Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts: Complete Guide

Microsoft Word is one of the most popular text editors in the world, and it offers numerous hotkeys (key combinations) that significantly speed up the process of editing and formatting text. Using these combinations helps save time, increase personal productivity, and work more efficiently. Whether you're preparing for a typing test 1 minute challenge or using a typing trainer online to improve your skills, mastering Word shortcuts will enhance your overall typing performance and document creation speed.

General Document Management Commands

These keyboard shortcuts are used to manage the document itself — creating, opening, saving, and printing.

Creating, opening, and saving: 

• Ctrl + N — create a new document.
• Ctrl + O — open an existing document.
• Ctrl + S — save the current document.
• F12 — save as.

Printing and preview: 

• Ctrl + P — open the print dialog.

Closing and exiting: 

• Ctrl + W — close the current document.
• Alt + F4 — close Word.

Basic Text Editing Commands

Copy and paste:

• Ctrl + C — copy selected text.
• Ctrl + X — cut selected text.
• Ctrl + V — paste.
• Ctrl + Z — undo action.
• Ctrl + Y — repeat last action.

Text selection: 

• Ctrl + A — select all text.
• Shift + arrow keys — select by characters or lines.
• Ctrl + Shift + →/← — select word.
• Ctrl + Shift + ↑/↓ — select paragraph.

Text Formatting

Font: 

• Ctrl + B — bold.
• Ctrl + I — italic.
• Ctrl + U — underline.
• Ctrl + Shift + W — underline words only.
• Ctrl + Shift + D — double underline.
• Ctrl + Shift + = — superscript.
• Ctrl + = — subscript.

Font size: 

• Ctrl + Shift + > — increase font size.
• Ctrl + Shift + < — decrease font size.

Case: Shift + F3 — toggle case (lowercase/UPPERCASE/Title Case).

Paragraph Formatting

Alignment: 

• Ctrl + L — align left.
• Ctrl + R — align right.
• Ctrl + E — center align.
• Ctrl + J — justify.

Indents and spacing: 

• Ctrl + M — increase indent.
• Ctrl + Shift + M — decrease indent.
• Ctrl + T — create hanging indent.
• Ctrl + Shift + T — decrease hanging indent.
• Ctrl + 1 — single spacing.
• Ctrl + 2 — double spacing.
• Ctrl + 5 — 1.5 line spacing.

Working with Tables 

• Tab — move to next cell.
• Shift + Tab — move to previous cell.
• Alt + Home — go to beginning of table row.
• Alt + End — go to end of table row.
• Alt + Page Up — go to top cell of column.
• Alt + Page Down — go to bottom cell of column.

Document Navigation 

• Ctrl + arrow keys — move by words/paragraphs.
• Ctrl + Home — go to beginning of document.
• Ctrl + End — go to end of document.
• Page Up / Page Down — move up/down by screen.

Find and Replace 

• Ctrl + F — find.
• Ctrl + H — replace.
• Ctrl + G — go to page, section, bookmark.

Working with Images and Objects 

• Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S — open styles panel.
• Alt + N, P — insert picture.
• Alt + N, S, H — insert shape.

Special Features 

• F7 — spelling and grammar check.
• Shift + F7 — thesaurus (synonyms).
• Ctrl + Alt + V — paste special.
• Alt + Ctrl + F — insert footnote.
• Alt + Ctrl + D — insert endnote.

Function Keys in Word 

• F1 — help.
• F4 — repeat last action.
• F5 — go to dialog.
• F9 — update field.
• F12 — "Save As".

How to Remember Word Keyboard Shortcuts

To make keyboard shortcuts automatic, start with the basics: copy, paste, save, undo. Gradually add formatting and navigation shortcuts. For better memorization, use cheat sheets and posters near your workspace. Most importantly, use them daily.