how to use computer keyboard

Explanation of the Keys on a Windows QWERTY Keyboard
Q W E R T Y
"The name "QWERTY" for our computer keyboard comes from the first six letters in the top alphabet row (the one just below the numbers). It is also referred to as the "Universal" keyboard. It was the work of inventor C. L. Sholes, who put together the prototypes of the first commercial typewriter in a Milwaukee machine shop back in the 1860's."
Return to Keyboard

Esc
Equivalent to clicking the Cancel button. In PowerPoint the Esc key will stop a running slide show. On a web page with animations, the Esc key will stop the animations. On a web page that is loading, the Esc key will stop the page from loading. The keyboard combination Ctrl + Esc will open the Start Menu.
Return to Keyboard

F1
While working in an application, depressing this key will bring up the applications help menu. If there is no open application F1 will open Windows Help.
Return to Keyboard

F2
Choose this key to rename a selected item or object.
Return to Keyboard

F3
Depressing this key will display the Find: All Files dialog box.
Return to Keyboard

F4
Selects the Go To A Different Folder box and moves down the entries in the box (if the toolbar is active in Windows Explorer)
Return to Keyboard

F5
Refreshes the current window. In Internet Explorer, F5 will Refresh the web page.
Return to Keyboard

F6
Moves among panes in Windows Explorer.
Return to Keyboard

F7
Return to Keyboard

F8
Return to Keyboard

F9
Return to Keyboard

F10
Activates menu bar options. Use right and left arrows to select menus and down arrows to display pull down menus.
Return to Keyboard

F11
In Internet Explorer this key will allow you to toggle between full screen viewing mode and normal viewing mode.
Return to Keyboard

F12
Return to Keyboard

Print Screen/SysRq
Usually located at the upper right hand corner of your keyboard next to the Scroll Lock and Pause/Break keys. Often abbreviated PrtScr, the Print Screen key is a useful key supported on most PCs. In DOS, pressing the Print Screen key causes the computer to send whatever images and text are currently on the display screen to the printer. Some graphics programs and Windows, use the Print Screen key to obtain Screen Captures.
Return to Keyboard

Tab
This key can be used to move forward through options in a dialog box.
Ctrl + Shift + Tab can be used to move backward through the options.
Ctrl + Tab allows movement from one open window to the next in an application with more than one open window.
Alt + Tab displays a list of open application windows. Keeping Alt depressed and selecting Tab cycles through the list. Releasing selects the highlighted application window.
Return to Keyboard

Caps Lock
Locks the keyboard in "Capitals" mode (only applies to Alpha keys). The Caps Lock key should be used with caution. Using ALL CAPS is a usability no-no as many have difficulty scanning text that is ALL CAPS. Also, when sending email in all caps, this could be misconstrued as shouting at someone.
Return to Keyboard

Shift
The obvious use of this key is to allow selection of capital letters when depressing the alphabet characters, or selecting the characters above other non-alpha keys.
Depressing the Shift key while inserting a CD-ROM will bypass auto play.
Shift + Delete to permanently delete a selected item, bypasses the Recycle Bin.
Return to Keyboard

Control Key
Ctrl
Depressing the Ctrl key while clicking allows multiple selections. Holding the Ctrl key down and pressing other key combinations will initiate quite a few actions. Some of the more common ones are listed below.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + A
Select All items
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + B
Add or remove Bold formatting
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + C
Copy, places the selected/highlighted copy on the clipboard.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + C + C
Opens the clipboard.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + F
Opens the Find what: dialog box. Great for finding references on a web page while using your favorite web browser.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + H
Replace, brings up the Find and Replace dialog box. Great for global find and replace routines while working in normal and html views in your favorite WYSIWYG editors like FrontPage. You can also use this to find and replace content within your Word Documents, Excel Spreadsheets, etc...
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + I
Add or remove Italic formatting.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + N
Window, In Internet Explorer, opens a New Window. In Outlook, opens a New Mail Message. In most publishing programs like Word, opens a New Document.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + O
Open, brings up a browse dialog and allows you to select a file to open.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + P
Print
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + S
Save
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + U
Add or remove Underline formatting.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + V
Paste, inserts the copy on the clipboard into the area where your flashing cursoris positioned or the area you have selected/highlighted.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + W
Close, will close the document currently open.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + X
Cut, removes the selected/highlighted copy and places it on the clipboard.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + Y
Redo last command. Many software programs offer multiple Redo's by pressing Ctrl + Y + Y + Y...
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + Z
Undo last command. Many software programs offer multiple Undo's by pressing Ctrl + Z + Z + Z...
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + Esc
Open the Start menu (or use the Windows Key if you have one).
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + =
Spell checker (pre WinXP).
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl
While dragging a file to copy the file.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + Shift
While dragging a file to create a shortcut.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + Tab
Allows movement (toggle) from one open window to the next in an application with more than one open window.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + F4
Close a window in an application without closing the application.
Return to Keyboard

Ctrl + F5
In Internet Explorer, Ctrl + F5 will Refresh the web page bypassing cache (all images and external file references will be reloaded).
Return to Keyboard

Windows Key
Windows Key
On either side of the spacebar, outside the Alt key, is a key with the Windows logo. Holding the Windows key down and pressing another key will initiate quite a few actions. Some of the more common are listed below.
Return to Keyboard


Displays the Start Menu.
Return to Keyboard

+ D
Minimizes all windows and shows the Desktop.
Return to Keyboard

+ D
Opens all windows and takes you right back to where you were.
Return to Keyboard

+ E
Opens a new Explorer Window. Probably one of the hottest Windows keyboard shortcuts. This one gets a lot of hoorahs!
Return to Keyboard

+ F
Displays the Find all files dialog box.
Return to Keyboard

+ L
Lock your Windows XP computer. Logoff in Windows Pre-XP.
Return to Keyboard

+ M
Minimizes all open windows.
Return to Keyboard

+ Shift + M
Restores all previously open windows to how they were before you Minimized them.
Return to Keyboard

+ R
Displays the Run command.
Return to Keyboard

+ F1
Displays the Windows Help menu.
Return to Keyboard

+ Pause/Break
Displays the Systems Properties dialog box.
Return to Keyboard

+ Tab
Cycle through the buttons on the Task Bar.
Return to Keyboard

Alt
Alt
Located on either side of the space bar. Holding the Alt key down and pressing another key will initiate various actions. Some of the more common ones are listed below:
Return to Keyboard

Alt + F4
Closes the current active window. If there is no active window this opens the Shut Down dialog box.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + underlined letter in menu
To carry out the corresponding command on the menu.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + left/right arrows
In a browser moves forward or back through the pages visited in a window.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + Space Bar
Displays the current window's system menu. This is the same as left clicking on the application icon at the top left of the window.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + Enter
Displays a selected items properties. This can also be done with Alt + double-click.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + PrtScn
Captures the top window of the active application.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + Space Bar
Displays the main window's system menu. This is the same as clicking on the application icon at the left end of the title bar.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + Space Bar + C
After the system menu is displayed (see above), this combination will close a window. This works the same way as Alt + F4 but requires less stretch.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + - (hyphen)
Displays the current window's system menu. This is the same as left clicking on the application icon at the top left of the window.
Return to Keyboard

Alt + Tab
Displays a list of open application windows. Keeping Alt depressed and selecting Tab cycles through the list. Releasing selects the highlighted application window.
Return to Keyboard

Alt Ctrl
The Application key has an image of a mouse pointer on a menu (between the Alt and Ctrl keys () to the right of your Space Bar). Depressing this key will display the selected item's shortcut window. This is the menu that is displayed by right-clicking.
Return to Keyboard

Space Bar
Insert a space between words. It is suggested that you utilize Tabs (or other formatting commands) to put distance between elements. Using the space bar to insert visual space works but would not be considered a best practice in page design. Double spaces between sentences are no longer required. This is a carryover from the days of fixed width fonts on a typewriter such as Courier, Orator, Prestige Elite, etc.
Pressing the Space Bar while viewing a web page in Internet Explorer will scroll the page downwards. Shift + Space Bar will scroll the page upwards.
Return to Keyboard

Enter
Creates a new Paragraph <p> () or what is referred to as a Hard Return. In any dialog box a selected button or command can be selected by depressing this key. Selected buttons can be recognized by their darker (dotted) borders, or what is referred to as Focus.
Return to Keyboard

Shift + Enter
Creates a new Line Break <br> () or what is referred to as a Soft Return.
Return to Keyboard

Shift + Arrow
Shift + Arrow Up, Down, Left or Right. Position your cursorat the beginning of the area you wish to highlight for copying. Now use the up, down, left or right arrow keys to select areas of content to be highlighted, copied, pasted, etc.
Return to Keyboard

Backspace
While working with text, use this key to delete characters to the left of the insertion point.
Return to Keyboard

Insert
Return to Keyboard

Home
Depress and hold the Ctrl key as you select Home to go to the first line of a document.
Return to Keyboard

Page Up
In a browser window use the Page Up key to move up one full screen on a web page.
Return to Keyboard

Delete
While working with text, use this key to delete characters to the right of the insertion point. This key can also be used to delete selected files. If you use the keyboard combination Shift + Delete the item is permanently deleted, bypassing the Recycle Bin.
Return to Keyboard

End
Depress and hold the Ctrl key as you select End to go to the last line of a document.
Return to Keyboard

Page Down
In a browser window use the Page Down key to move down one full screen on a web page.
Return to Keyboard

Up Arrow
Navigate in a document to the line above. Hold the Ctrl key down as you press this key to move to the beginning of the second line above.
Return to Keyboard

Right Arrow
Navigate in a document one character to the right. Hold the Ctrl key down as you press this key to move one word to the right.
Return to Keyboard

Down Arrow
Navigate in a document to the line below. Hold the Ctrl key down as you press this key to move to the beginning of the second line below.
Return to Keyboard

Left Arrow
Navigate in a document one character to the left. Hold the Ctrl key down as you press this key to move one word to the left.
Return to Keyboard

Keypad Keys
Num Lock
If you want to use the numeric keypad on the right end of the keyboard to display numbers, the Num Lock key must be selected (usually a light above the Num Lock will indicate that it is on). If you want to use the keypad to navigate within a document, turn off Num Lock by pressing the key (the light will go off).
Return to Keyboard

* (Asterisk)
In Windows Explorer this expands everything under the current selection. Caution: do not try this with the C Drive icon selected.
Return to Keyboard

- (Minus Sign)
In Windows Explorer this collapses the current selection.
Return to Keyboard

+ (Plus Sign)
In Windows Explorer this expands the current selection.

useful info..