If you’re tired of constantly shifting between your keyboard and your mouse/trackpad to navigate around Microsoft Word, learning a few keyboard shortcuts might make things a bit easier. Keyboard shortcuts for Mac and Windows computers can help you work more efficiently and increase your typing speed—an essential skill when working with large documents that contain a lot of text. Keep reading to learn the top 40 keyboard shortcuts to improve your Microsoft Word productivity.
Jump to:
- Navigation keyboard shortcuts
- Editing keyboard shortcuts
- Character formatting keyboard shortcuts
- Paragraph formatting keyboard shortcuts
- Special character keyboard shortcuts
Navigation keyboard shortcuts
Navigation shortcuts help you move around the Windows application. They have less to do with the contents of the document you’re working on and more to do with the file and window more broadly.
# | Command | macOS Shortcut | Windows Shortcut |
1 | Save document | Command+S | Control+S |
2 | Save document as | Command+Shift+S | F12 |
3 | Create new document | Command+N | Control+N |
4 | Find in document | Command+F | Control+F |
5 | Find and replace | Control+H | Control+H |
6 | Select all | Command+A | Control+A |
7 | Undo | Command+Z | Control+Z |
8 | Redo | Command+Y | Control+Y |
9 | Move cursor to beginning of current line | Command+left arrow | Control+left arrow |
10 | Move cursor to end of current line | Command+right arrow | Control+right arrow |
11 | Move cursor to beginning of previous page | Command+up arrow | Control+page up |
12 | Move cursor to beginning of next page | Command+down arrow | Control+page down |
Editing keyboard shortcuts
Editing shortcuts help you move highlighted text, images, and other elements around without needing to retype or upload them again. They can also help make sure the formatting for your document is consistent.
# | Command | macOS Shortcut | Windows Shortcut |
13 | Copy | Command+C | Control+C |
14 | Cut | Command+X | Control+X |
15 | Paste | Command+V | Control+V |
16 | Paste and match formatting of surrounding text | Command+Option+Shift+V | Control+Option+Shift+V |
17 | Copy formatting | Command+Shift+C | Control+Shift+C |
18 | Paste formatting | Command+Shift+V | Control+Shift+V |
Character formatting keyboard shortcuts
Character formatting shortcuts help you change individual characters, sentences, etc. to create emphasis or visual interest. It’s worth noting that only the characters you highlight will be formatted with these shortcuts; otherwise, using a shortcut will format all of the characters you type moving forward.
# | Command | macOS Shortcut | Windows Shortcut |
19 | Apply strikethrough formatting | Command+Shift+X | Control+5 |
20 | Apply bold formatting | Command+B | Control+B |
21 | Apply italic formatting | Command+I | Control+I |
22 | Apply underline formatting | Command+U | Control+U |
23 | Change font | Command+Shift+F | Control+Shift+F |
24 | Increase font size by 1 point | Command+right bracket (]) | Control+right bracket (]) |
25 | Decrease font size by 1 point | Command+left bracket ([) | Control+left bracket ([) |
26 | Switch between uppercase, lowercase, and sentence case formatting | Shift+F3 | Shift+F3 |
27 | Apply small caps formatting | Command+Shift+K | Control+Shift+K |
Paragraph formatting keyboard shortcuts
Paragraph formatting shortcuts control a paragraph’s alignment, text style, and other formatting qualities. Unlike character formatting shortcuts, you don’t need to select any text. Instead, the paragraph where your cursor is will automatically adjust when you use one of these shortcuts.
# | Command | macOS Shortcut | Windows Shortcut |
28 | Center paragraph | Command+E | Control+E |
29 | Justify paragraph | Command+J | Control+J |
30 | Align paragraph left | Command+L | Control+L |
31 | Align paragraph right | Command+R | Control+R |
32 | Create hanging indent | Command+T | Control+T |
33 | Apply Normal text style | Command+Option+N | Control+Shift+N |
34 | Apply Heading 1 text style | Command+Option+1 | Control+Shift+1 |
35 | Apply Heading 2 text style | Command+Option+2 | Control+Shift+2 |
36 | Apply Heading 3 text style | Command+Option+3 | Control+Shift+3 |
Special character keyboard shortcuts
Sometimes, the text you’re typing may require a special character that’s not easy to type with regular keyboard keys. Instead, keyboard shortcuts allow you to add these special characters without needing to copy and paste them or use a placeholder.
# | Command | macOS Shortcut | Windows Shortcut |
37 | Copyright symbol: © | Option+G | Control+Alt+C |
38 | Trademark symbol: ™ | Option+2 | Control+Alt+T |
39 | Registered symbol: ® | Option+R | Control+Alt+R |
40 | Ellipsis: … | Option+semicolon (;) | Control+Alt+Period (.) |
Read next: Top Home Office Upgrades to Improve Productivity
This article was updated July 2021 by Kaiti Norton.