How to Use Function Keys in Microsoft Word

You probably hardly even notice the function keys arrayed across the top of your keyboard. You use them so seldom, if ever, that they have become part of the landscape. They actually do have a function (many in fact) and knowing the functions might encourage you to use them once in a while.

Step 1 F1 – HELP! Almost any program written for windows that has some kind of help function will allow you to access it with the F1 key. On my keyboard it even says, “Help” under the F1.
Shift F1 – What’s This? Like help, the What’s this? question mark can help you understand the function of some toolbar or other icon you see. In Word, you can click the question mark on a paragraph to see what formatting is present.
Alt F1 – Go to next field – Obviously this key won’t do anything for you unless you are using fields, which is pretty advanced usage. Still, good to know. Still, since it is the same as F11, I’d choose to remember that one instead. Alt Shift F1 will take you to the previous field, but so will Shift F11 for one less keystroke.

Step 2 F2 – Move Text or Graphics – Highlight your text and press F2, and you will be silently prompted in your status bar “move to where?” Place your cursor in the new location and press enter, and voila, your text moved. This strikes me as harder than Ctrl X, Ctrl V, but to each his own. Although the F2 function key seems unimpressive in Word, it’s a really helpful key to know in Excel and in Windows Explorer. Pressing F2 allows you to rename a file in Windows Explorer, and in Excel it takes you to edit mode.
Shift F2 – the table says this will “Copy Text” – and it works similarly to the move method of the F2 key, but why bother when Ctrl C does that?
Ctrl F2 – Print Preview – Well yay! That’s good to know if you’re a confirmed old keyboarder who has always wanted to get to print preview without the mouse.
Alt Shift F2 – Save – Fine and dandy but this takes three keys and Ctrl S only takes two. Shift F12 is the same too. Thanks anyway.
Ctrl Alt F2 – Open – The same function as Ctrl O, but needing an extra finger to do it. This is the same as Ctrl Shift F12, which is also trumped by Ctrl O.

Step 3 F3 – Insert Autotext Entry – Do you use Autotext? I have on occasion. If you have an annoying thing that you type over and over again, you can set up an autotext equivalent and then only type those few letters. It may replace it automotically (hence the name AUTOtext) but you can also press F3 to have it inserted.
Shift F3 – Change Case – Whee! Did you know about this one? Highlight the word you want to change and press Shift F3 to toggle through the various forms of capitalization. Good one!
Ctrl F3 – Cut to the Spike – Huh? What’s ‘the spike’ and why would you cut to it? The spike is a special kind of clipboard that is saved in Autotext, you can combine nonadjacent items in the spike and then insert the contents back into your document. Fascinating. Ctrl Shift F3 will insert the contents of the spike and empty it at the same time.
Alt F3 – Create an Autotext entry – Here’s your opportunity to play with Autotext if you’re interested. Highlight a word (or that annoying phrase you type repeatedly) and use Alt F3. You are prompted to name it, so here’s your chance to call it something very brief but easy to remember. Then when you type that brief sequence, you’ll be prompted to allow Word to insert the whole annoying phrase you type repeatedly. Useful sometimes.

Step 4 F4 – Repeat the last action. Works like Ctrl Y, one keystroke instead of two. Nice.
Shift F4 – Repeat a Find or Go To action – I can see uses for this one, yup. Sure you could always Ctrl F and repeat the find that way, but at least on my computer it takes a second or so for the find screen to come up. Shift F4 just jumps to the next findable word or phrase. I like it, but probably not enough to remember it.
Ctrl F4 – Close the window. Not that much easier than clicking the little x in the upper right corner, but certainly quicker than using the menu to do File Close. Not really memorable though.
Alt F4 – Close Word – I had a friend online who would tell unwary chat friends that Alt F4 was very cool, why not try it, and she’d laugh and laugh as they closed out the chat program and had to struggle to return. Yes, Alt F4 closes any windows program. It’s a good one to know, not just so my friend won’t catch you, but because it’s a quick way to close a program. Worth knowing. Alt Shift F4 does the same thing, why add a finger?

Step 5 F5 – Go To command – That’s pretty good in itself, but you should learn the F5 key for another reason – in a browser it refreshes! Yes it reloads your browser page, and for those of us who game, that’s a big help.
Shift F5 – Move to a previous revision – hmmm, I don’t usually bother with revisions, so this is not a biggie for me.
Ctrl F5 – Restore the document window size. That is, it changes the document window from maximize to whatever size you usually have it. (Maximizing is done with Ctrl F10.) Nice, but the box in the right corner works for me.
Ctrl Shift F5 – Edit a bookmark – Oh now that is nice! I don’t use bookmarks in small one or two page documents, but I have lots of them in my novel-in-progress. I wish Ctrl Shift F5 were a bit easier to remember, but if I can get it into my head, it’s a bit easier than Alt, I, K. No, I take it back, Alt, I, K is just as simple, and easier to remember (Insert booKmarK).
Alt F5 – Restore the Program window size. Just as Ctrl F5 restores the document window from maximize, so Alt F5 does with the whole Word program window size. Again, the box in the corner is something I already know how to use.

Step 6 F6 – Go to next pane – Hmm. What’s a pane? Obviously I don’t use them or I’d know that. If you use panes, here’s the way to go to the next one.
Shift F6 – go to previous pane – ditto
Ctrl F6 – Go to the next window – Got a few documents going at once? This will toggle you through them (similar to Alt tab on your desktop programs). If your mouse isn’t working, you’ll be glad to know this one.
Ctrl Shift F6 – Go to the previous window – and ditto.

Step 7 F7 – Spelling – Now that’s nice, although honestly ever since Word started underlining misspellings in red and grammatical errors in green, I haven’t needed to do an all out spell-check. Still, if you do, F7 is pretty easy to use.
Shift F7 – Thesaurus – ah now this one I like. Much easier than Alt, T, L, T or clicking through the menus, two keys and you’ve got a list of synonyms. Have you played around with the thesaurus? It can be good for a laugh if you go multiple levels away from the original word and then replace it. In any case, it’s very handy to have a thesaurus available, even if it is limited.
Ctrl F7 – Move – this doesn’t relate to text, but to objects, like your current document window. I don’t see the point though, since you can drag and drop the window using the title bar anyway.
Ctrl Shift F7 – Update linked information in a Word Source document. Yeah, not likely to use this one often enough to need or remember a function key. I’m sure they meant well.
Alt F7 – Find next misspelling when Automatic spell checking is enabled. Perhaps more useful than the F7 key, this shows you each misspelling or grammatical error and suggests corrections.

Step 8 F8 – Extend a selection – This is pretty cool, actually. Select a word, press F8, the selection is now the sentence, then the paragraph, etc. If you have selection problems, this could be helpful. Or you can learn about selection methods in my #2 article in the learning Word series. I may have to add this function key to that article.
Shift F8 -Shrink a selection – Does the reverse of the F8 key.
Ctrl F8 – Size – your cursor becomes a four-arrow sizing/moving cursor. I don’t see how it works though. No thanks.
Ctrl Shift F8 – Extend a selection (or block) – Another one that didn’t work for me, just turned off my selection.
Alt F8 – Run a macro – Ah, now this is pretty good if you have macros. I’ve got a few, and this gives me a list of all the macros that come with Word, and I can also select the ones I created (they’re in normal.dot). Alt, T, M, M brings up the same thing of course, but if you use macros regularly, having a keyboard combination is probably useful.

Step 9 F9 – Update selected fields – If you create forms or mail merges with fields, you’ll want to learn the various F9 combinations. I’ll just list them here.
Shift F9 – Switch between a field code and its result.
Ctrl F9 – Insert an empty field
Ctrl Shift F9 – Unlink a field
Alt F9 – Switch between ALL field codes and their results.
Alt Shift F9 – Run gotobutton or macrobutton from the field that displays the field result.

Step 10 F10- Activate the menu bar. This has the same effect as pressing Alt, which takes you to the menu. Your choice.
Shift F10 – Display a shortcut menu – This has the same effect as right-clicking with your mouse. Good to know if your mouse isn’t working.
Ctrl F10 – Maximize the document window – this is not a toggle. You’ll have to remember Ctrl F5 to reverse it.
Ctrl Shift F10 – Activate the ruler. Hmmm, didn’t seem to work for me. Doesn’t turn the ruler off, doesn’t turn the ruler on, at least not mine. Maybe some other ruler? A king perhaps?
Alt F10 – Maximize the Program window. Remember to restore it with Alt F5.

Step 11 F11 – Go to the next field
Shift F11 – Go to the previous field
Ctrl F11 – Lock a field
Ctrl Shift F11 – Unlock a field
Alt F11 – Display Visual Basic code – ooh what a little gem hidden in with all this field stuff. If you want to play with VB, here’s the code! Don’t worry, it opens a separate window, your document is safe.

Step 12 F12 – Save As command – Cool, actually. Ctrl S is nice of course if you always want to save your document under the same name. It’s clever of them to give us a function key to use for Save AS, although if you don’t use it often, it’s not that hard to use the menu or Alt, F, A.
Shift F12 – Save command – Seems to be identical to Ctrl S, which I think is easier to remember (S for Save).
Ctrl F12 – Open command – Same as Ctrl O, again I think it’s easier to remember O for Open.
Ctrl Shift F12 – Print Command – Same as Ctrl P which is much more intuitive (P for Print) and only takes two keys.


So there you have it, a stroll through the Function keys in Microsoft Word. I wouldn’t bother learning them all. Here’s a summary of the ones I think are nifty, although some of them are a bit specialized:
F1, Ctrl F2, Shift F3, F4, Shift F4, Alt F4 (anywhere in Windows), F5 (in browsers), Ctrl Shift F5, Shift F7, F8, Alt F8, F10, Shift F10, Alt F11, F12.