Two Quick Microsoft Office Keyboard Shortcuts

I’m a keyboard guy. I don’t like taking my hands off of the keyboard. And I especially don’t like using a mouse if there is a keyboard shortcut. So, I tend to learn as many of them as I can. Here are a couple of shortcuts that many people don’t know.

CTRL+F1

When working in the Microsoft Office Suite of products, using Control+F1 can be an easy way to gain more screen real estate.

It is a simple toggle that hides the ribbon bar at the top of the screen. The full ribbon bar takes up quite a bit of space and is not always needed. So, when I am concentrating on writing, I type CTRL+F1 and the bar disappears. Type it again and it’s back.

If I do need a command that’s on the ribbon bar I can simply move my mouse up to the top and the bar will drop down to allow me to access the command.

This key works for every program within the Office Suite.

CTRL+K

You can quickly locate a user in your address book or a company address book by typing portions of the name or alias and pressing CTRL+K.

For example, if you want to send an email to John Doe, typing “jo do” and then pressing CTRL+K will automatically complete the name John Doe, unless other names exist with “jo” and “do.” This is very helpful with a large corporation’s address book, especially when you don’t know how to spell someone’s name.

What keyboard shortcuts do you use that save time? Let me know and I’ll share them with our readers.