Keyboard Shortcuts in Word 2007

A keyboard shortcut is a combination of two or three keystrokes that allows you to activate a command much quicker than you could by clicking with a mouse. Word 2007 preserves the keyboard shortcuts from older versions of Word, such as Ctrl+S to save and Ctrl+B to bold text. This guide lists the keyboard shortcuts associated with any command it covers, but Word 2007 has literally hundreds more esoteric keyboard shortcuts that this guide does not cover. (For a list of all of the keyboard shortcuts in Word 2007, see the Quamut guide to Word 2007 Keyboard Shortcuts.)

You can create new shortcuts or modify existing shortcuts:

In addition to keyboard shortcuts, Word 2007 provides a way for you to use the program without touching a mouse at all. To use this feature, press the Alt key. Little letters and numbers will appear next to the various commands on the screen. Hit the appropriate key (or keys) to use the command. For instance, to get to the Ribbon’s Home tab, you’d type Alt+H. Once there, a new set of letters and numbers appear that mark the Home tab commands. Press those keys to enact those commands. Hit the Alt key again to make the shortcut numbers and letters disappear.

Traditional keyboard shortcuts and Alt-key commands may sometimes overlap. For instance, you can save a file using Ctrl+S or Alt+F, S.