December 12, 2022, by Helen Whitehead

Three keyboard shortcuts to quickly make documents more accessible in Word. Advent Calendar #12

It’s a busy time of year when you’re supporting students towards the end of the semester as well as preparing for the Christmas or other end-of-year holiday. So save time with Word’s many keyboard shortcuts to bypass or replace clicking menu items. If you’re in full flow typing, these can be particularly helpful, and if you’re trying to create accessible documents as well, here are three of the most useful:

1. Adding heading styles

When creating documents, it’s always best to add Heading styles rather than using bold or size or colour. Pop your cursor at the beginning of a line and use CTRL ALT 1 to create a Heading 1: or 2 or 3 similarly.

SHIFT F10 also brings up a heading style browser window which you select with the arrow and return key.

2. Adding hyperlinks

CTRL K allows you to add a hyperlink to a Word document.

First click at the start of the text to link, then hold down Shift and the right arrow to select the text, then CTRL K to add the hyperlink.

Ensure your link text is meaningful (not just “Click here”).

3. More keyboard shortcuts for accessibility

If you would like to customise your use of Word to suit your own needs, there are a number of keyboard shortcuts that can help, including:

Windows logo key  and Plus sign (+) to turn the Magnifier on.  (Windows logo key and Esc turns it off again)

Windows logo key and U opens the accessibility settings for your computer to adjust them to suit.

More keyboard shortcuts to support accessibility from Microsoft

UoN Learning Technologies Advent Calendar #12

1. Advent Calendar #1: Welcome!
2. Advent Calendar #2: Habits of Accessible People
3. Advent Calendar #3: How to get an archive of your Twitter data – and close your account
4. Advent Calendar #4: Timed Moodle Forum posts
5. Advent Calendar #5: An academic’s guide to Echo360 Engage in Moodle
6. Advent Calendar #6: Easily transferring your Teams recordings into Echo360 Engage
7. Advent Calendar #7: Timed document release in Moodle
8. Advent Calendar #8: The MHS Faculty Digital Learning Hub 
9. Advent Calendar #9: Quiz review options in Moodle
10. Advent Calendar #10: Viewfinder magazine – moving image and sound in education
11. Advent Calendar #11: Student Engagement Cards resource

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn