Navigate Around a Word Document
- Save a document
- Rename a document
- Navigation keys
- Go to the right of the line
- Go to the left of the line
- Go to the end of the document
- Go to the beginning of the document
- Select a line
- Select a paragraph
- Select the rest of the document
- Go one word to the right
- Select one word to the right
- Go one word to the left
- Select one word to the left
- Select the whole document
- Select a paragraph
- Show or hide the ribbon
- Go to the header
- Go to the footer
- Go back to the body of the document
Save a document
First download a document to move around in.
- Go to Documents and make a New Folder. Call it something like Training -Anne.
- Click on the link and download the Letter to format. See below what it looks like.
- Save the Letter to format in the new folder.
- In Word, open the Letter to format. (Ctrl+o and Browse).

Rename a document
- Press F12 to Save As
- Rename the document to “Letter to format [Your Name]”.
- Delete the paragraph “Letter to format” at the top of the page.
Navigation – Move around in your document
You can move with or without highlighting (ie, selecting) the text.
Use the Home and End keys

- To go to the right of the line – press the End key.
- To go to the left of the line – press the Home key.
- To go to the end of the document – press Ctrl+End, ie, hold down the Ctrl key with your left little finger and press the End key with your right hand – then let them both go.
- To go to the beginning of the document – press Ctrl+Home.

Use the Arrow keys
- To go down a line – press the DownArrow key.
- To go up a line – press the UpArrow key
Combine keys

- A Ctrl key combination moves the cursor.
- A Shift key combination selects the text.
- A Ctrl+shift key combination does both – it moves the cursor and selects the text.
Shift to select
Select a line
- Put your cursor at the beginning of the paragraph.
- Press Shift+DownArrow, ie, hold down the Shift key with your left hand and press the DownArrow key with your right hand to go down one line. Keep holding the Shift key and press the DownArrow key again and again until you have selected the whole paragraph, then let go of both keys. Your text is selected while your cursor moves.
Select (highlight) a paragraph
Double-click in the margin to the left of the paragraph or triple-click in the middle of it.
Select the rest of the document
Hold down the Ctrl and Shift keys with one hand and press the End or Home key with your other hand. Press Shift+Ctrl+End to go down or press Shift+Ctrl+Home to go up.
Go one word to the right
Hold down the Ctrl key and press the RightArrow key (Ctrl+RightArrow).
Select one word to the right
- Press Ctrl+Shift+RightArrow. (Put your left little finger on the Ctrl key, your left ring finger on the Shift key, your left forefinger on the Alt key and press the RightArrow key with your right little finger.)
- To select several words, keep holding Shift+Ctrl and keep pressing and releasing the RightArrow key.
Go one word to the left
- Press Ctrl+LeftArrow.
- To select several words to the left – press Ctrl+LeftArrow repeatedly.
Select one word to the left
- Press Ctrl+Shift+LeftArrow. (Put your left little finger on the Ctrl key, your left ring finger on the Shift key, your left forefinger on the Alt key and press the LeftArrow key with your right little finger.)
- To select several words, keep holding Shift+Ctrl and keep pressing and releasing the LeftArrow key.
Note the difference between Ctrl+End and Shift+Ctrl+End (and between Ctrl+Home and Ctrl+Shift+Home): Holding the Shift key highlights the text while the cursor moves past it.
Select the whole document
Press Ctrl+a to select All.
Show or hide the ribbon
Press Ctrl+F1.
Go to the header
To activate the header so that you can edit it, double-click in the header area or press Alt+H. Note that your cursor moves into the header, the body of the document goes dull, and the Header & Footer Tools: Design tab appears on the right of the Ribbon.
Go to the footer
To activate the footer so that you can edit it, go to the Navigation group in the middle of your Ribbon and select Go to Footer.

Go back to the body of the document
Double-click in the body area or press Alt+h.
Click here to download a PDF of this lesson.
Go back to the top
Go to the Manual contents
Go to the previous lesson – Create your own keyboard shortcuts
Go to the next lesson – Options 1: See hidden text

