Knowing your computer’s keyboard shortcuts can enhance productivity manifolds. Similarly, your efficiency of working on WordPress can also get an instant boost if you know how useful certain keyboard shortcuts can be. Especially for the people who don’t like to switch between keyboard and mouse continuously, these keyboard shortcuts can prove nothing less than a blessing.
50 WordPress Keyboard Shortcuts To Make Your Live Easier
There are dozens of shortcuts for editing content, taking certain actions or just navigating around WordPress. So, let’s check out the comprehensive list of almost all the WordPress keyboard shortcuts that I’ve prepared for users who want to get things done efficiently.
Basic navigation
Moving around WordPress and its options is same as navigating any other website.
You just need the Tab, Arrow, Enter and the Backspace keys for that purpose. Below is an explanation of how to use each of these keys for navigation.
Tab
When you’ll press Tab it’ll move you to the next clickable link/option on the page starting from the top. You can press it multiple times to move from one option to another. In case you want to move back, hold Shift and press Tab.
Arrow keys
←, →, ↑ and ↓ will let you scroll through the post content.
Enter
When you want to confirm a dialog box or access an option, simply pressEnter.
Backspace
Backspace moves you back to the previous page. You can hold Shift and press Backspace to move forward a page.
Post Editing
This where the fun begins. Learning all the post editor shortcuts will help you edit and format your content quickly. Below are all the content management, editing and formatting shortcuts you’ll need to create content on WordPress.
Content management
| Highlight content per character | Shift + ← / → |
| Highlight content per word | Ctrl + Shift + ← / → |
| Highlight above/below line | Shift + ↑ / ↓ |
| Select all content | Ctrl + A |
| Paste content without formatting | Ctrl + Shift + V |
Content formatting
| Strikethrough text | Shift + Alt + D |
| Insert link | Ctrl + K |
| Remove link | Shift + Alt + S |
| Apply heading 1 | Shift + Alt + 1 |
| Apply heading 2 | Shift + Alt + 2 |
| Apply heading 3 | Shift + Alt + 3 |
| Apply heading 4 | Shift + Alt + 4 |
| Apply heading 5 | Shift + Alt + 5 |
| Apply heading 6 | Shift + Alt + 6 |
| Apply paragraph formatting | Shift + Alt + 7 |
| Start bullet list | Shift + Alt + U |
| Start numbered list | Shift + Alt + O |
| Blockquote | Shift + Alt + Q |
| Apply code formatting | Shift + Alt + X |
| Apply Address formatting | Shift + Alt + 9 |
| Align center | Shift + Alt + C |
| Align right | Shift + Alt + R |
| Align left | Shift + Alt + L |
| Justify | Shift + Alt + J |
| Add media | Shift + Alt + M |
| Toggle toolbar | Shift + Alt + Z |
| Insert Page Break tag | Shift + Alt + P |
| Insert Read More tag | Shift + Alt + T |
| Enable/disable Distraction free mode | Shift + Alt + W |
| Open help | Shift + Alt + H |
Comments
WordPress also has dedicated shortcuts for comment moderation section to make it easy to manage comments. However, you’ll first have to enable the keyboard shortcuts for the comment moderation section before using them. Here’s how to do it:
Go to your WordPress user profile and enable the option “Enable keyboard shortcuts for comment moderation”. This will activate all the shortcuts that I have listed below. Do keep in mind that each user profile must manually enable these shortcuts before using them.
Comment navigations
J and K keys are the only keys you’ll need to navigate the comments.
Pressing Jwill move you down in the comments, If no comments are selected, then the first one will be selected, K will move you up in the comments.
Also, if you reach the bottom, J will move you to the next page. And then Kwill move you back to the previous page.
Comment actions
Below are some single key shortcuts that will work when a comment or multiple comments are highlighted:
| Approve comment | A |
| Mark as spam | S |
| Move to trash | D |
| Undo recent action | Z |
| Unapprove comment | U |
| Reply to comment | R |
| Enable quick edit | Q |
| Open comment editing screen | E |
Apply actions in bulk
There are some shortcuts you can use to apply bulk actions to manage the comments section. You can find these in the following:
| Select all comments | Shift + X |
| Approve all selected comments | Shift + A |
| Trash selected comments | Shift + T |
| Permanently delete selected comments | Shift + D |
| Mark selected comments as spam | Shift + S |
| Unapprove selected comments | Shift + U |
| Restore select comments | Shift + Z |
Ending thoughts
These keyboard shortcuts will definitely help you be productive while managing your website through WordPress. I rarely use the mouse while editing the content, and apart from a tiny delay in highlighting the content; I never had any problem.
If you know other useful WordPress keyboard shortcuts or WordPress tips and tricks, share with us in the comments.
