The Keyboard

A computer keyboard has several more keys than a typewriter keyboard, and for good reasons:

  1. To provide access to functions related to its use specifically to control the computer: e.g Volume Control, Brightness.
  2. To speed up frequent operations in Programs.

We will be concentrating on the latter.

Here is a complete keyboard (you will see that it is a full keyboard with a separate number pad - the functions are the same on a laptop, just squashed up somewhat!)

We will look at each group of keys in turn.

kb
A full-scale keyboard

Key Group Purpose Notes
Character keys what it says on the tin
Modifier keys Shift (both sides of keyboard); Control (Ctrl) - (both sides); Ctrl is used for keyboard shortcuts
Enter and editing keys Enter, Delete, Backspace delete, Insert/Overstrike,
System and GUI keys The only one of importance to us here is the Windows win key key, near the left of the bottom row. Used extensively in shortcuts in purely Windows operations, rather than Word.
Navigation keys The four Cursor (arrow) keys, Home, End, Page Up, Page Down, Tab Home and End are often overlooked but they are great timesavers.
Function keys not needed for our venture into Word
Numeric Keypad what it says on the tin, if you have one. On a Laptop and in Word, we use the numbers on the second-top row of the keyboard.
Lock keys Caps Lock, Number lock and Scroll lock. Rarely used in Word.