Work faster using shortcuts

Wednesday’s Production Tip for Graphic Designers

Who doesn’t want to work faster? You’d be amazed at how much time you waste using the mouse and menu items. It’s amazing.

I find that it also interrupts my flow having to stop and search for the correct command. Especially if it’s something I must do repetitively.

How you can speed up your work pace:

1. Right clicking for an expanded menu: My most frequently used trick! (Mac users: format your mouse for this secondary menu).
2. Two mouse clicks: Selects the word
3. Three mouse clicks: Selects the entire line
4. Automate repetitive tasks: Make use of actions in PhotoShop to record repetitive tasks (like resizing pics for the web) or create macros in MS Word
5. Create your own keyboard shortcuts: if you have a tool you constantly use, create your own keyboard shortcut for it!

C O N C L U S I O N :

Start learning the shortcuts you need to start working faster. Do you find yourself doing a task over and over? Is there anyway you can automate it?

And one final point: if you can, it’s always good to use the programs from one company (such as Adobe and Microsoft) because the shortcuts will be the same in all their programs.

FURTHER READING

• Here’s a list of common keyboard shortcut

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