Category: keyboard shortcuts

Windows 10: Top of Computer Monitor Blocked or Blacked Out?

It’s usually a temporary blip (highly technical term 🤓) with the resolution and graphics card and it happens to me sometimes after I open one too many browsers, tabs and applications. but who’s counting. 😀

If you have time, reboot.

If you are in the middle of something, you can press the Windows key + Ctrl + Shift + B for a quick refresh. Your monitors will flash, turn black, and then come back on.

You could also unplug the power for about 10 to 15 seconds and then plug it back in.

Screenshot of blocked out monitor

If none of these three quick fixes works for you, the resolution of your monitor may be set incorrectly, you may have an outdated driver or you may need a better quality monitor.



Need a New Page? Don’t Hit Enter Till You Get One, Hit CTRL+Enter

Sometimes the smallest computer tip escapes me because I’ve known and used it for so long, but today, I helped someone create a Table of Contents for a document and when I turned on Show/Hide paragraph marks, check out what I saw on the page my client had reserved for the TOC:

I didn’t count the hard returns, but suffice it to say this is NOT the best way to get a new page. In this particular situation, as soon as the Table of Contents is generated and fills the page, ALL those hard returns will have to be deleted.

In the broader scope of document editing, anytime someone presses the Enter key multiple times to get to the next page, all those extra hard returns will have to be deleted when the document is edited and pagination changes. When this method of getting to a new page is used multiple times throughout a document, editing can easily turn into a circular game of adding and deleting hard returns every time text is added or removed.

Instead of pressing the Enter key over and over and over and OVER again, try pressing the keyboard shortcut “CTRL+Enter” to insert a page break at the location of your cursor.

With the paragraph marks shown, it looks like this:

>

I’ll address all the unnecessary spaces and tabs after the word ARTICLES in another post.

#outlook shortcuts: replying to messages

Quick and easy shortcut for you today. Regardless of whether you have an email open or if it’s just highlighted within your Inbox or email folder, you can press:

Ctrl+R to “Reply” to the sender, Ctrl+Shift+R to “Reply to All” or Ctrl+F to “Forward” the email.

pragmaticcomputingtips outlookshortcuts reply forward

WordPerfect Auto Numbering Made Even Easier!

Let’s break this up into three parts, shall we?

1. How to use a custom outline/auto paragraph numbering macro I may have written for you.
2. Tips for working with the WordPerfect auto numbering/outline feature.
3. Issues with using auto numbering when allowing MS Word users to edit your document.
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Part 1: Using Pragmatic Macros

To format any document with a custom auto numbering style using a WordPerfect macro written by me:

1. Place the cursor where you want the numbering to begin or at the top of the document. (I always put it at the top of the document so it’s easy to find later.)

2. Play the macro. Depending on your preferences, I’ve either given you a shortcut key (ALT+O) or placed a button on your toolbar which shows a I.A.1. descending top left to bottom right of the button. So either type your shortcut key or click your button. The screen will flash a few times and insert the first number at the location of the cursor. If you don’t need a number in that exact spot (like at the top of the doc), turn it off with “CTRL+H”

3. Once the macro has been played in a document and the document has been saved, the macro never needs to be run in that document again. (Unless you accidentally delete it – another reason I place it at the top of the document instead of placing it at the first numbered paragraph).
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Part 2: TIPS for Working with Auto Paragraph Numbering: Continue reading “WordPerfect Auto Numbering Made Even Easier!”

Multi-Tasking with Alt+Tab

This little gem is another one of those keystroke combinations I use EVERY day!

If you currently click on open programs in your task bar to display them, “Alt+Tab” is a great keyboard shortcut for you!

“Alt+Tab” is the is the more common name for Windows “Task Switcher” which is used to switch (or toggle) between open programs without using the mouse. Here are two ways you can use “Alt+Tab” to help you when working with multiple programs:

1. Pressing and releasing the “Alt+Tab” keyboard combination will alternate between the two most recently used (and currently open) programs.

2. Pressing and holding the “Alt” key, while continuously (and slowly) tapping the “Tab” key will display a floating menu showing all open programs. The tasks are displayed showing the most recently used programs at the front of the list.

Each tap of the tab key will advance the selection to the next program in the menu. When the “Alt” and “Tab” keys are released, Windows will display the program selected at the time the keys were released.

A more advanced version of this functionality, named Windows Flip, is built into Windows Vista.

Show Desktop [Windows+D] and Minimize All [Windows+M]

Show Desktop [Windows+D] and Minimize All [Windows+M]

What do these handy little keystrokes do? Well, if you press either one of them right now, the window you are reading right now will be minimized and . . .

Did you minimize the screen and have to open this window again? Welcome Back!

Maybe you stayed with me all along, mumbling, “Windows+D? What’s that?”

Either way, I’m referring to the “Windows” key, usually located on the bottom left of your keyboard, between the “Ctrl” and “Alt” keys. It looks like a little flying window. It often appears on the bottom right of your keyboard as well.

[Windows+M] is “Minimize All” and it minimizes all the windows which support the “Minimize” command. You can minimize a window by:

1. Clicking the system menu of any software program (usually the program’s icon, to the left or above “File” in it’s menu) and selecting “Minimize.”

2. Click the “Minimize” button on the right side of a program’s title bar. (It looks like an underscore and is usually the third from the right. The X is the farthest to the right. Hover the mouse over the buttons and you may see a “tool tip” indicating what each one does.)

So, the [Windows+M] keyboard combination “Minimize All” is the same as going to each open window and clicking the Minimize button.

Note: If a window doesn’t have a Minimize button, then it is still displayed. Minimize All won’t minimize windows like dialog boxes, some Control Panel windows or an application which has an open dialog box.

However, “Show Desktop” manages to get a few more windows out of your way than “Minimize All.” Enter [Windows+D] when you want to minimize everything on screen, even Control Panel and Properties dialog boxes. This shortcut leaves nothing but the desktop showing.

There’s one more difference between the two shortcuts: Like the Show Desktop icon, [Windows+D] serves as a toggle. Press it once to minimize everything, then press it again to restore everything as it was.

Check them out! Press and hold the “Windows” key and tap the “D” key. (Don’t forget to tap it again to come back!)