Top 6 Keyboard Hacks You’ve Never Heard Of

Keyboard hacks/shortcuts can boost productivity and save a ton of hassle! They are simple, easy, and you only need the keyboard.

In this article, we’ll go over all of the main keyboard hacks that you probably never heard of.

If you utilize these simple hacks, the mouse will even seem irrelevant. The reason for this is because the keyboard can do absolutely anything on your PC. Moreover, you will realize that you can save a ton of time with a few keystrokes.

You can turn to a computer wizard by mastering these simple concepts. 

1. Making Symbols With Your Keyboard

Ever have that situation where you need to type an emoji, and then google the image just to copy and paste a smiley face? 

If you’ve encountered such problems in the past, this is the perfect solution. You can use your computer keyboard to make symbols. In essence, there exist very many symbols between the keys.

If you want to include special characters in your document, this is the way forward. Press the Alt keys and hold it down and press the Numeric key. While still holding the Alt Key, write the special character you want to make. Release the Alt key, the symbol you have written will appear. Here are some of the symbol hacks for you;

• Alt+1- Smiley face
• Alt+2- Black smiley face
• Alt+3- Heart
• Alt+4- Diamond
• Alt+0169- Copyright symbol
• Alt+0182- Paragraph mark
• Alt+0177- Plus-or-minus sign
• Alt+0162- Cent Sign
• Alt+11- Male Sign
• Alt+12- Female Sign
• Alt+0149- Bullet Point
• Alt+15- The Sun Sign
• Alt+6- Spade
• Alt+0153- Trademark Symbol
• Alt+8236- Infinity Symbol
• Alt+24- Arrow Up
• Alt+25- Arrow Down

The above are just a few of the symbols you can make using the keyboard. You can make almost all symbols with such ease.

2. Browsing the Internet Using The Keyboard

Learning how to use shortcuts will help you navigate, select, and interact with web pages without touching your mouse.

Besides looking like a computer god, why would you bother with these shortcuts? Productivity and ease-of-use! It can be a hassle to navigate every page and navigate it with a mouse when you can do it in a fraction of the time with just a few simple keystrokes.

For general browsing, press Space and Shift + Space. If you are reading a long story and you have no time, tap the spacebar to jump down one page at a time. To go back, hold down the Shift button before tapping the spacebar.

For sites that have hyperlinks that are hard to locate, instead of soaring the mouse until the cursor becomes clickable, tap the Tap button to move from link to link. To move in different directions, press Shift-Tab. If you want to highlight the current URL, tap Ctrl +L, and the cursor will jump to the address bar and do that. To refresh your existing site, hit Ctrl + R.

3. Keyboard Hacks for Mailbox

Command -1, -2 and -3 enables you to open the sites in the Bookmarks Bar.

If you are using Outlook, press the Space Bar to read the mail in the preview pane, Ctrl + Shift + V to move the mail, Ctrl + E to search an email.

You can also use the following;

• CrtL + N- compose new mail
• Ctrl + R- reply a mail
• Shift+F- Delete an email/Move to trash
• Ctrl + Shift + R- reply to all emails
• Ctrl + F- forward a mail
• Press Ctrl + Enter- send an email

If you are using Gmail, press Enter button to open a discussion in the mail, V to move the discussion, R to reply, A to reply all the emails, F to forward a mail, press Tab then Enter to send the composed mail and Z to undo the last action performed.

4. Social Media Hacks

Did you know that you can navigate through your social media platforms using your keyboard? It’s pretty simple on Twitter. Here is how to go about it!

Twitter Shortcuts:

• N- Compose new tweet
• R- Reply tweet
• L/F- Like Tweet
• T- Retweet tweet to your followers

These hacks apply for both Mac App and Windows. Also, it’s easy to apply these hacks on facebook. You can navigate through the newsfeed, like stories, and comment on posts without using your keyboard.

Facebook Shortcuts:

• J- Navigate/Scroll down through Newsfeed
• K- Navigate up through Newsfeed
• L- Like a story/post
• P- Create a new post
• S- share post
• C- Comment on a post

You just need to select a particular story/post and execute all these hacks. 

5. Google Calendar

Are you an avid user of google calendar? Using keyboard shortcuts, you can plan your schedule for the coming days, weeks, and months within minutes.

Firstly, click on “enable keyboard shortcuts” After that, click the option of saving at the bottom of the page. When you go to your calendar, Click C to create an event, Click T to get back to the present day if you had navigated into the future or past. To see the month view, click M or 3. For day view, click D or 1.  

6. Choosing the Right Type of Keyboard

Did you know that there are specific types of keyboards for different uses?

Most people don’t realize, but the keyboard is one of the most used components when using a PC or laptop. Keyboards have evolved to adapt to every niche and need. For example, there are gaming keyboards with flashy lights, advanced keyboard switches for faster typing, and even programmed buttons.

Suffice to say that the type of keyboard you choose is paramount to your overall PC experience, and choosing the right keyboard can even boost productivity.

Here are some common types of keyboards and why they’re useful:

Tenkeyless keyboards – a TKL keyboard is a keyboard with no numpad! That means the numbers to the right of your keyboard are gone. It saves a ton of space but at a cost. Check out a great list of them here. In addition to TKL keyboards, you can also get different sizes of keyboards that will have fewer keys on them. 

Mechanical keyboards – these differ from regular keyboards in that they have these things called switches – it gives a better tactile response and an overall better typing experience. Mechanical keyboards are for everyone, and many consider them to be the absolute best typing experience.

Programmable keyboards – these are keyboards in which you can record certain typing patterns and have it automatically repeated from a hotkey. This might be perfect for gamers or even office workers who find themselves constantly typing the same pattern over and over again.

The Bottom Line

Using the mouse makes us spend too much valuable time browsing or trying to find the right icon to click on. It becomes tedious to go over each document, page, or navigation. On the other hand, a simple shortcut usually works on similar apps and webpages, making it worthwhile to learn.

Learn to save time by using the above keyboard hacks, I guarantee they’ll save you a ton of time and maybe even make you look like a PC guru.

All of these shortcuts take some time to learn at first but can be picked up within days if consistently used.

Have any questions? Leave a comment below!