The top ribbon in Word documents is great when it comes to tools to edit and format the document. Everything is in sections and it’s not difficult to navigate your way through it as long as you know what you are looking for. This being said, it is nice to know a few keyboard shortcuts. This article takes you through Word document shortcut keys for mac.
The most common keyboard shortcuts for Word documents on Mac are Command + S to save the document, Command + C, and Command + V to copy and paste content after you have selected it. Selection can be done by keeping the Shift key pressed and moving the cursor around using the arrow keys.
Word document shortcut keys for mac
When it comes to commonly used functions like copying and pasting or formatting text you are working on keyboard shortcuts save so much time. You can perform most of these functions by using the home tab. But knowing and using shortcuts makes things so much easier.
This section takes you through all the common functions that can be performed using the keyboard.
Note: The ⌘ key in Mac is the same as the command or the cmd key
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Editing shortcuts for Mac
Here are some of the shortcuts that can be used while creating and editing documents.
| Create a new document | ⌘+N |
| Close a document | ⌘+W |
| Select everything in the document | ⌘+A |
| Open a document (from ones that are saved on the computer) | ⌘+O |
| Save a document | ⌘+S |
| Open the Save As dialog box | ⌘+Shift+S |
| Print a document | ⌘+P |
| Copy text to the clipboard | ⌘+C or F3 |
| Paste text from the clipboard | ⌘+V or F4 |
| Delete the selected selection and copy it to the clipboard | ⌘+X or F2 |
| Undo the last action | ⌘+Z or F1 |
| Redo the last action | ⌘+Y |
| Add a comment | ⌘+Option+A |
| Turn revision tracking on or off | ⌘+Shift+E |
| Run grammar and spell check | ⌘+Option+L or F7 |
Text Formatting shortcuts for Mac
Here are the text formatting shortcuts for Mac
| Bold | ⌘+B |
| Italic | ⌘+I |
| Underline | ⌘+U |
| Double Underline | ⌘+Shift+D |
| Underline words but not spaces | ⌘+Shift+W |
| Strikethrough | ⌘+Shift+X |
| All caps | ⌘+Shift+A |
| Superscript selected text | ⌘+Shift++ |
| Subscript selected text | ⌘+= |
| Increase font size | ⌘+Shift+> |
| Decrease font size | ⌘+Shift+< |
| Open the font dialogue box | ⌘+D |
| Insert Hyperlink | ⌘+K |
| Delete one character to the left | Delete |
| Delete one character to the right | Fn+Delete |
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Paragraph Formatting shortcuts for mac
Here are the shortcuts you can use while formatting a paragraph.
| Align text to the left | ⌘+L |
| Align text to the right | ⌘+R |
| Center align text | ⌘+E |
| Justify text | ⌘+J |
| Indent a paragraph | Ctrl+Shift+M |
| Remove indentation | ⌘+Shift+M |
| Single-line spacing | ⌘+1 |
| Double-line spacing | ⌘+2 |
| 1.5 line spacing | ⌘+5 |
| Open styles pannel | ⌘+Option+Shift+S |
Here are the shortcuts you can use to navigate around the document.
| move up one paragraph | ⌘+Up arrow |
| move down one paragraph | ⌘+Down arrow |
| Move the cursor one word to the right | Option+Right arrow |
| Move the cursor one word to the left | Option+Left arrow |
| Move to the top of the document | ⌘+Home or ⌘+Fn+Left arrow |
| Move to the bottom of the document | ⌘+End or ⌘+Fn+Right arrow |
| Open search box | ⌘+F |
| Find and Replace pane | Ctrl+H |
| Open Go to the dialogue box | ⌘+Option+G or F5 |
| Hide or display the navigation Ribbon | ⌘+Option+R |
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How to create a keyboard shortcut in Mac?
Did you know that you can create your own keyboard shortcuts on Mac? Here are the steps you can follow to customize your keyboard shortcuts.
- Open System preferences. You will find it in the dock or you can search it using the spotlight search (Command ⌘ + Space)
- Click on Keyboard to change your preferences.
- On the Keyboard menu go to shortcuts
- Click on App Shortcuts on the left
- Use the + to add shortcuts
- You will have a popup menu
- Choose the applications that you would like to use the shortcut for
- You will then need to add a title to the shortcut
- In the Keyboard shortcut section type in the combination
- Once you have entered all the details click on Add
- The shortcut entered will show up in the menu on the right under the App Shortcuts section.
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How to remove custom keyboard shortcuts in Mac?
Here is how you can remove a specific Keyboard shortcut you have added to Mac.
- Open system preferences from the dock. If you do not find it there search for it using the spotlight search.
- Click on Keyboard in the system preferences menu
- On the left, you will see a list. Click on and select App Shortcuts.
- Shortcuts added will show on the right
- Click on the one you need to delete
- Use the – at the bottom to remove selected shortcuts.
How to reset shortcuts in Mac?
There is an option where you can reset the keyboard shortcuts. When this is done all the changes and customizations you have made will be deleted. Here is how it’s done.
- Go to System Preferences
- Click on Keyboard
- Go to Shortcuts
- Click on the subsections on the left
- On the right, you will see Restore Defaults
- Click on it
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How do I use keyboard shortcuts in Word for Mac?
Keyboard shortcuts are easy to use once you get a hang of them. You don’t really need to memorize all the shortcuts, just the ones that you use often. These could include Cut + Copy + Paste as these are the most commonly used shortcuts. It is good to know the shortcut to save a document and to undo and redo a change.
You could also use the keyboard to navigate through the document using the arrow keys. Select using shift and arrow and delete text entered into the document. If you frequent other functions you can memorize them and use them instead of looking for them in the top ribbon.
To use a shortcut simply press the key combinations and the function should happen automatically.
Frequently asked questions
To dictate on a Mac system you will need to enable dictation from system preferences. Once that’s done you can use F5 to activate dictation.
Use the F1 Key on your keyboard to reduce brightness and the F2 key to increase brightness while working on a word document on Mac.
Conclusion
This article took you through Word document shortcut keys for mac. It also looked at creating and deleting customized keyboard shortcuts. Hope you found it helpful.
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My name is Carissa Gudino and I am an expert in word online, using Word Online in my day-to-day tasks. In this blog, I will share with you tips and tutorials on how to use word online to its fullest potential. I work for various clients in various countries like the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, etc. My tutorials are designed to help beginners, as well as more experienced users, learn new tricks and tips on Microsoft word online. Check out more.