I’m a bit of a keyboard shortcuts enthusiast. When I worked as a software developer, I swore by the vi text editor. It lets coders enter editing commands without a touch screen or mouse through dozens of short keyboard inputs. The ability to edit text or quickly position the cursor without moving my fingers off the home row allowed me to work without having to break my concentration.
Writing is similar to coding in that you want to stay in the flow state without interruption. When your mind has to switch context by operating a mouse or trackpad, you put the brakes on the flow of ideas, losing the momentum you had generated. And to resume writing, you need to find that place in your mind where you left your train of thought, that one specific locomotive out of thousands on the railway network, and restart the engine. The interruption may be short, but repeating this several times can cause mental fatigue. It’s like trying to drive while playing Jenga.
You may already be using the cut, copy, paste, undo, and select-all shortcuts, but here are some other Apple and Windows shortcuts I use frequently. There are more than five, but I wanted to be fair as two of them only apply to those on Apple devices if they use the Notes app (my personal favorite Apple app).
- To move the cursor between words
Apple: Option-Left Arrow/Right Arrow
Windows: Control-Left Arrow/Right Arrow - To go to the start/end of a line
Apple: Command-Left Arrow/Right Arrow
Windows: Home/End (Okay, not a shortcut, but Windows users can press Control-Down Arrow/Up Arrow to move between paragraphs.) - To select text, use #1 or #2 above while holding down the Shift key.
- To delete a word
Apple: Option-Delete
Windows: Control-Backspace - To delete until the start of the line
Apple: Command-Delete
Windows: Use #3 and then hit Backspace - To reorder list items or paragraphs
Apple: Command-Control-Up Arrow/Down Arrow (Only in the Notes app.)
Windows: Alt-Shift-Up Arrow/Down Arrow - To indent/outdent a list item
Apple: Command-]/[ (Only in the Notes app. iPhone and iPad users can also flick a single line right or left to increase or decrease indentation.)
Windows: Alt-Shift-Right Arrow/Left Arrow
But before you roll up those sleeves to hammer out your next article, I have one plea. On behalf of all the keyboards out there and anyone working near you, please be nice to your keys. Unless you’re a massage therapist following a strict finger workout regimen, there’s no need to whack-a-mole those poor keys. Thank you for your understanding, and happy typing.
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