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Issue #11 September 2005

KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS: FASTER THAN THE SPEED OF MOUSE

by Rosanna Yuen

Keyboard bindings: why use them? GNOME desktop Firefox Evolution OpenOffice.org About the author

Keyboard bindings: why use them?

My computer set-up is suboptimal. My desk is too high for me to type on comfortably. My workaround? I type with my keyboard on my lap. That puts the keyboard at just the right height and is kinder to my wrists. My mouse, however, has to sit on my desk. Using my mouse involves moving my hand a foot in each direction. While this action might conceivably bulk up my arm muscles, I would rather not do my arm exercises while at my computer. Using the mouse is time consuming, distracting, and, most importantly, less ergonomic. While your computer may be better situated than mine, chances are you, too, would work faster if you did not have to use your mouse. To minimize my mouse use, I learned many of the keyboard bindings for various applications. Many applications use similar bindings, making them even easier to remember. I have compiled a list of keyboard bindings here for some of the more prevalent applications. Feel free to print them out and keep them next to your computer. It may take you a little time to remember them, but once you do, you will wonder how you ever did without.

GNOME desktop
The GNOME desktop has a set of keyboard bindings that work the same way for most of their programs. The GNOME project requires that everything done with a mouse should be possible with just the keyboard. The most useful GNOME keyboard bindings are shown in Table 1, GNOME keyboard bindings (#tb-gnome).

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Tip: Some keyboard shortcuts can be changed. To see a list of possible actions that can be bound to a shortcut, select Desktop -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts.

Tip: If you are a frequent user of shell and Emacs key bindings, you can set your desktop to respond to the same keys by entering this in your terminal:
gconftool-2 -s -t string /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_key_theme "Emacs"

To restore to the default, enter:

gconftool-2 -s -t string /desktop/gnome/interface/gtk_key_theme "default"

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Alt-Space

Brings up the window menu.

Click on the window icon in the menubar. Select Help -> Contents. No mouse equivalent.

F1

Starts the help browser for the current application. Moves focus to pane. If more than one pane is available in the application, cycles between them. Moves focus to pane separator. If more than one pane separator is available in the application, moves between them. Once selected, the pane selector can be moved by using the arrow keys, the Page Up and Page Down keys, and the Home and End keys. Gives focus to and opens the menubar. If available, opens the context menu for the part in focus. In the file chooser, opens the context menu for

F6

F8

Click and drag the pane separators.

F10

Click on the the menubar. Right click on the desired widget. Right click on a

Shift-F10 Ctrl-F10

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

the general area.

blank space in the file pane. Select View -> Fullscreen. Right click on highlighted text and select Cut. Right click on highlighted text and select Copy. Right click on highlighted text and select Paste. Select View -> Zoom in. Select View -> Zoom out. Some widgets can be selected with a mouse click. Others cannot. Some widgets can be selected with a mouse click. Others cannot. Some widgets can be selected with a mouse click. Others cannot. Ctrl-left click on the item. No mouse equivalent.

F11

Toggles full screen mode.

Ctrl-X

Cut highlighted text.

Ctrl-C

Copy highlighted text.

Ctrl-V

Paste cut or copied text.

Ctrl-+

Zoom in.

Ctrl--

Zoom out.

Tab

Moves to next widget in window.

Shift-Tab

Moves to previous widget in window.

Ctrl-Tab

Moves to next widget in window even when a normal Tab does not work. For example, in a text entry box, Tab adds a tab space.

Ctrl-Space Ctrl-Arrow Key

Select item in addition to previous selections.

Move focus without affecting selection.

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-L Ctrl-Page Up Ctrl-Page Down PrtScn

Moves focus to the location bar. Move to the tab on the left of current one. Move to the tab on the right of current one.

Click in the location bar. Select the tab. Select the tab. No mouse equivalent. No mouse equivalent. No mouse equivalent. Click the Hide all button located in the panel.

Takes a screenshot of the desktop.

Alt-PrtScn

Takes a screenshot of the window in focus. Toggles focus between the desktop and individual panels..

Ctrl-Alt-Tab

Ctrl-Alt-D

Hide all applications to show the desktop.

Table 1. GNOME keyboard bindings

Firefox
Although not technically part of the GNOME project, Firefox uses many of the keyboard bindings shown in Table 1, GNOME keyboard bindings (#tb-gnome). Supplemental bindings are shown in Table 2, Firefox keyboard bindings (#tb-firefox).

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-N

Creates a new Firefox window. Creates a new tab in the current Firefox window. Go to previous page in your browsing history. Go to the next page in your browsing history. Go to the home page.

Select File -> New Window. Select File -> New Tab. Click Left Arrow in the toolbar. Click Right Arrow in the toolbar. Click on Home in the toolbar.

Ctrl-T Alt-Left Arrow Alt-Right Arrow Alt-Home

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-R

Reload page. Allows you to choose an existing file to show in the current Firefox window. Close current tab. If only one tab is open in the window, closes the window. Closes the current window. If only one window is open, Firefox exits. Prompts you for a file name under which to save the current page. Prints the current page. Search in current page. Repeat the same search. View the source HTML for the current page. Opens the History pane. Adds current page into your bookmarks.

Click on Reload in the toolbar. Select File -> Open File.

Ctrl-O

Ctrl-W

Select File -> Close Tab. Select File -> Close Window. Select File -> Save Page As. Select File -> Print. Select Edit -> Find in This Page. Select Edit -> Find Again Select View -> Page Source. Select Go -> History. Select Bookmarks -> Bookmark This Page.

Ctrl-Shift-W

Ctrl-S Ctrl-P Ctrl-F Ctrl-G Ctrl-U Ctrl-H Ctrl-D

Table 2. Firefox keyboard bindings

Evolution
Because Evolution is a suite of applications, each component has its own set of keyboard bindings. Table 3, General Evolution keyboard bindings (#tb-evo) shows the generic Evolution bindings while Table 4, Evolution keyboard bindings in the mail view (#tb-evomail), Table 5, Evolution keyboard bindings in the mail composition window (#tb-evocomp), and Table 6, Evolution keyboard bindings in the calendar window (#tb-evocalendar) show the keyboard bindings for the mail component, the mail composition window, and the calendar component respectively.

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-N

Creates a new email, contact, task, or appointment, depending on which

Click on New.

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

view you are in. Creates a new email independent of your current view. Creates a new contact independent of your current view. Creates a new appointment independent of your current view. Creates a new task independent of your current view. Print Close current window. Quit Evolution. Send any outgoing mail and get any incoming mail. Change to mail view. Click on the down arrow next to New and select Mail Message. Click on the down arrow next to New and select Contact. Click on the down arrow next to New and select Appointment. Click on the down arrow next to New and select Task. Click Print. Select File -> Close. Select File -> Quit. Click on Send/Receive. Select View -> Window -> Mail. Select View -> Window -> Contacts. Select View -> Window -> Calendars. Select View -> Window -> Tasks.

Ctrl-Shift-M

Ctrl-Shift-C

Ctrl-Shift-A

Ctrl-Shift-T Ctrl-P Ctrl-W Ctrl-Q F9

Ctrl-F1

Ctrl-F2

Change to contacts view.

Ctrl-F3

Change to calendars view.

Ctrl-F4

Change to tasks view.

Table 3. General Evolution keyboard bindings

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-Y

Apply filters to selected messages.

Select Actions -> Apply Filters.

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-O

Open selected message in new window. Reply to sender for the selected message. Reply to all for the selected message. Forward selected message. When the message list has focus, goes to next unread message. When the message list has focus, goes to previous unread message. Marks selected messages as read.

Double click on selected message.

Ctrl-R

Click on Reply.

Ctrl-Shift-R Ctrl-F

Click on Reply to All. Click on Forward.

] or .

Click on the message.

[ or ,

Click on the message.

Ctrl-K

Click on the envelope icon on the left of the message line to toggle read status. Click on the envelope icon on the left of the message line to toggle read status. Select Actions -> Expunge.

Ctrl-Shift-K

Marks selected messages as unread. Expunge deleted messages.

Ctrl-E

Table 4. Evolution keyboard bindings in the mail view

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-Return Ctrl-S Ctrl-Shift-L Ctrl-Alt-A Ctrl-Z

Send message. Save as a file. Spell check the email. Add attachment to email. Undo last edit.

Click on Send. Select File -> Save. Select Edit -> Spell Check Document. Click Attach. Click Undo.

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-R

Redo edit that had been undone.

Click Redo.

Table 5. Evolution keyboard bindings in the mail composition window

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-Shift-E Ctrl-Shift-P Ctrl-Alt-T Ctrl-Alt-G Ctrl-D Ctrl-E

Create a new meeting. Create a new all-day appointment. Go to today's calendar page. Go to a selected date on the calendar page. Delete selected appointment. Purge all appointments from calendar before set date.

Select File -> New -> Meeting. Select File -> New -> All Day Appointment. Click Today. Click Go To. Select Edit -> Delete. Select Actions -> Purge.

Table 6. Evolution keyboard bindings in the calendar window

OpenOffice.org
Like Evolution, OpenOffice.org is a suite of different applications. Their shared keyboard bindings are shown in Table 7, General OpenOffice.org keyboard bindings (#tb-ooo) while Table 8, OpenOffice.org writer keyboard bindings (#tb-ooow) and Table 9, OpenOffice.org Calc keyboard bindings (#tb-oooc) show individual keyboard bindings for OpenOffice.org Writer and OpenOffice.org Calc respectively. These tables show some of the more important keyboard bindings. OpenOffice.org actually has many more. You can find a list of them in the help section for each application, which, if you check Table 1, GNOME keyboard bindings (#tb-gnome), can be started by pressing F1.

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-O Ctrl-S Ctrl-N

Open a document Save the current document. Create a new document.

Select File -> Open. Select File -> Save. Select File -> New.

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Ctrl-Shift-N Ctrl-P Ctrl-F4 Ctrl-Q Ctrl-Z Ctrl-Y Ctrl-A Ctrl-F Ctrl-Shift-F Ctrl-Shift-J Ctrl-B Ctrl-I Ctrl-U

Open the Templates and Documents window. Print current document. Close current window. Quit OpenOffice.org. Undo last edit. Redo edit that has been undone. Select all. Search in the current document. Searches again with the same string. Toggles full screen mode. Marks selected text as bold. Marks selected text as italic. Marks selected text as underlined.

No mouse equivalent. Select File -> Print. Select File -> Close. Select File -> Quit. Select Edit -> Undo. Select Edit -> Redo. Select Edit -> Select All. Select Edit -> Find & Replace. In the Find & Replace window, click on Find. Select View -> Full Screen. Click B in the toolbar. Click I in the toolbar. Click U in the toolbar.

Table 7. General OpenOffice.org keyboard bindings

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

F2 F4 F5 F7 Ctrl-F7

Show the formula bar. Toggle data sources pane. Toggle navigator window. Spell check document. Use the thesaurus for current

Select Table -> Formula. Select View -> Data Sources. Select Edit -> Navigator. Select Tools -> Spellcheck. Select Tools -> Language ->

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

word. F11 Toggles the Style and Formatting window. Start numbered list mode.

Thesaurus. Select Format -> Styles and Formatting. Click the numbered list icon in the toolbar. Click the bullet list icon in the toolbar. No mouse equivalent. Select Format -> Alignment -> Justified. Select Format -> Alignment -> Centered. Select Format -> Alignment -> Left. Select Format -> Alignment -> Right. Select Insert -> Manual Break. Click on beginning of line.

F12

Shift-F12

Start bullet list mode. Marks selected text with a double underline. Justify selected paragraph.

Ctrl-D

Ctrl-J

Ctrl-E

Center selected paragraph. Align selected paragraph to the left. Align selected paragraph to the right. Create a page break. Move cursor to the beginning of line. Move cursor to the beginning of document. Move cursor to the end of the line. Move cursor to the end of the document.

Ctrl-L

Ctrl-R Ctrl-Enter Home

Ctrl-Home End Ctrl-End

Scroll to beginning of document. Click on the end of the line. Click on the end of the document.

Table 8. OpenOffice.org writer keyboard bindings

Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

F2

Edit the current cell.

Click in the input

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

line. Ctrl-F2 Open the Function Wizard. Select Insert -> Function. Select Edit -> Navigator. Select Tools -> Spellcheck. Select Tools -> Cell Contents -> Recalculate. Select Format -> Styles and Formatting. Select Data -> Outline -> Group. Select Data -> Outline -> Ungroup. Select Format -> Row -> Height and edit manually. Select Format -> Row -> Height and edit manually. Select Format -> Column -> Height and edit manually. Select Format -> Column -> Height and edit manually. No mouse equivalent.

F5

Toggles the Navigator window.

F7

Checks spelling in current sheet.

F9

Recalculate all the formulas on current sheet.

F11

Opens the Styles and Formatting window. Group selected rows or columns together. Removes grouping from selected rows or columns.

F12

Ctrl-F12

Alt-Down Arrow

Increase the height of the current row.

Alt-Up Arrow

Decrease the height of the current row.

Alt-Right Arrow

Increases the width of the current column.

Alt-Left Arrow

Decreases the width of the current column. Set the row height to exact height of selected entry.

Alt-Shift-Down Arrow or Alt-Shift-Up Arrow

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Keyboard binding

What it does

Mouse equivalent

Alt-Shift-Right Arrow or Alt-Shift-Left Arrow Home

Set the column width to exact width of selected entry. Move cursor to the first cell in the current row. Move cursor to the cell in the current row. The last cell is defined as the one in the last column with data. Move cursor to cell A1 in the current sheet. Move cursor to last cell in the spreadsheet.

No mouse equivalent. Click on the appropriate cell.

End

Click on the appropriate cell.

Ctrl-Home

Scroll to the top and click on cell A1. Scroll to the end of the sheet and click on cell. Click on the appropriate sheet tab. Click on the appropriate sheet tab.

Ctrl-End

Ctrl-Page Up

Show the sheet to the left.

Ctrl-Page Down

Show the sheet to the right.

Table 9. OpenOffice.org Calc keyboard bindings

About the author

Rosanna Yuen is an avid computer user who often finds herself surrounded by computer programmers. She co-wrote AisleRiot and is a dabbler in the GNOME project. In her spare time, she reads, knits, and experiments in her kitchen.

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