Five things your keyboard may be trying to tell you

Let your keyboard help you remember to use productivity shortcuts

by Cathy Moya

How well do you know your keyboard? You probably know it really well, but you might be missing some of the brain boosts your keyboard is trying to show you. Your Microsoft keyboard has some additional cues to help you be more productive with less remembering. Here are the top five things you may have seen for years, without ever really seeing them.

1. Look at the front of your keys. Many Microsoft keyboards try to help you remember shortcut keys by putting extra pictures and text on the front surface of the key. Look at your CTRL key. Does it have a symbol on it that looks like a flower or maybe a gear? Now look at your C key. On the front of the C key, it might have that CTRL symbol and the word Copy. Your keyboard is trying to tell you that CTRL+C is the keyboard shortcut for copy. You might have similar markings on other keys, like a Windows logo and the word Lock on the front of the L key, to tell you to press Windows key + L to lock your computer. Let the front of the keys remind you to use your shortcuts to save time.
2. Look at your F row keys across the top. If your function keys have dual modes, the keys will have words or pictures on or near them in addition to the F1, F2, etc, and you’ll have an F-lock key.  When the F-lock key is toggled on, you get whatever the application has programmed the F keys to do. For example, in Windows Explorer, F5 is refresh. If you toggle the F-lock key off, you get whatever the words or pictures suggest. Continuing the example, if F-lock is off and you press F5, you open something. All you have to do is look at the pictures on the keys. (Tip: If your F keys aren’t doing what you think they should within an application, or if your Print Lock key isn’t working, try toggling the F-lock key.)
3. Look at your hot keys. Many full-sized keyboards have extra buttons to put your frequently used commands at your fingertips. The most popular is usually the Calculator key. Press one button and save hunting through menus. You might also have keys to open your document location, control your volume, or bring up your Instant Messenger client. Start pressing hot keys and see what happens. Use the pictures on the keys to remind you to use your shortcuts.
4. Look at the hot key changes you can make in the software. If your keyboard has software, the software probably lets you remap your hot keys to do something else. For example, you can use the music hot key to start the music player you use most often. If your Microsoft keyboard came with IntelliType Pro, install the CD or download the program from the www.microsoft.com/hardware site, open the Control Panel, and then open Keyboard.  Select the keyname that you want to change, and then click Configure. Depending on the key you picked, you may go directly to a page where you can enter the path to the program you want to run, or you may have other options to reassign the key.
5.  Let your applications use different hot key settings.If you want to get even trickier, you can assign the My Favorites keys so that they do different things in different applications. In the Keyboard Control Panel, use the Add button to add applications you use and then set custom hot key settings for each application. When you open the application, the hot keys will automatically use the custom layout for that application. 

Will these shortcuts save you time? Yes, but only if you start adding them to your routine and practice them until they become a habit. If it takes five seconds to open your browser and click a link to your favorite site, and it takes less than one second to press a shortcut key, you can save lots of time every week. Let your keyboard help you add these shortcuts to your day!

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