Use your iPad like a pro with these keyboard shortcuts

What are keyboard shortcuts and what are they for?

Before getting into the shortcuts that you will be able to use on your iPad, we want to tell you what shortcuts are and, above all, why they are so useful for all users. a keyboard shortcut consists of the combination of several keys to carry out a certain action. For example, one of the most used is the shortcut to copy and paste content, which is carried out by pressing the keys cmd+c, to copy, and cmd+v to paste.

Therefore, keyboard shortcuts provide users with It is a much faster and easier way to perform different actionsallowing you to take advantage of much more time and, thus, an action that would normally take you 5 seconds, with its corresponding keyboard shortcut, takes only one second.

Better shortcuts

Fortunately for users, the variety of keyboard shortcuts that exist within the iPad and more specifically, within iPadOS is very large. Also, you have to know that these are not only available through an external keyboard, many of them can also be used with the virtual keyboard that appears on the iPad screen itself, although obviously, the use of these is designed for all those users who will use or use iPad together with a keyboard such as the Magic Keyboard or the Smart Keyboard.

General

There are many and different types of keyboard shortcuts that you have available on the iPad, but before going into those that are more specific to certain applications or to carry out more specific functions, we want you to know the most common ones and those that, surely, , the more you will use on a day-to-day basis. Below you have them.

• Command + H: go to the home screen.
• Command + Space: Show or hide the search field.
• Command + Tab: Switch to the next most recently used app among the apps that are open.
• Command + Shift + 3: Take a screenshot.
• Command + Shift + 4 – Take a screenshot and open Markup to view or edit it.
• Command + Option + D: Show or hide the Dock.
• Command + N: Create a new document, note, event, contact or email depending on the application where you are.
• Command + B: use bold.
• Command + I: use italics.
• Command + U: use underline.
• Shift + arrows: Text selection.
• Alt + Left or Right Arrow: Scroll word by word.
• Command + left or right arrow: move to the beginning of the line.
• Command + up or down arrow: move to the beginning or end of the document.
• Command + C: copy.
• Command + V: paste.
• Command + X: cut.
• Command + Z: undo.
• Option + Command + Z: redo.
• Command + F: search in text.
• Command + Shift + Tab: open next app.
• Command + A: selection of all elements or text.
• Command + H: close app.
• Alt + Command + D: show the dock.
• Press space twice in a row: period and followed.

Shortcuts in native apps

Once you know the most general shortcuts that you can use on your iPad together with a keyboard, it is time to get into the apps that you probably use the most on a day-to-day basis, which are the native applications that Apple itself provides for free to all users of its devices. Surely you will not use all of them, but surely, if at any time you have to use them, these shortcuts that we are going to tell you will come in handy.

• pages
  • Command + N: create a new document.
  • Command + O: open the document manager.
  • Option + Shift + Command + V – Paste with the same style as the target text.
  • Command + G: find next.
  • Shift + Command + G: find previous.
  • Shift + Command + E: enter or exit the view.
  • Shift + Command + W: Show or hide the word count.
  • Command + R: show or hide the ruler.
  • Shift + Command + K: Add a comment.
  • Command + Return or Command + Enter: insert a page break.
  • Option + Command + B: Add a bookmark.
  • Option + Command + P: Show or hide the page browser.
  • Command + Plus sign (+): Increase the size of the text.
  • Command + Minus sign (-): decrease the size of the text.
  • Control + Shift + Command + Plus Sign (+): Make the text superscript.
  • Control + Command + Minus sign (-): make the text subscript.
  • Command + K: Convert text or object to a link.
  • Option + Command + C: Copy the paragraph or object style.
  • Option + Command + V – Paste the paragraph or object style.
  • Option + Tab: insert a tab in the text or in a formula.
  • Option + Command + E: Insert an equation.
  • Option + Command + G: Group selected objects.
• Safari
  • Command + T: new tab.
  • Command + W: close tab.
  • Command + N: open split view.
  • Command + L: Open the URL of the website.
  • Command + R: reload page.
  • Command + F: find on the page.
  • Command + Shift + R: show/hide reader mode.
  • Command + Shift + L: show/hide the sidebar.
  • Shift + Command + T – Reopen a closed tab.
  • Command + L: open location.

• Mail
  • Command + Alt + F: search in the mailbox.
  • Shift + Command + J: Mark as spam.
  • Command + R: reply mail.
  • Shift + Command + R: reply all.
  • Shift + Command + F: forward.
  • Command + M: minimize draft.
• Grades
  • Command + N: create a new note.
  • Command + Alt + T: format the title of the note.
  • Command + Alt + H: format the subtitle of the note.
  • Command + Alt + L: put checklist.
  • Shift + Command + L: Checklist.
  • Shift + Command + U: mark as checked.
  • Control + Shift + T: table.
  • Control + Command + F: Note list search.

Create your own keyboard shortcut

In addition to having all these shortcuts available, Apple also makes it easy for all users to create their own keyboard shortcuts. In addition, the process, as you will see below, is really simple, and in just a few steps you will be able to customize the way you work with your iPad and its corresponding keyboard. Here are the steps to follow.

1. On your iPad, open the Settings app.
2. Click on Accessibility.
3. Press Keyboards.
4. Choose Full keyboard access and activate it.
5. Click on commands.
6. Press a command and then press a custom key combination to assign it.
7. Press okay.