Best Microsoft Word Shortcuts for Writers and Editors

PC shortcuts are below; you can see the controls for Macs when you download the PDF.

SELECT AND MOVE TEXT
CTRL + A Select all
F8 Toggle between selecting word, sentence, paragraph, and all
CTRL + Shift + right arrow Select word to the right of the cursor
CTRL + Shift + left arrow Select word to the left of the cursor
CTRL + Shift + up arrow Select paragraph above the cursor
CTRL + Shift + down arrow Select paragraph below the cursor
CTRL + C Copy
CTRL + X Cut
CTRL + V Paste
CTRL + F3 Spike text (i.e., cut multiple chunks of text and save them all on the clipboard)
CTRL + Shift + F3 Paste spiked text

JUSTIFY THINGS
CTRL + L Left justify text
CTRL + R Right justify text
CTRL + E Center text
CTRL + Shift + L Bulletize text

INSERT COOL THINGS
CTRL + ALT + (minus on number pad) Insert em dash
CTRL + (minus on number pad) Insert en dash
Right-click + New comment Insert a comment
Right-click + Link Insert a link

INSERT BREAKS
CTRL + Enter Insert page break
Shift + Enter Insert manual line break
CTRL + Shift + Enter Insert nonbreaking space

FORMAT THINGS
Shift + F3 Toggle between all caps, lowercase, and initial caps
CTRL + B Boldface
CTRL + I Italicize
CTRL + U Underline
CTRL + Shift + = Superscript
CTRL + = Subscript
CTRL + Shift + > Increase font size by two points
CTRL + Shift + < Decrease font size by two points

NAVIGATE IN A NIFTY WAY
Shift + F5 Go to the last place you were editing
ALT + CTRL + Z Toggle between the last four places you were editing
CTRL + right arrow Jump one word to the right
CTRL + left arrow Jump one word to the left
CTRL + up arrow Jump to the top of the paragraph above
CTRL + down arrow Jump to the top of the paragraph below
CTRL + F Find an item
CTRL + H Find and replace an item

DO THINGS, THEN UNDO THEM!
CTRL + Z
Undo CTRL + Y Redo
F4 Repeat previous action

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