We narrow down our top keyboard shortcuts for Google Workspace to help you work smarter.
The general narrative surrounding shortcuts or taking ‘the easy route’ is that although there may be a short term win, it doesn’t really serve you in the long run. There have been many anecdotes in literature, in faith, as well as in words of wisdom, passed down from those who have reached great heights of success in their field, warning us to avoid them…
“Short cuts make long delays.” – J.R.R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring
“13 Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” – Matthew 7:13-14
“We learned about honesty and integrity - that the truth matters... that you don't take shortcuts or play by your own set of rules... and success doesn't count unless you earn it fair and square.” – Michelle Obama
…but after that very profound start, we are going to tell you to do the opposite!
When there are tools available that can make your life easier, it is wise to use them. What do they say? Work smarter - not harder! Stored away in the deepest chasms of Google Workplace are overlooked yet undeniably useful shortcuts. Easter eggs of the programming world if you will! We have curated a list of our favourite keyboard cheats that we find most useful day to day. Shortcuts that everyone can appreciate - not just us developers! We have presented them in a very satisfying acrostic for you spelling shortcut because why ever not!
Top Keyboard Shortcuts for Google Workplace
Skip the tedious and time consuming skim reading of lengthy documents. Isn’t it so annoying when you have skimmed an entire novel of a document to find out the bit you were looking for was on the last page! Now you can let the computer do all the hard work! It can highlight key words or phrases for you:
Press Command / Ctrl + F (Command for Mac and Ctrl for Windows)
A search bar will pop up.
Type in the word or phrase you are looking for in the search bar
Click the arrow keys to sift through the highlighted results to find the relevant bits of information you need.
Hop between tabs in your chrome browser with ease. Rather than grabbing the mouse, dragging it to the relevant tab and clicking, you don’t have to move your hands from the keyboard. Simply:
Press Command and then the tab number as presented on the screen. I.e. 1 for the tab on the left. 2 for the next one and so forth.
Open new google documents, spreadsheets and presentations with this clever shortcut! On the premise that google is your homepage, it would normally take 4 clicks minimum to set up a new document with your mouse. Shave off a couple of seconds by using the following trick:
Open a new window or tab in your browser
Go to doc.new, slide.new and sheet.new to open a new document of those types!
As the meerkat would say - simples!
Right click on a chrome tab to duplicate a page. When would you need that? Maybe you are trying to fill in an online form, but need to refer to information that is a mighty long scroll up from where you are currently on the page - very awkward. By opening two duplicate windows you can cross-check, reference and fill in your form with ease.
Right click on the relevant tab
Click Duplicate
Transition back and forth between multiple open programmes with ease. Maybe you are composing a message for a colleague but need to check a detail quickly from the programme you were previously using? Hit up the following shortcut:
Command Tab
And it will automatically take you to the programme you were previously on.
Create visually pleasing and uniform documents with the "Paste without formatting" option. If you are assembling information from multiple sources and you use the normal paste function it can look, well, messy. By using this function, the text will assume the stylistic settings of where the cursor is currently positioned within the document. A lot neater - a lot less work! No longer do you need to individually adjust the font and font size options and scroll through the long drop down menus.
Command/Ctrl + Shift + V
Undo your previous action with the tap of 2 buttons. It is highly likely you know this one. It is a classic but they are called such for a reason. If you made a mistake, no stress, just simply execute the following to undo the error:
Command/Ctrl Z
Tick items off your list visually with a strikethrough. When you have a massive to-do list on a digital document but you want to retain a record of what has already been done rather than deleting when complete, you can strikethrough the item visually instead.
Highlight the item you have completed
Option/Alt + Shift + 5
If you don’t feel like you have had your shortcut fill (mmm thinking about shortcut pastry now), check out more here: