Here you are writing your magnum opus or typing a very long report for the boss! As you write, you apply Heading Styles to the headings so that the document is structured and an Automatic Table of Contents can be generated.
If you are a fast typist, it can be a little tedious to keep reaching for the mouse every time you need to apply a Heading Style. Surely there is a quicker way?
You are probably familiar with some of the basic keyboard shortcuts that work across all the Microsoft applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook), such as:
Control + B Bold
Control + I Italic
Control + U Underline
But did you know you can assign a keyboard shortcut to just about any of the things you do regularly? Let’s have a look at assigning keyboard shortcuts to Heading Styles.
Assign a keyboard shortcut to a Heading Style
In the Style Gallery, right click on the style to modify and select Modify.
Next, click the Format drop down and select Shortcut Key.
In the next screen, type the shortcut key you want to use; I am modifying Heading Style 3 and will apply the keyboard shortcut Control + 3 (1). You will be able to see if the keyboard shortcut is currently assigned to something else (2). If it is, clicking Assign will override the original setting.
Click Assign to apply your changes then click Close and OK to come right out of the dialogue boxes.
Once you have accepted the changes, the shortcut moves across to the Current Key box and is now applied.
Apply a Heading Style using a keyboard shortcut
To apply the formatting of Heading Style 3 using the keyboard, simply type the text, select it and press Control + 3.
You might like to assign Control +1 to Heading Style 1
Control +2 to Heading Style 2
Control +3 to Heading Style 3
So now when you are typing your long document, book or report, you can use these keyboard shortcuts to reduce your mouse use and, by doing so, considerably speed up your editing time.
What else do you do regularly that you could assign a keyboard shortcut to?
To learn more about Microsoft Word and how you can speed up routine tasks, take a look at my Microsoft Word Courses, Work Smarter with Style for Windows and Work Smarter with Style for Mac and Create Lead Magnets and eBooks in Word
Or take a look at the HUB and get all of the courses in one bundle.
