The Smallest, Most Useful Amount of Keyboard Shortcuts You Need To Know – Day One
I’m trying really hard to use more keyboard shortcuts. Every time I do I’m amazed at how much faster I can work, if I just keep my hands on the damn keyboard.
But it’s hard. Practice is what’s needed, and I’m fighting Bad Habits. The habit that means I instinctively reach out my right hand and rest it on my mouse. Maybe I should just get rid of it? But then, I’d get nothing done.
Also, keyboard shortcut lists are Big. That’s good. But if you try and learn them all at once, you’ll get nowhere.
This is my list.
I’m compiling a list of minimum shortcuts. I reckon the 80/20 rule applies here – if you can pick up just 20% of the shortcuts you’ll speed up 80% of your tasks. I’m not saying you shouldn’t go and see what other shortcuts are around, especially if you have a habit of doing something very often. But if you just want to learn a couple, I think these are the most useful.
Day One
Chrome
CTRL + T – Open Tab
CTRL + W – Close Tab
CTRL + PageUp/PageDown – Cycle through open tabs
Alt + arrow key – Back / Forward
(Jump to address bar? Not needed, just open a new tab.)
Tab from search results, then arrow up/down, Enter to open.
Gmail
j/k – move up and down inbox list
o – open
r – reply
u – back to list
x – select
e – archive (either an open email, or any selected)
if in doubt, Shift + ? for the full list
Written by Tom Morgan
Tom is a Microsoft Teams Platform developer and Microsoft MVP who has been blogging for over a decade. Find out more.
Good post, I believe AutoHotKey (http://www.autohotkey.com/) will stop you reaching for the mouse even more. Everything is script controlled so you can even shorten what you type (just type ‘slc’ for a select statement for example).
I’m digging the Gmail shortcuts too, especially y (Archive)