If you’re starting a desktop publishing business, any productivity boost helps. If you’re a home publisher, perhaps you’d just like to work more efficiently on projects. One of the most useful things you can do is to learn your program’s keyboard shortcuts. Here are Publisher’s keyboard shortcuts.
MS Publisher Shortcuts
Here is an alphabetized list of Publisher’s most useful commands, followed by their corresponding keyboard shortcut:
Add a non-breaking hyphen – CTRL+SHIFT+-
Add a non-breaking space – CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR
Add a page after the current page – CTRL+SHIFT+N
Add a shadow – CTRL+D
Add or remove hyphens – CTRL+SHIFT+H
Align left – CTRL+L
Align right – CTRL+R
Bring to front – F6
Cancel selection of a text frame or table – ESC
Center a paragraph – CTRL+E
Change text font – CTRL+SHIFT+F
Change text size – CTRL+SHIFT+P
Change text style – CTRL+SHIFT+S
Check spelling – F7
Copy formatting – CTRL+SHIFT+C
Copy selected text or objects – CTRL+C
Create a new publication – CTRL+N
Cut selected text or objects – CTRL+X
Decrease font size by 1 point – CTRL+[
Decrease kerning – CTRL+SHIFT+[
Delete a text frame or table containing text – CTRL+SHIFT+X
Delete the next word – CTRL+DELETE
Delete the previous word – CTRL+BACKSPACE
Double-space lines – CTRL+2
Find – CTRL+F
Find and replace – CTRL+H
Group or ungroup objects – CTRL+SHIFT+G
Hide or show special characters – CTRL+SHIFT+Y
Highlight all text in text box or table cell – CTRL+A
Highlight one character to the left – SHIFT+LEFT ARROW
Highlight one character to the right – SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW
Highlight next page in page navigation control – SHIFT+F5
Highlight to end of a line – SHIFT+END
Highlight to end of a paragraph – CTRL+SHIFT+DOWN ARROW
Highlight to end of a word – CTRL+SHIFT+RIGHT ARROW
Highlight to start of a line – SHIFT+HOME
Highlight to start of a paragraph – CTRL+SHIFT+UP ARROW
Highlight to start of a word – CTRL+SHIFT+LEFT ARROW
Increase font size by 1 point – CTRL+]
Increase kerning – CTRL+SHIFT+]
Insert a frame break – CTRL+ENTER
Insert a tab in a table cell – CTRL+TAB
Italicize text – CTRL+I
Justify text – CTRL+J
Make text bold – CTRL+B
Make text small capitals – CTRL+SHIFT+K
Make transparent or opaque – CTRL+T
Move between background and foreground page – CTRL+M
Move between current page view and actual size view – F9
Move between menu bar and publication – ALT
Nudge down – ALT+DOWN ARROW
Nudge left – ALT+LEFT ARROW
Nudge right – ALT+RIGHT ARROW
Nudge up – ALT+UP ARROW
Open current publication – CTRL+O (letter O)
Paste text or objects – CTRL+P
Print – CTRL+P
Redo previous action – CTRL+Y
Remove line spacing before a paragraph – CTRL+0 (zero)
Resize object, keeping its center – Press and hold CTRL and drag a Resize handle
Return character formatting to current text style – CTRL+SPACEBAR
Rotate object freely – Press and hold ALT and drag a Resize handle
Rotate object in 15-degree increments –Press and hold CTRL+ALT and drag a Resize handle
Rotate object five degrees clockwise – CTRL+ALT+RIGHT ARROW
Rotate object five degrees counterclockwise – CTRL+ALT+LEFT ARROW
Save changes to a publication – CTRL+S
Show or hide boundaries and guides – CTRL+SHIFT+O (letter O)
Single-space lines – CTRL+1
Soft return – SHIFT+ENTER
Turn on or off the Snap to Guides feature – CTRL+W
Underline text – CTRL+U
Undo – CTRL+Z (up to 20 actions)
For more on getting the most out of your Publisher program, also check out DTP channel writer Carolyn Taraboletti’s similarly titled piece.
