A dozen ways to help you work more efficiently

Don't mouse and scroll your life away. Here are easy shortcuts to better productivity.

In a window and sometimes in an Open dialog box

1

View things by List
Computers list items in a list alphabetically by nature. Take advantage of this feature.
Choose As List from the View menu for any active window.

2

Reorder the list by clicking the Date Modified bar at the top of the window's list to see the most recent items you have changed or modified.

3

Instead of scrolling through a long list of files, type the first letter or two of the name of the file you plan to open. The list will jump to and select that file. If files have similar names, you can Tab or Arrow key down the list to the file or folder you seek.

4

Apple /Command - O will Open that highlighted file.
Create a New document or folder, Save a document, close a Window, Quit a program.
Explore the key commands for Copy, Cut, and Paste.

For quick reference, keyboard commands are listed next to their menu item. Instead of pulling down the menu each and every time, learn these keyboard shortcuts to relieve yourself from these repetitive tasks.

5

Double clicking the icon of a folder will display its contents in a new window. Tilting the wedge only reveals a longer list to scroll through.
Hold down the option key while tunneling to the folder, where your desired file lives. The previously opened window will close automatically as the new one opens.

Command-option - O will close the window behind the just-opened frontmost window.

6

Folders are spring loaded. Drag a file and hover over a closed folder icon to open the folders within. Navigate to the deepest folder without ever double clicking on another folder icon.

7

Contextual menus are accessible by holding the Control key and clicking down on the desktop, a window or document.

In Internet Explorer

8

Apple/Command - clicking a link on a webpage will spawn a new window with the contents/page of that web address. This is handy for maintaining a search results page or the main navigation page of a website when there are several links to explore. You can spawn several windows in succession instead of waiting for each one to load. Close the Windows you have read or don't need. It also relieves you of waiting for the back button to reload that original page.

9

The backspace/delete key works as a Back button to previously visited webpages.

10

If you are looking for a specific word on a lengthy or dense webpage, use the Find feature to jump to the first occurrence of that word on the page. Apple/Command - G will find subsequent occurrences of that word.

11

Skip scrolling a long webpage. Use the space bar to jump to the next full screen. Option - spacebar will jump the page back up to the top. Page down and Page up, Arrow key up and down will also help you browse a webpage quickly.

12

Choose Print Preview before printing a webpage. Control the size of the print and where the page break occurs by enlarging (+) or reducing (-) it in Print Preview.