.

The process is exactly the same on the mac except instead of F2, hit the Return key. You’ll see the text of the file name highlighted and ready to be replaced.

A quick way to rename files may seem silly, but five seconds every time times 25 files a day times…. Well, you get the point.

BONUS TIP: If you need to name a file with the date (for reports or newsletters) try this: Name each file with the date in YEAR-MONTH-DAY format – “2009-08-18 Sales Report.xls” this month and “2008-09-18 Sales Report.xls” next month. That way when you have a whole directory full of sales reports you can sort them by their respective dates