Recently I had a conversation with a hospital administrator about how long it took to conduct a clinic appointment where the provider was required to use the computer network to retrieve/enter patient data. This conversation was followed soon after by an appointment at one of the hospital’s clinics where the provider used the network quite alot to satisfy the requirements of my appointment. It didn’t take long to learn why these appointments are taking longer than necessary, this woman could not type to save her life! Hard to believe, I know! It took FOREVERRRR!
That any educated person employed in 2009 would have absolutely no keyboarding skills is an absolute amazement to me. At this point in history, keyboarding skills seems to me as a necessary life skill…right up there with balancing a checkbook and buying life insurance. That’s not too much to ask, is it?
Sigh…in the absence of unlimited time, there are keyboard shortcuts we can employ to make our digi-time more effiecient so we can turn our attention to more important things like Belgian Dark Chocolate. Here is my quicklist of keyboard shortcuts that you can easily integrate into your workflow. Once you find these are becoming comfortable and automatic, look for more keyboard shortcuts for the programs you use most often and continue to build on what you know. Never stop learning.
Keyboard Shortcut #1 is Learn How to Type! Seriously, if you want to speed up your workflow, learn where the keys are and which finger should press which keys. It works, I promise.
And the rest:
- Bold CTRL+B
- Copy CTRL+C
- Find and replace CTRL+F
- Italicize CTRL+I
- Open CTRL+O
- Paste CTRL+V
- Print CTRL+P
- Save CTRL+S
- Select all CTRL+A
- Undo CTRL+Z
*if you use an Apple computer, simply replace the CTRL with CMD (the apple key).
Some of you are asking, “What does CTRL+V mean?” A shortcut is a keyboard operation wherein two or more keys are pressed simultaneously, or at the same time, to invoke a specific action. In this case, you would press both the Control key AND the ‘V’ key at the same time in order to paste something from your virtual clipboard.
Practical application: The Promotion list just published (finally!) and you want to know asap if your hubby’s name is there, but the document is 437 pages long! Quick! Type Ctrl+F and type his name in the search box that appears. Voila & Congrats! Now go shopping, you’re getting a raise.
* Ctrl+A, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+P = Select All, Copy, Paste & Print.
