Below is a listing of the more commonly used shortcut keys in Microsoft Word.See the computer shortcuts page if you are looking for a list of shortcut keys used in other programs. Sep 29, 2016 - MS Word has a built-in feature for creating shortcuts as well as editing the existing ones. The keyboard shortcut can be recorded in one of two.
In Microsoft Word 2016, you can change the keyboard shortcuts. A keyboard shortcut is a combination of keys that you press to give a command. For example, pressing Ctrl+P opens the Print window; pressing Ctrl+S gives the Save command. If you don’t like a keyboard shortcut in Word, you can change it and invent a keyboard shortcut of your own.
You can also assign keyboard shortcuts to symbols, macros, fonts, building blocks, and styles.
Follow these steps to choose keyboard shortcuts of your own in Microsoft Word:
On the File tab, choose Options.
You see the Word Options dialog box.
Go to the Customize Ribbon category.
Click the Customize button (you can find it at the bottom of the dialog box next to the words “Keyboard Shortcuts”).
You see the Customize Keyboard dialog box, as shown here.
In the Categories list, choose the category with the command to which you want to assign the keyboard shortcut.
At the bottom of the list are the Macros, Fonts, Building Blocks, Styles, and Common Symbols categories.
Choose the command name, macro, font, building block, style, or symbol name in the Commands list.
In the Press New Shortcut Key box, type the keyboard shortcut.
Press the actual keys. For example, if the shortcut is Ctrl+8, press the Ctrl key and the 8 key — don’t type out C-t-r-l- +8.
If you try to assign a shortcut that has already been assigned, the words “Currently assigned to” and a command name appear below the Current Keys box. You can override the preassigned keyboard assignment by entering a keyboard assignment of your own.
If you want the keyboard shortcut changes you make to apply to the document you’re working on, not to all documents created with the template you’re working with, open the Save Changes In drop-down list and choose your document’s name.
Click the Assign button.
When you finish assigning keyboard shortcuts, close the Customize Keyboard dialog box.
To delete a keyboard shortcut, display it in the Current Keys box, select it, and click the Remove button.
You can always get the old keyboard shortcuts back by clicking the Reset All button in the Customize Keyboard dialog box.
Symbols and special characters are part of both formal and informal work when creating documents with Microsoft Word. Fortunately, Windows users have many ways to insert symbols on documents. Alt codes are one of the easiest ways but have restriction that you need a numeric keypad which is not part of most of the modern laptops. Even though you can use Character Map, it is difficult to navigate every time. Therefore, the easy way is to create custom shortcuts for symbols to use quickly when required.
Related:Assign keyboard shortcuts for applications in Windows 10.
Follow the below instructions to create custom shortcuts for symbol in Microsoft Word:
Open a new or an existing document in Word. Navigate to ‘Insert > Symbol’ menu and click on the ‘More Symbols…’.
Insert Symbols in Word
Selecting Symbol
You will see the ‘Symbol’ popup like below:
First, select the ‘Font’ as Windings, Windings 2, or Windings 3.
Select the symbol you like to use frequently on your document. Let us say, you want to insert ‘windows’ symbol. Scroll down in the list and select ‘windows’ symbol.
As you can see, there is no ‘Shortcut key:’ assigned to this symbol. Click on the ‘Shortcut Key…’ button.
Customize Shortcut
You will see the ‘Customize Keyboard’ dialog box.
Create Custom Keyboard Shortcut
Click on the text box under ‘Press new shortcut key’.
Enter any combination of keys. For example, enter ‘Control + Shift + Q’.
Assigning the Shortcut
You can assign the shortcut either to all new Word documents or only to the current document. In the ‘Save changes in:’ dropdown choose ‘Normal’ for assigning the shortcut to all new Word documents. Normal is the template used for new document, so all new documents will have the shortcut valid.
On the other hand, choose the current document name from the dropdown to assign the shortcut only to the current document. Let us select ‘Normal’ option and click on ‘Assign’ button to assign the entered shortcut to the selected symbol.
Close all the open dialog boxes.
Testing the Shortcut
Press ‘Control + N’ to open new Word document.
Enter ‘Control + Shift + Q’ keys to insert Windows symbol.