Learn about those extra keys on your keyboard

One of my favorite interactions with a client happened a few years back and thinking about it still makes me smile. As I was working with a woman who I had always thought was the most computer literate employee at this particular client, I asked her why she was using so many keystrokes to perform a particular function. I asked her “why don’t you just right click?” She clicked on the right button on her mouse and said with a surprised tone, as the menu popped up in excel, “is that what that button is for!”

I thought about this today as I was looking at all the extra keys on my HP laptop and wondering why I never used any of them. Most newer keyboards have a lot of extra keys that allow you to do things with only the touch of that button.

I looked at the extra keys on my keyboards and wondered how many other people never use these keys. On my keyboard I have QuickPlay keys, Media control Keys, Function Keys, and a button for “back” and “ok”. Take a look at your keyboard and see what you have.

I have posted before about using short cut keys in your programs. I now think we should take a look at the keys on our keyboard that will help us. I am going to make an effort to use one new extra key each day for the next week. I’ll let you know how it works out.

Let me know what you think,

Marc