Tip of the day Using Hotkeys

What are "Hot Keys"?

Hotkeys are nothing more than keyboard shortcuts you can create your own keyboard shortcuts that you can use to open programs on your computer. You can use these Hotkey combinations to open programs instead of using your mouse.

Let's make a Hotkey combination to open a program:

verify that a shortcut was created for the program to which you want to assign a keyboard shortcut. If no shortcut was created, browse to the folder that contains the program, right-click the program file, and then click Create Shortcut to create one.

- Locate the shortcut to the program for which you want to create a keyboard shortcut.

- Right-click the shortcut, and then click Properties.

- In the Shortcut Properties dialog box, click the Shortcut tab, and then click the Shortcut key box.

- Press the key on your keyboard that you want to use in combination with CTRL+ALT (keyboard shortcuts automatically start with CTRL+ALT), and then click OK.

- You can now use this keyboard shortcut to open the program when you're using the desktop. The shortcut will also work while using some programs, though it might not work with some programs that have their own keyboard shortcuts.

Note: The Shortcut key box will display None until you select the key, and then the box will display Ctrl+Alt followed by the key you selected. You cannot use the ESC, ENTER, TAB, SPACEBAR, PRINT SCREEN, SHIFT, or BACKSPACE keys to create a keyboard shortcut. These are reserved for Windows

Remember you have to right-click on a program shortcut and select Properties, then click the "Shortcut" tab at the top. That will get you started in the world of Hotkeys :)

The one reason why most people don't know much about Hotkeys is you have to remember your Hotkey combinations. So if you like them write them down until you memorize them.

In this example we used ALT+T to bring up the Tools menu. Now, next to Options... you can see F9. If you press the F9 key while this menu is open, the Options menu will open. You can call these Hotkeys or program keyboard shortcuts. Some use the terms interchangeably.

Some programs, let you set your own program "Hotkeys" that add additional ways to interact with the program, allowing you to access certain features without using the mouse. Like the Windows Hotkeys we covered earlier, each of these Hotkeys uses Ctrl+SHIFT or Ctrl+ALT and a letter or number of your choice. (Some letters/numbers may be restricted for Windows use only.)

So whether you call them keyboard shortcuts or Hotkeys they all work in the same way: A certain key combination opens a program, a menu, or executes a Windows function or a function within a program.