The vast majority of a student’s activity revolves around the use of a computer. It includes researching material, writing essays, preparing presentations, reading PDF files, participating in virtual classes, and other things that might require lots of small actions. Switching from the keyboard to the mouse several times during one session does not look important at first sight, but those small movements may take quite a lot of time.
Knowledge of several helpful computer keyboard shortcuts for students would increase work efficiency and speed it up. In order to accomplish many tasks, you need to press certain buttons without searching for the right menu option or reaching for the mouse.
There is no need to remember tens of complicated commands and keyboard shortcuts. The following 10 useful keyboard shortcuts are among the most helpful for the everyday life of a student. They are provided for both Windows and Mac, where they differ.
1. Copy & Paste
Windows: Ctrl + C & Ctrl + V
Mac: Command + C & Command + V
The copy-paste combination is one of the most helpful computer keyboard shortcuts for everyone, including students. It can be applied while moving notes between documents, inserting information into a presentation, copying a web link, and managing research material.
Select the needed text/file, press the keyboard shortcut for the copy action, move to another place in the document, and use a keyboard shortcut for pasting.
That way, you don’t have to right-click the text/file every time. Remember that using the copy function doesn’t mean that the copied data becomes yours, so it should be mentioned in academic writing as the source of the material.
2. Undo & Redo
Windows: Ctrl + Z & Ctrl + Y
Mac: Command + Z & Command + Shift + Z
Among all keyboard shortcuts for studying, the most useful one is undo. If you’ve accidentally deleted a paragraph, changed formatting, or removed anything else, undo could help you return to the previous state.
Redo allows you to return after undo if you’ve changed your mind. This combination of shortcuts is extremely helpful in the editing process of writing an essay, modifying a presentation, or a spreadsheet. It allows you to reverse the previous action if needed easily.
With increased awareness of keyboard shortcuts, the undo command will let you feel more confident while making changes to formatting or text.
3. Find Text Quickly
Windows: Ctrl + F
Mac: Command + F
Documents and web pages can have much more content than you may need at a particular moment. With the Find shortcut, you will not have to scroll down through the entire page looking for some specific word or phrase.
For instance, while studying the material, you may want to find some statistic, theory, author’s name, or any other subject matter in a large PDF file. Use the shortcut, type the desired word, and the program will highlight all of the matching results.
This shortcut is considered one of the most useful productivity hacks for students, as it will help to save lots of time during the examination of research papers, lecture notes, e-books, websites, and any other lengthy document.
You can also apply it when proofreading your work. Try to find repeating words or phrases and then edit the necessary part of the text before submitting it.
4. Select All
Windows: Ctrl + A
Mac: Command + A
The Select All shortcut means exactly what its name says – it selects all of the relevant content in the current application or field.
Students can apply it when selecting an entire document prior to formatting it, copying, deleting, or transferring the text into another place.
In addition, this shortcut may be useful in online forms, note-taking apps, spreadsheets, text editors, and elsewhere. Instead of selecting the whole document with the help of your mouse, you will only have to press a few keys.
Please note that you should apply this command with caution, especially when working in a program where the changes to the selected content may influence the whole document.
5. Save Your Work
Windows: Ctrl + S
Mac: Command + S
The Save shortcut helps you protect your work while making the process of saving extremely quick and easy. You don’t need to go to the File menu – pressing this shortcut will save your changes instantly.
It will be helpful when you are writing a big assignment, building a presentation, or working on a long project. Using this shortcut will help you prevent losing your most recent work due to a crash, power failure, or unexpected problem with your application.
Though many modern applications save files in cloud storage automatically, it still may be useful to learn the Save shortcut since it doesn’t always work in such applications or for some files.
It would be better to start saving when you finish working on an important part of your assignment rather than save everything at once when you finish the whole assignment.
6. Switch Between Open Applications
Windows: Alt + Tab
Mac: Command + Tab
Students use multiple applications while working on their assignments. For instance, there may be an open browser for research, a word processor application, the PDF of the sources, and an application where your notes are saved all at once.
Alt + Tab on Windows and Command + Tab on Mac let you quickly switch between your open applications without using a mouse at all.
Using this shortcut will be helpful when you want to move from one application to another and transfer some information. Thus, you can open a source, go to your assignment, then read your notes, and then come back to the source you have opened.
Also, this shortcut will help you feel like you’re not multitasking since you can easily switch between open applications using the keyboard.
7. Open a New Browser Tab
Windows: Ctrl + T
Mac: Command + T
Research online usually involves using many sources. Opening a new tab will give you an opportunity to open another webpage without closing the current one.
Instead of clicking on a tiny plus sign in your browser, press Ctrl + T or Command + T. These shortcuts are used by students to look through various sources, compare websites of different universities, check references, and move from lecture material to additional materials.
8. Close the Current Tab or Window
Windows: Ctrl + W
Mac: Command + W
After finishing with the webpage or document, you can use Ctrl + W or Command + W to close the current tab or window quickly. This comes in handy for students since they will be able to close pages they do not need anymore, but without having to grab the mouse. Having fewer unnecessary tabs open will help you find the required information much more easily.
The key combination will usually close the active tab rather than the entire program if it is a tabbed interface (e.g., a web browser). Do not hesitate to use the shortcut to close the tab – you can always get it back through another keyboard shortcut.
9. Reopen a Closed Browser Tab
Windows: Ctrl + Shift + T
Mac: Command + Shift + T
Closed the wrong source by accident? This shortcut can help you restore the recently closed browser tab in most popular web browsers.
For research purposes, the shortcut is especially helpful for students. You may accidentally close a webpage thinking you are done with the website and need it a few minutes later to collect some more information from it.
Instead of looking for the page once more, press the key combination and get the previously closed tab back. This is one of those really handy keyboard shortcuts that become even more useful once you get used to them.
10. Take a Screenshot
Windows: Windows + Shift + S
Mac: Command + Shift + 4
Screen captures can come in handy while doing online research. You may need to capture some part of a webpage, save an error message for further support, save a chart to keep it at hand, or save information presented in an online lecture.
Windows: pressing the Windows + Shift + S combination will activate the screen snipping tool, where you can choose the area you need. For Mac, you should press the Command + Shift + 4 combination and select the area of the screen you need.
Nevertheless, do not forget that taking a screenshot does not erase any copyrights or academic-integrity requirements.
How to Learn These Keyboard Shortcuts Quickly
There is no need to memorize all 10 shortcuts at once. First, choose those commands that you are going to use the most frequently – copy and paste, undo, find, save, and switching between applications.
And practice them while working on your assignments. For instance, instead of clicking the Save button, every time you finish doing a part of your assignment, press Ctrl + S or Command + S.
Practice makes keyboard shortcuts work for students. As soon as you get used to using particular combinations, they become natural for you without any additional effort. It might be helpful to learn shortcuts in packs. Start with editing shortcuts, then go to browser shortcuts, and finish with navigation shortcuts.
Conclusion
There is no need to have any special computer skills in order to improve digital productivity. Learning just 10 useful keyboard shortcuts for students will make some of the regular academic tasks faster.
With copy and paste, researching and writing will take less time. Undo will prevent you from making any accidental changes. With the Find command, long documents will be much easier to handle. The save command will protect your work from accidental loss. Application and browser shortcuts will make your research process more efficient. Screenshot tools will be helpful for your daily studies.
The main advantage of learning keyboard shortcuts is consistency. You should choose several shortcuts, start using them daily, and gradually increase the number of shortcuts you use.
Though each shortcut will save just a few seconds, when you repeat it many times during studying, these seconds will accumulate to a considerable amount of time. Thus, learning these basic keyboard shortcuts will make your study sessions faster and more efficient.
Contact Us
Contact us for a free consultation for student or visitor visas. Our immigration experts are ready to assist you
