Freelance writing is one of those jobs that usually pays by the amount of work you can get done, not the amount of hours you work. Thus you have to be able to do as much as you can to cut down your work time if you want to do really well in this business. That is where keyboard shortcuts come into play. These simply little devices can shave a ton of time off your typing, and they can help you work as effectively as possible. You will inevitably use some of the same commands over and over while you write. These just give you an easier way to go about executing them. Every second you save is just more money in your pocket. Here are 20 keyboard shortcuts every freelancer should know about:
There are tons of other keyboard shortcuts you may find use out of. Those are just the ones that I us on a fairly regular basis. Here are a few links to give you an idea of the sheer magnitude of shortcuts out there: Microsoft Word keyboard shortcuts, Internet Explorer keyboard shortcuts, and Firefox keyboard shortcuts.
How to Use Keyboard Shortcuts
Using keyboard shortcuts is fairly simple, depending on what you are doing at the time. If you are trying to copy, paste, or do something along those lines, you will need to first highlight whatever it is you want to use the command on. Then you can just hit your shortcut to execute the command. Example:
If I want to copy the word "awesome" in this sentence, I would first highlight awesome and then hit Ctrl+C. Then if I want to paste it, I would hit Ctrl+V to produce: awesome. Try it yourself and see what you think.
For keyboard shortcuts related to web browsers, you need to make sure you have clicked somewhere on the page to be able to execute the command. If your mouse is stationed in your address bar, hitting backspace will only cause you to get rid of a letter in the bar. If you hit backspace after clicking somewhere generic on a page, you will be taken back to the page you were at right before.
Play around with keyboard shortcuts in your online college courses so you get used to them. Once you make them a habit, you will be able to write much faster. I probably save two minutes an article or more just in using shortcuts. That may not sound like much, but it is when I'm writing 30+ articles a day. I literally get an extra hour of work in a day just by using shortcuts. Believe me when I say they are truly beneficial for this kind of work.
- Ctrl+C: Copy
- Ctrl+V: Paste
- Ctrl+S: Save (works for documents, emails, and more)
- Ctrl+A: Select all (highlights everything on a page)
- Ctrl+F: Find (works on MS Word, Notepad, and most web browsers)
- Ctrl+H: Replace (works on MS Word and Notepad)
- Ctrl+B: Bold (turns to "bookmark" in web browsers)
- Ctrl+I: Italicize
- Ctrl+U: Underline
- Ctrl+T: New tab in web browser
- Ctrl+N: New page (works in text editors and web browsers)
- Ctrl+Z: Undo (probably my favorite command)
- Ctrl+X: Cut
- Ctrl+Enter: Page break
- Shift+Enter: Single line break
- Shift+F7: Thesaurus (only in MS Word)
- Tab: Next section of a form on a web browser
- Backspace: "Go back" on web browsers
- Ctrl+Alt+Delete: Shuts down computer or pulls up task bar
- F5: Refresh a page on a web browser
How to Use Keyboard Shortcuts
Using keyboard shortcuts is fairly simple, depending on what you are doing at the time. If you are trying to copy, paste, or do something along those lines, you will need to first highlight whatever it is you want to use the command on. Then you can just hit your shortcut to execute the command. Example:
If I want to copy the word "awesome" in this sentence, I would first highlight awesome and then hit Ctrl+C. Then if I want to paste it, I would hit Ctrl+V to produce: awesome. Try it yourself and see what you think.
For keyboard shortcuts related to web browsers, you need to make sure you have clicked somewhere on the page to be able to execute the command. If your mouse is stationed in your address bar, hitting backspace will only cause you to get rid of a letter in the bar. If you hit backspace after clicking somewhere generic on a page, you will be taken back to the page you were at right before.
Play around with keyboard shortcuts in your online college courses so you get used to them. Once you make them a habit, you will be able to write much faster. I probably save two minutes an article or more just in using shortcuts. That may not sound like much, but it is when I'm writing 30+ articles a day. I literally get an extra hour of work in a day just by using shortcuts. Believe me when I say they are truly beneficial for this kind of work.
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