How to add and edit shortcuts in Word 2013

This article explains how to view the keyboard shortcuts that come with each command in Word 2013 and add new shortcuts or change existing shortcuts.

Many commands in Microsoft Word include a shortcut (keyboard shortcut), which helps users quickly format text, save files and perform other operations on documents. These keyboard shortcuts can be customized or you can attach shortcuts to commands without shortcuts.

Here's how to see the keyboard shortcuts that come with each command in Word 2013 , add new shortcuts or change existing shortcuts.

There are several ways to access the Options screen to customize the Ribbon, where the dialog box allows you to customize the keyboard shortcut. The first way is to click on the tab (File) 'File'.

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Then, click on 'Options' from the menu list on the left.

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On the 'Word Options' dialog box , click on 'Customize Ribbon ' in the menu on the left.

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The second faster way to access the Customize Ribbon screen is to right-click on one of the item titles on any tab of the Ribbon. Select ' Customize the Ribbon' from the menu that appears.

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The left side of the ' Customize Ribbon' screen is a list of commands. Click the ' Customize' button at the bottom next to ' Keyboard shortcuts'.

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The ' Customize Keyboard' dialog box appears. To list all commands in the 'Commands' list on the right, select 'All Commands' in the 'Categories' list . If you know which section of the command you want to insert the shortcut in, you can select it to narrow down the list of commands on the right.

Choose the command you want to insert the shortcut from the Commands list. If there is no shortcut key listed in the 'Current keys' box , then there is no shortcut key attached to that command.

To assign a shortcut key to the command, place the cursor in the edit box for 'Press new shortcut key' and press the shortcut key you want to use.

If the shortcut key is not used by any command in Word, the 'Currently assigned to ' field under the 'Current keys' box will show '[unassigned]'. Click the 'Assign' button to assign the selected shortcut key to the selected command.

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Note: If you enter the keyboard shortcut that has been assigned to another command, Word will notify the command assigned to that shortcut. Just press the other shortcut keys until you see the word '[unassigned]' as in the image above.

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Once you click 'Assign', the shortcut key will be added to the 'Current keys' list.

Note: You can assign more than one shortcut key to a command.

Click 'Close' to close the 'Customize Keyboard' dialog box .

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Note: To delete a shortcut assigned to a command, select that shortcut in the 'Current keys' list and click 'Remove'.

Click 'OK' from the 'Word Options' dialog box to close.

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You can also change the shortcut assigned to a command by deleting that shortcut and assigning a new shortcut command.