Useful Keyboard Shortcuts To Speed Up Your Work

As a virtual assistant, the importance of getting a job done not only to a high standard, but in a shorter amount of time than our clients is the main reason that we are given the job in the first place. Now the reason for this may simply be that we are more skilled using a computer and have more experience of doing such a job. But sometimes it simply comes down to the tricks of the trade. Keyboard shortcuts are just one way of getting the job done faster & more efficiently when working on a computer, in particular when there is repetitive work to be done, such as managing a database or formatting a document.

Now most of us will know the frequently used shortcuts, such as CTRL+C and CTRL+V for copying and pasting, but how many other keyboard shortcuts do you know? Go on, have a little think for a moment about how many you could actually name. Now have a think about the tasks you carry out where a keyboard shortcut would cut down the time needed for a job. Even simple things such as navigating around an Excel spreadsheet and editing a cell with the press of a button rather than having to double click into it each time, or formatting the font in the title of a document without having to click into the ribbon. Well here we go, completely for your convenience, we have a lovely list of the most frequently used keyboard shortcuts. In later articles, we’ll have a look a shortcuts specific to certain Microsoft programs too.

If you are not familiar with using keyboard shortcuts, here are a few tips:

•  Most involve pressing a holding a ‘modifier’ key e.g. CTRL or ALT following by a short press and release of the shortcut key usually a letter or number or a combination of keys
•  When written down, the combination of keys is shown with a + (plus sign) or – (hyphen) between them e.g. CTRL+C would mean that you need to press and hold CTRL followed by pressing the letter ‘C’
• Keys should be pressed in the order written down

So lets start with the common ones. These are the ones that everyone should know!

and perhaps a few more that you might not know about!

Hopefully these few simple shortcuts will give you a few useful places to begin. Next time we’ll look at program specific shortcuts that will help you whizz through formatting an Excel Spreadsheet or a Word document… see you soon!

Steph Middleton is an experienced Virtual Assistant and MD of Outhouse