Using Short-Cut Keys
Contents
Shortcut Keys
Like MS Windows and Mac operating systems, shortcut keys can increase your productivity. Many of the shortcut keys in Linux are similar to the shortcut keys in MS Windows, but there are occasional differences.
Listing of Shortcut Keys
Here are a list of shortcut keys by category:
Assign / Change Shortcut Key Operations
There are times that I wish to change certain shortcut keys to have it work like MS Windows (I guess I have been "conditioned" in the past...). For example, instead of pressing CTRL-ALT-d to view the desktop, I would like to just press Windows-d...
You can easily reassign the shortcut keys. Let's reassign the shortcut key to use Windows-d to view the desktop
Steps to Reassign Shortcut Keys:
- Click on SYSTEM -> PREFERENCES -> Keyboard Shortcuts.
- The Keyboard Shortcuts Dialog box should appear. The keyboard shortcuts should be divided into categories such as "Custom Shortcuts", "Desktop", "Sound", and "Windows Management".
- Scroll to category labelled "Windows Management".
- Click on action labelled " Hide all normal windows and set focus to desktop background".
- Press the new shortcut key combination.
- Close the "Keyboard Shortcuts" dialog box.
Mouse Shortcuts
Linux has a great mouse shortcut that MS Windows doesn't have (at least by default). To quickly copy and paste text:
- Select text with mouse.
- Move to area to paste text, and click the middle mouse button.
I'm always surprised that MS Windows haven't adopted this neat shortcut (at least from default install of the OS). It is just another reason why I like working in the Linux environment...
...(Which is really interesting since being a computer college professor, I am eligiable to receive Windows operating systems for free and also receive major discounts on educational versions of MS Windows applications... but still I prefer working in Linux...)
