Most people use Microsoft Word like a typewriter: they highlight text, click a button, highlight more text, click another button. These Word keyboard shortcuts replace that with a few keystrokes, and they focus on what actually matters when you are producing a CV, an invoice, a proposal or a report. This is not an exhaustive list of everything Word can do — it is the set of Word keyboard shortcuts that change how quickly you finish a document and how professional the result looks.
Everything here was read from Microsoft’s official Word reference, which covers Word for Microsoft 365, Word 2024, 2021, 2019 and 2016. This guide is for Word on Windows. If you have been pressing Enter again and again to reach a new page, or retyping a name because the capital letters were wrong, the shortcuts below will feel like finding a door in a wall.
How to Read Word Shortcuts Correctly
Microsoft uses two symbols, and most published lists never explain them. Getting this wrong is why people conclude a shortcut “does not work”.
- A plus sign (+) means press the keys at the same time. So
Ctrl + Bmeans hold Ctrl, tap B. - A comma (,) means press the keys in order. So
Alt, Hmeans tap Alt, release, then tap H.
You will also see shortcuts written as Alt + H, F, O. That is a sequence, not three keys held together — press Alt and H together, release, then F, then O. Once you know the convention, every shortcut list becomes readable.
The Word Shortcut Keys List to Learn First
Microsoft’s own reference lists a “frequently used” table. This is it, ordered by how much time each one saves when you are producing a real document.
| # | Keys | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ctrl + S | Save the document |
| 2 | Ctrl + Z | Undo the last thing you did |
| 3 | Ctrl + Shift + V | Paste text only, without the original formatting |
| 4 | Ctrl + Spacebar | Remove manual formatting from the selected text |
| 5 | Shift + F3 | Change text between UPPER CASE, lower case and Title Case |
| 6 | Ctrl + 2 | Apply double spacing to the paragraph |
| 7 | Ctrl + Alt + 1 | Apply the Heading 1 style |
| 8 | Ctrl + Enter | Insert a page break |
| 9 | Ctrl + H | Find and replace text throughout the document |
| 10 | Ctrl + B / Ctrl + I / Ctrl + U | Bold / italic / underline |
| 11 | Ctrl + E | Centre the paragraph |
| 12 | Ctrl + P |
Those twelve cover most of what a document needs. The rest of this guide gives you the full set of Word keyboard shortcuts, grouped so you can find what you need quickly.
Essential Word Keyboard Shortcuts for Editing
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
Ctrl + N | Create a new document |
Ctrl + O | Open a document |
Ctrl + S | Save the document |
Ctrl + W | Close the document |
Ctrl + C / Ctrl + X / Ctrl + V | Copy / cut / paste |
Ctrl + Shift + V | Paste text only |
Ctrl + Z / Ctrl + Y | Undo / redo |
Ctrl + A | Select all document content |
Ctrl + Backspace | Delete one word to the left |
Ctrl + Delete | Delete one word to the right |
Ctrl + H | Find and replace |
Ctrl + F | Open the Navigation pane to search the document |
Esc | Cancel a command |
Why Ctrl + Shift + V Is the Most Useful Word Shortcut Nobody Uses
When you copy text from a website, an email or another document, Word brings the original font, size and colour with it — which is why pasted text so often looks wrong in your document. Ctrl + Shift + V pastes the words and nothing else. It is the single cleanest fix for a document that has become a patchwork of fonts.
If formatting has already gone wrong, Ctrl + Spacebar strips the manual character formatting from whatever you have selected, and Ctrl + Q removes paragraph formatting. Between the three, almost any formatting mess can be cleaned up without retyping.
Paragraph and Spacing Shortcuts
This is where Word keyboard shortcuts change how a document looks, and it is the section most people need. Formatting paragraphs this way is faster than the toolbar, and it is applied to the whole paragraph without needing to select it first — just click anywhere in the paragraph.
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
Ctrl + 1 | Apply single spacing to the paragraph |
Ctrl + 2 | Apply double spacing to the paragraph |
Ctrl + 5 | Apply 1.5-line spacing to the paragraph |
Ctrl + E | Centre the paragraph |
Ctrl + L | Align the paragraph to the left |
Ctrl + R | Align the paragraph to the right |
Ctrl + J | Justify the paragraph |
Ctrl + M | Indent the paragraph |
Ctrl + Shift + M | Remove a paragraph indent |
Ctrl + T | Create a hanging indent |
Ctrl + Shift + T | Remove a hanging indent |
Ctrl + Q | Remove paragraph formatting |
Ctrl + Shift + N | Apply the Normal style |
How to Double Space in Word
Click anywhere in the paragraph and press Ctrl + 2. To apply it to the whole document, press Ctrl + A first and then Ctrl + 2. Double spacing is one of the most common requirements for CVs and academic work, and this is the fastest way to apply it — no toolbar, no dialog box, no menu.
To go back, Ctrl + 1 restores single spacing and Ctrl + 5 gives you 1.5 line spacing.
Heading Styles: The Shortcuts That Make Documents Professional
This is the most under-used set of Word keyboard shortcuts, and the one with the biggest effect. Instead of bolding a heading and making the font bigger by hand, apply a heading style. Microsoft’s Word reference documents these as style-application shortcuts.
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Alt + 1 | Apply the Heading 1 style |
Ctrl + Alt + 2 | Apply the Heading 2 style |
Ctrl + Alt + 3 | Apply the Heading 3 style |
Ctrl + Shift + N | Apply the Normal style |
Ctrl + Shift + S | Open the Apply Styles pane |
Ctrl + Alt + Shift + S | Open the Styles pane |
Why does this matter more than it sounds? Because styles give your document structure, not just appearance. When your headings are real heading styles:
- every heading is consistently sized and spaced, so the document looks deliberate rather than improvised;
- you can insert an automatic table of contents that updates itself;
- the Navigation pane lets you jump between sections;
- when the document is saved as a PDF, the headings become bookmarks the reader can navigate.
If you only change one habit after reading this, make it this one. Manually bolded headings look acceptable on screen and fall apart the moment the document needs a contents page.
Character Formatting Word Keyboard Shortcuts
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
Ctrl + B | Apply bold formatting |
Ctrl + I | Apply italic formatting |
Ctrl + U | Apply underline formatting |
Ctrl + Shift + W | Underline the words but not the spaces |
Ctrl + Shift + D | Apply double underline |
Ctrl + Shift + K | Apply small caps formatting |
Ctrl + Shift + A | Change the text to all capitals |
Shift + F3 | Switch between upper case, lower case and title case |
Ctrl + Shift + Minus (-) | Apply subscript |
Ctrl + Shift + Plus (+) | Apply superscript |
Ctrl + D or Ctrl + Shift + F | Open the Font dialog box |
Ctrl + ] / Ctrl + [ | Increase / decrease the font size by one point |
Ctrl + Shift + > / Ctrl + Shift + < | Increase / decrease the font size in larger steps |
Ctrl + Spacebar | Remove manual character formatting |
Ctrl + Shift + L | Add a bulleted list |
Ctrl + Shift + 8 | Show or hide nonprinting characters |
How to Change Text to Uppercase in Word
Select the text and press Shift + F3. Each press cycles it through three states: all capitals, all lower case, and Title Case. This is the shortcut for text typed with Caps Lock left on, or a name entered without capitals. There is no need to retype anything. Of all the Word keyboard shortcuts here, this is the one people are most surprised they never knew.
Ctrl + Shift + A is the blunter alternative — it forces the selection to all capitals with no cycling.
Ctrl + Shift + 8 is worth knowing for a different reason: it shows the hidden paragraph marks and spaces. If your document has mysterious gaps or will not align, turning these on usually reveals the cause immediately.
Page Breaks, Line Breaks and Special Characters
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Enter | Insert a page break |
Shift + Enter | Insert a line break without starting a new paragraph |
Ctrl + Shift + Enter | Insert a column break |
Ctrl + Shift + Spacebar | Insert a nonbreaking space |
Alt + Ctrl + Period (.) | Insert an ellipsis (…) |
Ctrl + Alt + T | Insert a trademark symbol (™) |
Ctrl + Alt + R | Insert a registered trademark symbol (®) |
How to Insert a Page Break in Word
Put your cursor where the new page should begin and press Ctrl + Enter. That is all.
Most people reach a new page by pressing Enter repeatedly until the text spills over — and it works, until someone edits the text above and every following page shifts out of place. A real page break holds its position. If you write CVs, reports or assignments, this one shortcut prevents the most common formatting disaster there is.
Navigating and Selecting in Word
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
Ctrl + Left arrow / Ctrl + Right arrow | Move one word left or right |
Ctrl + Up arrow / Ctrl + Down arrow | Move one paragraph up or down |
Home / End | Move to the beginning or end of the line |
Ctrl + Home / Ctrl + End | Move to the beginning or end of the document |
Ctrl + Page up / Ctrl + Page down | Move to the top of the previous or next page |
Shift + F5 | Jump back to where you were last editing |
Ctrl + G | Open the Go To dialog box |
Ctrl + Shift + Left/Right arrow | Select one word left or right |
Ctrl + Shift + Up/Down arrow | Select to the beginning or end of the paragraph |
Ctrl + Shift + Home / Ctrl + Shift + End | Select to the beginning or end of the document |
F8 | Start extending the selection; press repeatedly to grow it word by word, then sentence, paragraph and document |
Shift + F8 | Shrink the selection again |
Esc | Stop extending the selection |
Shift + F5 is a quiet favourite. When you reopen a long document, it takes you straight back to the spot where you were last working, instead of leaving you at the top scrolling to find your place. It is one of those Word keyboard shortcuts that sounds trivial until you spend your day in long reports.
Moving Content Without Cutting and Pasting
Microsoft documents a method most people have never seen. Select the paragraph, press F2, click where you want it to go, and press Enter. The text moves there. Press Shift + F2 instead and it is copied rather than moved. Press Esc at any point to cancel.
For anyone constantly reordering sections in a report or proposal, this is faster than cutting, scrolling, and pasting — no clipboard involved.
Tables, Review and Printing
| Keys | What it does |
|---|---|
Tab / Shift + Tab | Move to the next or previous cell in a table |
Ctrl + Tab | Insert a tab character inside a table cell |
Alt + Home / Alt + End | Move to the first or last cell in the row |
Alt + Page up / Alt + Page down | Move to the first or last cell in the column |
Alt + Shift + Up/Down arrow | Move the current row up or down |
Ctrl + Alt + M | Insert a comment |
Ctrl + Shift + E | Turn change tracking on or off |
Ctrl + P | Print the document |
Alt + W, F | Switch to Read Mode |
Ctrl + Alt + P | Switch to Print Layout view |
Ctrl + Alt + N | Switch to Draft view |
Ctrl + 0 | Return to 100% zoom |
Two notes here. First, Ctrl + Tab is the answer to a question almost everyone has asked: inside a table, pressing Tab jumps you to the next cell, so Ctrl + Tab is how you actually insert a tab stop. Second, Ctrl + Shift + E turns on change tracking, which matters whenever you are editing a document someone else will review. These are the Word keyboard shortcuts that come up in collaborative and office work rather than in solo writing.
Three Cautions Before You Rely on These
The Keyboard Layout Caveat
Microsoft states that its documented shortcuts “refer to the US keyboard layout”, and that keys on other layouts “might not fully correspond to the keys on a US keyboard”. That matters in Ghana, where UK layouts are common. The modifier keys — Ctrl, Alt, Shift — behave the same, and the letter keys are in the same places.
The punctuation keys are where you may hit trouble. The square brackets used in Ctrl + [ and Ctrl + ], and the angle brackets in Ctrl + Shift + >, can sit in different positions. If one of these does not work, that is the first thing to check. Microsoft also publishes a Word accessibility shortcut reference covering the same combinations.
Some Keys Mean Different Things in Different Programs
Because you may have read our other shortcut guides, this is worth clearing up. Ctrl + D opens the Font dialog box in Word, but it bookmarks a page in a browser. Ctrl + W closes the document in Word, but closes a tab in a browser. And Ctrl + S means save everywhere, which is the one key that never changes. Shortcuts are per-application, not universal — which is also why the same key can feel like it “stopped working” when you switch windows.
What This List Deliberately Leaves Out
Microsoft’s Word reference also documents mail merge, field codes, index and citation marking, and Input Method Editors for East Asian languages. They are not here on purpose. If you are writing a CV, a letter, an invoice or a report, you will not use them, and including them would only bury the Word keyboard shortcuts you will. Microsoft also notes that Word Starter does not support all of the listed shortcut features, so if you are on that edition, expect a few not to work.
If your work also involves spreadsheets, our guide to Excel keyboard shortcuts is the companion to this one, and the general computer shortcuts hub covers the cross-platform basics. For the operating system itself, see Windows keyboard shortcuts, and if you are setting up the rest of your toolkit, our guide to free productivity apps for small business covers the software side.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I change text to uppercase in Word?
Select the text and press Shift + F3. Each press cycles through all capitals, all lower case, and Title Case, so you can keep pressing until you get the one you want. If you need all capitals immediately, Ctrl + Shift + A does that in a single step.
How do I double space a document in Word?
Click in the paragraph and press Ctrl + 2. To double space the entire document, press Ctrl + A to select everything and then Ctrl + 2. Use Ctrl + 1 to return to single spacing, or Ctrl + 5 for 1.5 line spacing.
How do I insert a page break in Word?
Put the cursor where the new page should start and press Ctrl + Enter. This is far better than pressing Enter repeatedly, because the break stays in place when you edit the text above it, while a run of blank lines will shift everything out of position.
Why does pasted text look wrong in my document?
Because a normal paste carries the original font, size and colour with it. Use Ctrl + Shift + V to paste text only. If the formatting is already wrong, select the text and press Ctrl + Spacebar to strip the manual character formatting, or Ctrl + Q to remove paragraph formatting.
How do I make a table of contents in Word?
Your headings have to use real heading styles first — that is what Ctrl + Alt + 1, Ctrl + Alt + 2 and Ctrl + Alt + 3 apply. Once they do, you can insert an automatic table of contents that builds itself from those headings. Headings you have bolded manually will not appear, because Word has no idea they are headings at all.
Do these Word shortcuts work on a Mac?
Many of them do, with Command replacing Ctrl for standard editing actions, but not all translate and several use Option where Windows uses Alt. Microsoft publishes a separate Mac tab in its Word shortcut reference. This guide is written for Word on Windows, so do not assume every combination will work unchanged on a Mac.
Conclusion: Five Shortcuts That Change Your Documents
You do not need all of these. Five will change how your documents look. Ctrl + Alt + 1 gives you real heading styles. Ctrl + 2 gives you double spacing. Ctrl + Enter gives you a page break that stays put. Shift + F3 fixes capitalisation without retyping. And Ctrl + Shift + V stops pasted text from wrecking your formatting.
Learn those five this week, using only the keyboard even when the toolbar is easier. Then add one a week from the tables above. These Word keyboard shortcuts are the difference between a document that looks improvised and one that looks prepared — and if you work at, or want to work at, a business centre, that difference is your reputation.
Which of these did you not know before today? Tell us in the comments, and share this with anyone who is still pressing Enter to reach the next page.
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