OFFICE – Highlighting Made Easy
[NOVICE] Have you ever seen people work in various Microsoft Office programs that appear to use the keyboard or mouse magically? With a few clicks they highlight, move text around or apply formatting without even using the tool bar. Well, it’s not magic, but knowing what keyboard or mouse shortcuts to use – and how to use them – can save you loads of time!
Quick Highlighting
You may be aware that certain movements or clicks with your mouse within a document can result in an easy way to select text. For example, you may want to highlight a word or a whole sentence, but when you use your mouse to select a particular section, the results are not always what you intended.
Instead of spending more time than you want moving your mouse to each and every change in your text, here are some ways to save yourself a lot of time. Simply use double clicks, the Control key and the Shift key. You’ll use these keys to quickly highlight: 1) a word, 2) a sentence, 3) a line of text, 4) a paragrah, or 5) a section of text — whether it is in a Word document, an Outlook email or a PowerPoint presentation slide.
To select:
- A Single Word – Double-click anywhere within the word.
- A Sentence – Place your cursor anywhere in the sentence, hold down the Ctrl key and click once.
A Line of Text – Move your mouse pointer to the left margin beside the text until it changes to an arrow and then click your mouse.- A Whole Paragraph of Text – Triple-click (rapidly) anywhere within the paragraph.
- A Whole Section of Text – Place your cursor at the start of the selection, hold the Shift key down and then click at the end of the text you would like to select.
The best way to learn these shortcuts is to practice a few times until it becomes second nature.
TIP: These shortcuts not only work in Microsoft products, but in other tools such as in blogging or email programs.