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There are many things that can ruin something you are working on while sitting at your computer. Maybe it’s a presentation that you are creating for your boss at work, or the new website layout you’re designing in photoshop, or even just a letter that you are writing to someone and if any one of these things goes wrong it can be devastating to your work.
Mistyping words, deleting the wrong line of text, drawing on the wrong layer, any of these things can make you go back and redo a lot of work that could have been saved if you remembered the one keyboard shortcut that everyone should know. Ctrl+Z.
This amazing shortcut is nearly universal in all computer programs and it is the keyboard shortcut for undo. If you can remember to stop the second you think you’ve done something you shouldn’t have and hit ctrl+z you’ll save yourself a ton of work in the end. Just make sure you don’t try to abuse the power of this shortcut because certain programs will allow you multiple levels of undo so you can go back too far and then you’ve got to redo some of the work that was already completed and correct.
Now just for those of you who have never used keyboard shortcuts before, when I say ctrl+z, I mean to hold the ctrl button and press the z key. If you want to know other keyboard shortcuts that you can use in whatever program you are using, all you need to do is click through the menu at the top of the screen where you see File and Edit and so on. There you will see any keyboard shortcut linked to something in the menu if it exists. For example, if you are using Word, click on the File menu and look at the Save option. It will have a ctrl+s next it, meaning that if you hold ctrl and press s, it will save your current document. And although that is a helpful shortcut, ctrl+z stands as the best shortcut because it can save you from deleting that last paragraph you wrote by accident. If you would have saved first, then you would have to rewrite that paragraph.
Use this keyboard shortcut wisely, as I’ve said before, you might go back too far, and then you’ll wish you had payed more attention to how many times you pressed it as you retype or redraw what you once had on your screen.
So what do you think? Is there a better shortcut? Let Easy Tech Talk’s readers know by leaving a comment.
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Oh, my. As a non-computer person (I can still only do my “real” work in ms-dos - lol), I can NOT begin to tell you how many times Z has saved me! That little “shortcut” has been around for as long as I can remember, but nobody knows about it? I feel so smart and “techie” now.
Just one caution - SAVE YOUR WORK after you’re satisfied with what you’ve written, but BEFORE hitting Z to undo those “oopses.” I am so glad that you didn’t forget to mention that! When I first started to use the Z…well, you can easily finish THAT sentence!
You write very clearly on computer matters - some people I know don’t even know that you have to hold DOWN the button. Thanks for the great explanation. I’m going to pass it on to a few people whom I KNOW need it, but would be offended if I got so specific!
Rita
See - a computer idiot - all of my ctl’s disappeared before the z’s. I’m still used to writing ctl with around it! Now let’s see if THAT shows up!
Rita
glad i could help, and your last ctrl did show up
You’d be amazed how many people at work don’t know about ctrl z and will spends hours cursing a re-creating something!
It is a good shortcut to know. I like to use the keyboard as much as possible because it is so much quicker than using a mouse. I’d love to see another post on helpful keyboard shortcuts for some of the more poputlar applications and OS.
Darryl Heron
CTRL Y is good for going too far with undo’s, it’s typically redo, but the all time most important keyboard shortcut for programmers is CTRL S, save before you run through your code! I can’t tell you how many time myself and co-workers have lost hours of work by testing what we just finished coding without saving first. I try to CTRL S after every change I’m satisfied with whether it’s in coding or photoshop.