21 Useful Keyboard Shortcuts for Copywriters

What are keyboard shortcuts?

One of these keys is usually Ctrl, Alt or Shift. Keyboard shortcuts are mainly used by people working with text editors such as Microsoft Word.
What can you achieve by using particular key combinations? Shortcuts allow you to perform operations such as:

• copying,
• cutting,
• undoing and redoing,
• searching for a phrase,
• selecting text,
• printing a document.

Copying, cutting and pasting

One of the most popular keyboard shortcuts, CTRL + C, is used for copying. Selecting text and pressing this key combination ‘remembers’ the phrase and transfers it to the computer’s clipboard. You can paste copied text using CTRL + V.

You can replace CTRL + C with the shortcut for cutting, CTRL + X. The cut text is copied to the clipboard and removed from its original location.

Undo and redo

Although copywriters are considered language specialists, mistakes are an unavoidable part of working on text every day. How can you quickly undo your last action in a text editor? By using the CTRL + Z keyboard shortcut!

The CTRL + Y key combination restores what you previously undid. Redoing an action only works after you have first used CTRL + Z.

Searching for a phrase in the text

Searching for a particular phrase in a text is one of the most frequently used functions in a copywriter’s work. The CTRL + F keyboard shortcut performs this task and is familiar to most content creators. Why is this combination used so often by SEO copywriters?

CTRL + F allows you to find keywords in a text. This means that after writing, you can check whether they have been placed appropriately. Since optimisation can help a page achieve a higher position in search results, this is genuinely important.

Effective content formatting

Formatting a completed article is an essential part of a copywriter’s and content writer’s work. Whatever your role, the shortcuts below are among the most popular combinations used in text editors.

CTRL + B makes the selected phrase bold. With this combination, you can highlight the most important parts of the text, headings or keywords. Another popular shortcut for copywriters is CTRL + U, which underlines text. You can use it to mark a hyperlink or highlight part of a paragraph. The CTRL + I combination italicises text. It is most often used to mark a statement or quotation.

Formatting content is not only about highlighting parts of the text. It is also important to improve the appearance of the document as a whole using shortcuts such as:

• CTRL + L – align left,
• CTRL + R – align right,
• CTRL + J – justify.

Creating headings

Headings that organise the content in an editor are the foundation of every article. Text structure is created with the reader in mind – subheadings provide information about the key points covered in the article. Which shortcuts format headings in the editor?

• Ctrl+Alt+1 – Heading 1,
• Ctrl+Alt+2 – Heading 2,
• Ctrl+Alt+3 – Heading 3.

Selecting text

Before copying, cutting or formatting text, you must select it first. Shift + arrow key (left or right) lets you quickly select words along a line. The up or down arrow selects the corresponding line vertically.

You can use CTRL + A to select all the text you have written.

Save your text

A significant number of copywriters, content writers and authors have experienced losing a document that had not been saved. Which keyboard shortcut can help you avoid this? The CTRL + S combination immediately saves your work.

Switching between windows and tabs

A copywriter’s work largely involves constantly switching between different browser windows. How can you streamline your daily content creation? By using CTRL + Tab! This key combination lets you move efficiently between consecutive tabs. Alt + Tab, on the other hand, switches between application windows.