Activity Overview
Everyone knows that fast and efficient typists rarely let their fingers leave the keyboard. Having to lift your hand to find the mouse, then point and click at an icon, only slows down typing speed. Becoming adept at using control key shortcuts will not only save time but will increase your knowledge of the power of your word processor. In this activity, you will practice using shortcuts for common editing tasks in Word. Before you begin, review the table below which lists common shortcut keys that can be used in Microsoft Word.
Common Shortcut Keys That Can Be Used in Microsoft Word
| To bold text | CTRL+B | To right align text | CTRL+R |
| To italicize text | CTRL+I | To left align text | CTRL+L |
| To underline text | CTRL+U | To center align text | CTRL+E |
| To decrease font size | CTRL+[ | To select text | SHIFT+ARROW KEYS |
| To increase font size | CTRL+] | To save a file | CTRL+S |
| To copy selected text | CTRL+C | To save as a file | F12 |
| To cut selected text | CTRL+X | To close a document | ALT+F4 |
| To paste selected text | CTRL+V | To select all text | CTRL+A |
| To print | CTRL+P |
New Skills
In this activity, you will practice how to:
- Use control keys for commonly used editing tasks.
Lesson
- Create a NEW document in Word.
- Insert a header – Name Shortcut Keys Date
- Starting on the first line of the document, type responses to the statements provided below: Type one answer per line. Do NOT type the statements or preceding letters.
a. Your first and last name.
b. Your nickname (the name your instructor should call you).
c. Your parent(s) or guardian(s) name(s).
d. Your birth date.
e. A career that interests you.
f. One sentence explaining why you chose the career in 3.1 above.
g. Your best friend’s name.
h. Your age preceded by the word Age. Example: Age 46.
i. Two of your hobbies (separated by the word and).
j One sentence explaining what you hope to learn in this class. - Carefully proofread the document for spelling, grammar, and accuracy.
- Save the document as SHORTCUTS to your WORD LESSON folder.
- Select the appropriate text and make the following changes using shortcut keys only:
a. Bold your name.
b. Italicize your nickname.
c. Bold and italicize your parent(s)/guardian(s) name(s).
d. Underline your birth date.
e. Decrease the font size of the career that interests you by 2 points.
f. Increase the font size of the sentence explaining your career choice to 24 points.
g. Center align your best friend’s name.
h. Right align your grade level.
i. Copy your hobbies and paste them two times at the end of this list (on separate lines).
j. Cut the sentence explaining what you hope to learn in this class and paste below your first and last name. - Carefully proofread the document for spelling, grammar, and accuracy.
- Resave the document.
- Optional: Print the document for review.