Editing from the Keyboard with Windows

Editing text
Highlighting text
Working with files and folders
Do you know about these essential Windows tasks?

Editing Text

A basic, but important concept to understand when using a computer is cut, copy and paste. These actions will allow you to easily copy or move data between one application and another or copy and move files and directories from one location to another. Though the procedures in this tutorial are considered to be basic concepts, you would be surprised how many people do not fully understand these essential features. More importantly, once you understand these fundamentals, you'll find that they will apply across the board for most of your computer based applications.

We'll also cover some tasks such as finding specific text, undoing an edit command, creating folders, and renaming files and folders.
The editing actions, (cut, copy, paste, delete and undo), are located in the "Edit" menu within the menu bar of most computer based applications.

We can access the drop down list of these editt commands by typing Alt E.

In this tutorial, we will refer to the follwoing editing keyboard commands:

Edit Commands

Keystroke Function
Ctrl C. Copy
Ctrl X. Cut
Ctrl V. Paste
Ctrl F. Find
DEL. Delete
Ctrl DELete. Deletes current word.
Ctrl Z. Undo.
Alt E. Opens the Edit Menu.

Introducing the Windows clipboard.

Windows has a feature called the Windows Clipboard. This virtual clipboard gives Windows users the ability to store information in memory and than retrieve that information for later use. The cut, copy and paste functions rely on the clipboard in order to work. The process of placing data into the clipboard is known as copying or cutting. The process of retrieving the data from that clipboard and placing it into another location is called pasting. We will cover the specifics on these actions in more detail later in the tutorial. For now it is important to understand that the clipboard is used to contain the data that you want to paste into another location. If there is no information contained in the clipboard, then you will not be able to paste anything. Any data that is stored in the clipboard via a copy or cut command will stay there until it is overwritten by another copy or cut command. When you paste that data, the data is not removed from the clipboard, and can be pasted over and over as many times as you wish. The data in the clipboard will be erased, though, when you shut down or restart your computer.

highlighting.

  Before you can copy, cut, or paste text data you must be able to highlight, or select the text that you want to perform the action on. This is called highlighting, and allows you to select all the information in a document or certain portions of it. Once the text is highlighted you can then copy or cut that information depending on your needs.

How to select text using the keyboard.

The following table lists the Windows keystroke and it's function:

COMMANDS FOR SELECTING TEXT

Keystroke Function
Shift Right Arrow. Selects one letter to the right
Shift Left Arrow. Selects one letter to the left
Ctrl Shift Right Arrow. Selects one word to the right
Ctrl Shift Left Arrow. Selects one word to the left
Shift END. Selects from cursor to end of line
Shift Home. Selects from cursor to beginning of line
Ctrl Shift Down Arrow. Selects text from cursor to bottom of paragraph
Ctrl Shift Up Arrow. Selects from cursor to top of paragraph
Ctrl Shift Home. Selects from cursor to top of file
Ctrl Shift End. Selects from cursor to bottom of file
Ctrl A. Selects entire file
Insert Shift Down Arrow. Reads selected text (for JAWS users).
Ctrl Shift M. Reads selected text (for Window-Eyes users).
Note: In the descriptions that follow, an item is a folder, a file, or a block of text.

Copy items using Copy and Paste.

  1. Select the items you want to copy.
  2. Press CTRL + C.
  3. Move the focus to the destination where you would like to place the item
  4. Press CTRL + V to paste the item.
Note: When we copy a file or folder, the original file remains.

Move items using Cut and Paste

  1. Select the items you want to move.
  2. Press CTRL + X.
  3. Move the focus to the destination where you would like to place the item
  4. Press CTRL + V to paste the item.
Note: When an item is cut, it is removed from it's original location.

Delete items

Select the items you want to delete, and then press DELete.
To delete the current word use Ctrl + DELete.
To delete the previous character, use the Backspace key.

Undo previous edit command.

We can reverse the previous edit action by using the "undo" command, Ctrl Z. then

The undo command will replace text or files that have been deleted, for example, and return them to their original location.

Working with files and folders.

Just as you can highlight, or select text within editing programs such as MS Word and Outlook, you can also highlight files and folders stored throughout your computer.

The concept of selecting files is similar to that of selecting text from within documents. The similarity is the ability to use the cut, copy, delete, and paste functions. However, the folders and file names stored within Windows Explorer, such as "My Documents", for example, are treated as a single entity when they are selected.
In other words, when selecting the "My Documents" folder, it is automatically highlighted as though it were a single word.

Another slight, but important difference is that when we select text from within a document, we can only select one block of text at a time. With file and folder names, we can pick and choose the items to be selected and then either copy, cut or delete them.

Selecting more than one item.

In the following descriptions, an item is either a folder or a file. Note: After you have selected the items, you can check which items you have selected by pressing SHIFT + INSERT + DOWN ARROW.

To select all items within a folder

Press CTRL + A.

To select items which are listed directly above and beneath one another.

  1. Select the first item.
  2. Start holding down the SHIFT key.
  3. Using the UP or DOWN ARROW key, extend the selection.
  4. Let go of the shift key.

To select multiple items not directly above or beneath each other.

  1. Select the first item.
  2. Start holding down the CTRL key.
  3. Move up or down the list using the UP or DOWN ARROW keys.

    4. To add another item to the selection,

  4. Keep the Ctrl key held down while you arrow up or down tapping the spacebar on only the items you want to select.

    5. Remember: (JAWS users), To review what has been selected, hold down the Insert and Shift keys and then tap the Down Arrow key.

Essential Windows tasks from the keyboard

Find specific text

If there is a specific word or string of words you are searching for, use the Ctrl F. Find command.

An edit box will appear.
Type the word you are looking for and press Enter.
The focus will move to the next instance of that word.

Note: This is especially useful if you are looking for a specific word/location in a long file.

Rename a file or folder.

  1. Within any drive on your computer, locate the listing of the desired file or ffolder. The item will be highlighted.
  2. Either press F2, or choose Rename from the item's applications menu.
  3. Type the new name, and press ENTER.

Creating a new folder

When you create a new folder, it is created as a child of the currently open folder. In other words, it becomes a sub-folder of the parent.
To create a new folder:

  1. Open the File menu, by pressing Alt F.
  2. Move either up or down to the menu item titled "new".
  3. Within this menu, move to the "new folder" option, and press Enter.
  4. By deefault, Windows will have created a folder name for you, something like "New Folder". Type a more meaningful name for the folder, and press ENTER.
Contact the author of this tutorial if you are still having trouble or need more information