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QWERTY “The name "QWERTY" for our computer keyboard comes from the first six letters in the top alphabet row (the one just below the numbers). It is also referred to as the "Universal" keyboard. It was the work of inventor C. L. Sholes, who put together the prototypes of the first commercial typewriter in a Milwaukee machine shop back in the 1860's."

Esc Equivalent to clicking the Cancel button. In PowerPoint the Esc key will stop a running slide show. On a web page with animations, the Esc key will stop the animations. On a web page that is loading, the Esc key will stop the page from loading. The keyboard combination Ctrl + Esc will open the Start Menu.

F1 While working in an application, depressing this key will bring up the applications help menu. If there is no open application F1 will open Windows Help.

F2 Choose this key to rename a selected item or object.

F3 Depressing this key will display the Find: All Files dialog box.

F4 Selects the Go To A Different Folder box and moves down the entries in the box (if the toolbar is active in Windows Explorer) .

F5 Refreshes the current window. In Internet Explorer, F5 will Refresh the web page.

F6 Moves among panes in Windows Explorer.

F10 Activates menu bar options. Use right and left arrows to select menus and down arrows to display pull down menus.

F11 In Internet Explorer this key will allow you to toggle between full screen viewing mode and normal viewing mode.

F12

Print Screen/SysRq Usually located at the upper right hand corner of your keyboard next to the Scroll Lock and Pause/Break keys. Often abbreviated PrtScr, the Print Screen key is a useful key supported on most PCs. In DOS, pressing the Print Screen key causes the computer to send whatever images and text are currently on the display screen to the printer. Some graphics programs and Windows, use the Print Screen key to obtain Screen Captures.

Tab This key can be used to move forward through options in a dialog box.

Ctrl + Shift + Tab can be used to move backward through the options.

Ctrl + Tab allows movement from one open window to the next in an application with more than one open window.

Alt + Tab displays a list of open application windows. Keeping Alt depressed and selecting Tab cycles through the list. Releasing selects the highlighted application window.

Caps Lock Locks the keyboard in "Capitals" mode (only applies to Alpha keys). The Caps Lock key should be used with caution. Using ALL CAPS is a usability no-no as many have difficulty scanning text that is ALL CAPS. Also, when sending email in all caps, this could be misconstrued as shouting at someone.

Shift The obvious use of this key is to allow selection of capital letters when depressing the alphabet characters, or selecting the characters above other non-alpha keys.

Depressing the Shift key while inserting a CD-ROM will bypass auto play.

Shift + Delete to permanently delete a selected item, bypasses the Recycle Bin.

Space Bar Insert a space between words. It is suggested that you utilize Tabs (or other formatting commands) to put distance between elements. Using the space bar to insert visual space works but would not be considered a best practice in page design. Double spaces between sentences are no longer required. This is a carryover from the days of fixed width fonts on a typewriter such as Courier, Orator, Prestige Elite, etc.

Pressing the Space Bar while viewing a web page in Internet Explorer will scroll the page downwards. Shift + Space Bar will scroll the page upwards.

Enter Creates a new Paragraph or what is referred to as a Hard Return. In any dialog box a selected button or command can be selected by depressing this key. Selected buttons can be recognized by their darker (dotted) borders, or what is referred to as Focus.

Shift + Enter Creates a new Line Break or what is referred to as a Soft Return.

Shift + Arrow Shift + Arrow Up, Down, Left or Right. Position your cursorat the beginning of the area you wish to highlight for copying. Now use the up, down, left or right arrow keys to select areas of content to be highlighted, copied, pasted, etc.

Backspace While working with text, use this key to delete characters to the left of the insertion point.

Insert

Home Depress and hold the Ctrl key as you select Home to go to the first line of a document.

Page Up In a browser window use the Page Up key to move up one full screen on a web page.

Delete While working with text, use this key to delete characters to the right of the insertion point. This key can also be used to delete selected files. If you use the keyboard combination Shift + Delete the item is permanently deleted, bypassing the Recycle Bin.

End Depress and hold the Ctrl key as you select End to go to the last line of a document.

Page Down In a browser window use the Page Down key to move down one full screen on a web page.

Up Arrow Navigate in a document to the line above. Hold the Ctrl key down as you press this key to move to the beginning of the second line above.

Right Arrow Navigate in a document one character to the right. Hold the Ctrl key down as you press this key to move one word to the right.

Down Arrow Navigate in a document to the line below. Hold the Ctrl key down as you press this key to move to the beginning of the second line below.

Left Arrow Navigate in a document one character to the left. Hold the Ctrl key down as you press this key to move one word to the left.

Keypad Keys

Num Lock If you want to use the numeric keypad on the right end of the keyboard to display numbers, the Num Lock key must be selected (usually a light above the Num Lock will indicate that it is on). If you want to use the keypad to navigate within a document, turn off Num Lock by pressing the key (the light will go off).

* (Asterisk) In Windows Explorer this expands everything under the current selection. Caution: do not try this with the C Drive icon selected.

- (Minus Sign) In Windows Explorer this collapses the current selection.

+ (Plus Sign) In Windows Explorer this expands the current selection.

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