| It’s time for another simple tip! I’m a sucker for a short cut. Even when it’s something that doesn’t save a ton of time, sometimes there are short cuts that I just find fun and simple enough that – why NOT use it?? This is one of those. |
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| A computer keyboard shortcut!! We’re going to talk about hot keys! Why are they called hot keys, you may wonder. Well I am here to tell you – I don’t know. Though I do know that it’s not because they are on fire. |
| Hot keys are key combinations that make short cuts to open up programs. And the coolest thing about it is that you can make your own! For example, on my computer at home, if I type CTRL+ALT+C, Chrome opens up. Or if I type CTRL+ALT+E I find a fresh window with Excel! It’s like a secret menu at your favorite restaurant. But on a computer. And you get to create the menu. So, how do you this you may ask. It’s simple! First locate the icon for the program that you would like to create a hot key for. I will be setting one up for Word. You right click on the icon and it pops up a menu where you will select Properties. |
| This will open the Properties box, as shown below. You will place the cursor in the line that says “Shortcut key”. |
| Then you will select which keys you want to use as a combination. So I want Word to open when I hit CTRL+ALT+W. So I actually hit those buttons and…… |
| Voila! It now shows those buttons as the shortcut key. I just hit okay and it will save the shortcut. Now no matter what I am doing on my computer, if I suddenly decide I need a Word window open and I don’t want to minimize my windows and tabs to get to my desktop, I use my new shortcut and up it pops! Have fun creating your own shortcuts! |