What are the most useful keyboard shortcuts for WordPress?

It may not seem like it, but you’re wasting time every time you need to switch from your keyboard to your mouse. Over a whole working day, that can add up! We use a lot of WordPress keyboard shortcuts to write our articles, and they help us speed up our writing workflow considerably.

How can you improve your writing productivity?

Do you ever unconsciously Ctrl + C to copy a file, text or anything else onto your computer to go faster? I’m sure you’ve unconsciously assimilated some keyboard shortcuts and nowadays you couldn’t do without them, as it would be such a waste of time.

In this article, we’re going to talk about keyboard shortcuts, which you can be sure will help you save time when writing articles on WordPress, because with them, you won’t have to take your hands off your keyboard!

Below is a list of the most commonly used shortcuts on Windows; on a Mac, the procedure is slightly different due to the layout of the keyboard.

Windows and Mac key equivalents :

• The equivalent of the Ctr key on Windowsl is ⌘ (Cmd) on the Mac
• The Alt key is ⌃ (Control)
• and for the Shift key: ⌥ (Option)

Basic text shortcuts:

Some of the keyboard shortcuts you use on your computer or in Microsoft Word, or any other word processing software, also work in WordPress. The keyboard shortcuts you already know will make writing articles a breeze!

Formatting shortcuts in WordPress:

Formatting shortcuts may not be exactly the same as keyboard shortcuts, but they’re pretty close and are useful alternatives to many keyboard shortcuts. They are not activated by a combination of keys on the keyboard, but by typing something directly into the WordPress editor.

To apply the formatting you need to press “Space”(␣) after typing one of the shortcuts. (quotation marks are not to be taken into account when typing).

• “*” + ␣ : Starts an unordered list.
• “1.” + ␣: Starts an ordered list.
• “ #” + ␣: Apply H1 formatting.
• “ ##” + ␣: Apply H2 formatting
• “###” + ␣: Applies H3 formatting (Possibility of continuing the model up to H6)
• “>” + ␣: Apply H2 formatting: Create a quotation block
• ” – ” : Creates a horizontal line

Learn how to use WordPress block editor shortcuts :

Many shortcuts are presented in this article, but some are essential to help you really save a lot of time when editing.

Here’s a list of editor block shortcuts that will help you write faster in WordPress:

• ” / “: Quickly inserts a block if you type its name
• Enter: Creates a new block
• Ctrl + S: Save changes
• Ctrl + Z: Undo last changes
• Ctrl + Y: Restore last action
• Ctrl + A: Highlight all text in a block
• Esc: Delete highlighting in block
• Ctrl + B: Bold highlighted text
• Ctrl + I: Italicize highlighted text
• Ctrl + U: Underline highlighted text
• Ctrl + K: Convert highlighted text into a link
• Shift + Ctrl + K: Remove link
• Shift + Ctrl + D: Duplicate selected block(s)
• Ctrl + Shift + Alt + M: Switches to the code editor or back to the text editor if you were already there

And finally, shortcuts for moderating comments:

Like content editing, WordPress also implements shortcuts for managing comments.

By default, these shortcuts are deactivated, but it’s easy to do: in your dashboard, go to: Users > Your profile > Keyboard shortcuts, tick the little box and it’s activated! Remember to save before leaving the menu.

To use these shortcuts, go to the Comments tab on your WP dashboard.

• J: Moves the selection down (moves to the next page if you’re at the bottom of the page)
• K: Moves selection up
• X: Adds a checkmark (to potentially perform multiple actions)
• Shift + X: Activates or deactivates the checkmark for all comments

Once you’ve selected one or more comments, you can interact using new shortcuts.

• A: Approve comment
• U: Disapprove comment
• S: Mark comment as spam
• D: Delete comment
• Z: Restore comment from recycle garbage can
• R: Start reply to comment
• Q: Opens quick-edit screen to edit comment
• E: Opens full-screen editing

If you have highlighted several comments, you can also use the “Shift +” command to act on several comments, for example:

Shift + D will delete all selected comments.

Conclusion: save time by learning WordPress keyboard shortcuts

As with any software on a computer, whether Windows, Linux or Mac, keyboard shortcuts of any kind are essential for productivity. A real time-saver when writing articles, for example!

Being able to perform an action without having to leave the keyboard, or search through menus and sub-menus with the mouse, is a real pleasure.

There’s no need to learn them by heart, as you’ll come to memorize them instinctively the more you use them, just like good old copy-and-paste. Now it’s up to you to start adding them to your workflow, little by little, to make your work more productive!