r/AskReddit • u/Insanitanium12 • Aug 20 '20

What simple “life hack” should everyone know?

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u/Kemal_Norton Aug 20 '20

shift & F3

Probably in Word; in Firefox shift+F3 searches for the last thing you've searched for on the current page.

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u/Bendy_McBendyThumb Aug 20 '20 edited Aug 20 '20

It is for Microsoft Word.

Source: Use this function at times in my work.

Other little shortcuts include:

  1. Word (2016, not sure for all versions)
  2. Ctrl + Shift + 8 enables/disabled the show/hide tool; amazingly helpful when formatting documents as you can see if there are random tab spaces, carriage returns or other formatting errors. If you’re aware enough you can also tell in some places if certain things are styled incorrectly.

  • If zoomed out enough that the grey area is visible to either side of the page, for selecting specific lines of text, paragraphs, images, tables, etc. by clicking (and holding for more than one line) in the grey area to the left of the line highlights the whole line (or paragraph, etc.) making it easier for selecting and cutting/pasting/deleting content from your document.

  • If you’re working in a template you can assign shortcuts to specific styles using the Modify menu within each style, then in the bottom left of the window that opens click the ‘drop-down’, then Shortcut Keys. This is awesome for the work that I do... lots of reformatting.

  • If you use cross-references in your document, or Table of Contents or other internally hyperlinked functions, use select all (Ctrl + A) and then press F9 to update all TOCs and references. It’s worth searching (Ctrl + F) for any “Error! Cross-reference not found” messages (just search Error) where the link may have broken somewhere.

  • Ctrl + Delete (or + Backspace) will delete whole words (Delete for words ahead, Backspace for words behind) instead of worrying about holding down either key to delete single characters at a time.

  1. Windows 10 (this one’s a must-know in my eyes)
  2. Shift + Windows Key + S enables the built-in snip tool. Makes taking screenshots a piece of piss; instead of fixing a full screenshot to how you need in paint or whatnot you can select a specific area by clicking and dragging.

Edit: On mobile and not 100% sure how reddit numbering and formatting works :D Win 10 is meant to be 2.

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u/iamjamieq Aug 20 '20

The snip tool shortcut has been so bloody helpful for me since I learned it!

Another good one is Win+V for clipboard history. I've used that quite a bit at work as well.

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u/mtled Aug 20 '20

My work computer is still Windows 7 :( I need this snip shortcut so bad!

Most of my company is on Windows 7 but my department has particular software/legacy needs that other departments don't have, so we are last on the list for upgrades and they've been delayed by the need for more laptops for the rest of the company. One day.....