iWorks’ 5 Microsoft Word Keyboard Shortcuts

By: Amanda Ngo, Becky Chawner, and Jenna Harrity

Microsoft Word is an essential tool for many people nowadays from students to professionals. Most people know basic shortcuts like copy (Ctrl+C) and paste (Ctrl+V) – but did you know there are many more? The iWorks Documentation team has compiled five unique shortcuts that we use in Word. Please note that these tips only work on Windows!

1. Ctrl+G
You may already be familiar with the Find (Ctrl+F) and Replace function in Word. However, there is a third tab in that pop-up window. Use “Ctrl+G,” otherwise known as “Go To,” to jump to a certain page, section, table, etc., in the document. This is particularly useful for longer documents and can be faster than scrolling or using the navigation pane.

2. Alt+< (left arrow)
This shortcut is useful for navigating hyperlinks in a long document. Clicking on an internal link directs you to a new place in the same document, and it can be difficult to navigate back
to the original location. Click Alt+< (left arrow) to navigate to the original link location. Our documentation team uses this shortcut when checking links during a technical edit.

3. =lorem(# of paragraphs)
In templates or sample documents, you may want to populate the document with dummy text. Type “=lorem(# of paragraphs)” with no spaces and press Enter. Word automatically generates dummy Latin text. For example, “=lorem(2)” creates:

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetuer adipiscing elit. Maecenas porttitor congue massa. Fusce posuere, magna sed pulvinar ultricies, purus lectus malesuada libero, sit amet commodo magna eros quis urna.

Nunc viverra imperdiet enim. Fusce est. Vivamus a tellus.

4. Ctrl+A; F9
Many users employ field codes in Word documents to ensure content is consistent and easy to update. For example, tables of content and cross references use field codes. Use this easy shortcut to update all field codes in a document: select all using Ctrl+A and then hit F9.

5. Create your own keyboard shortcut
Did you know you can create your own keyboard shortcut? Not every menu option has an assigned shortcut in Word, but you can create your own. For example, we often switch between Simple Markup and All Markup during a technical edit. Microsoft has detailed instructions on how to customize keyboard shortcuts on their site. Using these steps, we can switch between these two views quickly and easily.

How many of these did you already know? Were there any that were new to you? Tweet us @iworkscorp and let us know if you found this article helpful!