About

Say it letter by letter, the way you would press it. CQXTZ is five shortcuts before it is a name.

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A tidy working desk from above: a beige and grey keyboard with one red key, a grey mouse to its right, a closed grey notebook and a mug of black coffee on light oak.

Hold Cmd on a Mac and those five letters copy, quit, cut, open a new tab and undo, all under the left hand. On Windows, Ctrl does four of them and Alt+F4 closes the app.

Letter What it does Mac Windows
C Copy Cmd+C Ctrl+C
Q Quit the app Cmd+Q Alt+F4
X Cut Cmd+X Ctrl+X
T New tab Cmd+T Ctrl+T
Z Undo Cmd+Z Ctrl+Z

The sections start with the keys (in your apps, your operating system, your spreadsheets and your typing), then the keyboard under them and the desk around it, then the apps and automations that save the trip to the mouse. Shortcut Sheets is one free page per app, with the keys in the order to learn them, and Kit is what we’d keep on our own desks.

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The writers are on Authors. Questions and corrections go to Contact.

Who writes here

  • Editor and IT trainer

    Lydia Szabo

    Has taught Microsoft 365 and Google Workspace to office teams for twelve years, and starts every class with the keys.
  • Keyboards and desk setup writer

    Felix Okoro

    Has built and modded keyboards for nine years and works from a home desk arranged around a split board.
  • All authorsFull bios and articles