Keyboard

Tips, Tricks, and Answers

The following articles are available for the 'Keyboard' topic. Click the article's title (shown in bold) to see the associated article.

Applying Bullets from the Keyboard
Most people use the toolbars or ribbon to apply bullets to paragraphs. If you want to apply them using the keyboard, then you can do so with a bit of preparation.

Applying Numbers from the Keyboard
Creating a numbered list is often done by using tools on the toolbars or the ribbon. With a bit of preparation you can create numbered lists using keyboard shortcuts.

Getting Rid of Overtype
If jumping into Overtype mode by mistake drives you crazy, here's a way you can disable it.

Potential Shortcut Key Problems
Avoiding conflicts in shortcut keys.

Quickly Customizing the Keyboard
Want a quick way to change the shortcut key associated with a tool available on a ribbon, toolbar, or menu? Here's one esoteric shortcut that will help in that regard (and it displays a cool cloverleaf mouse pointer).

Resetting a Single Shortcut Key
Need to get rid of a keyboard shortcut key you previously defined? It's easy to do if you follow these steps.

Resetting All Shortcut Keys
At some point you might want to wipe out all the custom shortcut keys you've created in Word. This is easy to do by following the steps in this tip.

Strange Shift Key Behavior
If you hold down your Shift key too long, then Windows can kick in and change the way your keyboard works. If you don't want Windows to make the changes for you, then you need to make changes in the operating system.

Unwanted Keyboard Configuration Change
Is your keyboard acting all goofy lately? It could be because of a number of issues, as discussed in this tip.

Using the Insert Key to Insert Text
The Insert key can be used for different purposes, depending on how you configure the program. This tip explains those uses and shows how to make the configuration change.