The Chronicle

Scroll by the space bar

Keyboard shortcuts you may not know

- RHIAN DEUTROM, NEWS.COM.AU

EVER wondered if your keyboard was keeping secrets from you? Well, it is, and now you can finally use it to its fullest extent.

In all my time spent navigating the internet, never have I encountere­d what I am about to share with you all.

This discovery has not only rocked my confidence as a computer literate journalist, but has destroyed my credibilit­y as a fully-fledged Millennial. It all started after a man called Martin Bryant from the UK posted a tweet about a keyboard shortcut he had discovered.

Mr Bryant, like me, couldn’t understand how he had existed on the internet for 22 years without realising that the space bar on his keyboard could also be used as a tool to scroll down the page.

Naturally, millions of minds collective­ly exploded all over Twitter and people were 100 per cent shook.

A vibrant discussion ensued with people revealing keyboard hacks that have eluded the vast majority of humankind since the dawn of the desktop computer.

Regardless of whether you’re a Mac devotee or a PC pro, these little tricks should become part of your daily arsenal immediatel­y.

Scroller derby

Is that mouse wheel giving you a mean case of RSI? Don’t sweat it. Tapping the space bar will get you where you need to go.

Oh no, you scrolled too far down? No biggy, just hit shift + space bar to head back up.

Hide ya stuff

Your boss is walking to your desk for an update but you’ve been comparing your profile picture to every one of Tom Hardy’s ex-girlfriend­s. Don’t panic, just abort mission. This will close your current window, leaving your desktop squeaky clean.

PC: Alt + F4 Mac: Command + H

Blow it up

There’s no shame in it, friends. Our eyeballs are the windows to our brainballs and sometimes, they need a bit of help. So make like a low-grade movie detective and tell your technician to “enhance”.

PC: Ctrl ‘+’ (zoom in) Ctrl ‘-’ (zoom out)

Mac: Command ‘+’ (zoom in) Command ‘-’ (zoom out)

Stick to ya guns

When you find that perfect sentence to copy and paste into the love letter you’re writing to Tom Hardy, no one has time to fool around with formatting. So don’t! Copy and paste it in the same format you’re already writing in.

PC: Ctrl + Alt + V Mac: Command + Opt + V

Wrong way, go back

You’ve accidental­ly clicked into Tom Hardy’s sex tape and you definitely don’t want to see that. So get outta there, go back.

PC: Alt + left arrow

Mac: Option + left arrow

… or you could continue on your way:

PC: Alt + right arrow

Mac: Option + right arrow

Restore it

Did you just accidental­ly delete that tab playing Tom Hardy’s sex tape? That literally took you hours to track down? Quick, use this trick to get it back.

PC: Ctrl + Shift + T

Mac: Command + Option + T

Bookmark it

Have you ever found a link that’s too good to forget? Bookmark it!

PC: Ctrl + D Mac: Command + D

Rename it

PC: Click the file then hit F2 Mac: Click the file then hit Enter to bring up the rename box.

 ?? Photo: iStock ?? MIND BLOWING: The space bar on your keyboard can also be used as a tool to scroll down the page.
Photo: iStock MIND BLOWING: The space bar on your keyboard can also be used as a tool to scroll down the page.

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