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Are You A Keyboard Ninja? Tips And Tricks To Type Faster

There is nothing wrong with using your mouse, but how crazy this sounds when you are living on the digital edge. Yes, the choice will be yours, nevertheless, given you know what you’re doing, the keyboard is undeniably a better choice to be more productive and get things done quicker. And it gets consistently amazeballs with keyboard shortcuts and knowing how to type faster. How? Let’s get this straight through an example that probably everyone will understand:

Task: To copy and paste

With mouse: Selecting the text, right-clicking, picking up the option from the menu, and doing the same procedure again for pasting

With keyboard shortcuts: Selecting the text, Ctrl C and Ctrl V….. that’s it, it’s as easy as ABC!

It’s time to fish or cut bait. But, if you are convinced you're about to earn a lot of free time back. Let’s rope in this journey of learning the keyboard shortcuts and tips to type faster.

Quick note: If you are a Mac user, use the Command key as a substitute for the Control key

Learn, unlearn and relearn

It’s high time to leave behind all your bad typing habits and relearn the correct finger placement on the keyboard. Many type with 2 fingers hovering over the entire keyboard and others (mostly the gamers) have a special affection for WASD keys. Yes, old habits die hard and it is probably the hardest thing to practice but can save you hours in your entire course of life.

Trick: Notice raised bumps on your F and J keys (they are not manufacturing defects or fancy stuff) - this is where you should put your index fingers so that the rest of the fingers will fall into place automatically.

Tip: You can look for apps like Keybr, TypingClub, or typing.com for learning to type faster and keyboard shortcuts

Next up: Something for seasoned typists

This skill is not just for writers or typists, anyone who deals with the keyboard on a daily basis can make it a target to learn touch type. Have you drooled over people typing without looking at the keyboard with cent percent accuracy? These are not born typists! It takes days and weeks of practice to get there. In fact, this can be of great help for programmers, coders, research writers, or students struggling with the train of assignments. What about learning the skill of touch-typing in this lockdown? Give it a thought!

Trick: Start practicing typing sentences with a slight sneak peek into the keyboard and try to remember the position of each letter while you type. Gradually, you will master touch-typing!

Tip: Learning to type faster is no duck soup. Your original, not-so-seasoned style will tempt you to get back to your style but do not revert, even if it slows you down.

Keyboard shortcuts: Navitagating texts and browser the smarter way

You know how to cut and paste, but do you know how to open the most recently closed tab or how to go back one page in your browsing history? It is surprising how most people do not make use of the default options that their system gives.

If you want to learn to type faster and make your work more intriguing, here are some keyboard shortcuts that can get more work done in less time.

Navigating text with the keyboard
Ctrl + F	Find words
Shift + Left arrow/Right arrow	Selects the next letter
Ctrl + Shift + Left arrow/Right arrow	Selects next word
Ctrl + Left arrow/Right arrow	Navigate text cursor to next word without selecting
Ctrl + Home/End	Jump to the beginning/end of the document
Shift + End	Select the whole line
Home	Go to the beginning of the line
Page Up	Scroll up
Page Down	Scroll down
Ctrl + Up arrow	Jump up a paragraph
Ctrl + H	Replace words/phrases
Ctrl + Backspace	Delete the previous word
Ctrl + O	Open
Shift + F3	Find previous
Home - Shift + End - Backspace	Deletes the whole line

Navigating your browser
Ctrl + T	Opens a new tab
Ctrl + R	Reloads the page
Space bar	Scrolls down the page
Ctrl + W	Close the current tab
Ctrl + Page Up/Page Down	Cycle through open tabs
Ctrl + 9	Opens the last tab on the right side
Ctrl + 1	Opens the first tab
Ctrl + L	Move the cursor to the URL bar
Alt + Shift + Tab	Switch to the previously opened window
Alt + Tab	Switch to next opened window
Alt + F4	Close current window
Ctrl + N	Open the new web browser window
Ctrl + Shift + T	Open the previously closed tab
Ctrl + D	Bookmarks a page
Ctrl + K	Move the cursor to the search box

With this, you must have realized it’s no surprise why we are given so many keyboard shortcuts! So, why spend time using a mouse to navigate?

All told, with time you will be comfortable with finger placement as well as remembering the position of keys and keyboard shortcuts. Besides learning how to type faster this lockdown, you can also look for:

Shivangi Vatsal

Sr. Associate Content Strategist @Unstop

I am a storyteller by nature. At Unstop, I tell stories ripe with promise and inspiration, and in life, I voice out the stories of our four-legged furry friends. Providing a prospect of a good life filled with equal opportunities to students and our pawsome buddies helps me sleep better at night. And for those rainy evenings, I turn to my colors.