Keyboard Shortcuts for Text Editing: Windows, Mac, Google Docs and Word

Use Ctrl (Windows) or Command (Mac) with C, X, V, Z and A to copy, cut, paste, undo and select all. Add Ctrl (Windows) or Option (Mac) to an arrow key to jump a whole word, and hold Shift to select as you move. These work in almost any text box. Google Docs and Word add their own shortcuts for headings, find and replace, word count and changing case. Every shortcut below was checked against the vendor’s own help page in October 2026 (see the sources). Apps can change their shortcuts, so if one does nothing, check the app’s own list.

The core shortcuts on Windows and Mac

These come from Microsoft’s Windows list and Apple’s Mac list. They work in browsers, email, chat apps, Notepad, TextEdit and most other places you type.

Action	Windows	Mac
Copy	Ctrl+C	Command+C
Cut	Ctrl+X	Command+X
Paste	Ctrl+V	Command+V
Undo	Ctrl+Z	Command+Z
Redo	Ctrl+Y	Shift+Command+Z
Select all	Ctrl+A	Command+A
Find	Ctrl+F (in most apps)	Command+F
Find the next match	(varies by app)	Command+G
Paste as plain text	Ctrl+Shift+V	Option+Shift+Command+V

Two notes. Microsoft describes Windows’ Ctrl+Shift+V as “paste as plain text”, but whether it works depends on the app. Apple calls the Mac version “Paste and Match Style”: the pasted text takes the style of the text around it. Google Docs and Word use Ctrl+Shift+V / Command+Shift+V for the same job (see their tables below).

Windows also has two shortcuts that are useful when you write. Windows key+V opens clipboard history, so you can paste something you copied several copies ago. Windows key+period (.) opens the emoji panel. On a Mac, Control+Command+Space bar (or Fn+E) opens the Character Viewer, which has emoji and symbols.

Moving, selecting and deleting faster

Moving one letter at a time is slow. These shortcuts jump by word, line or document, and adding Shift turns any of them into a selection.

Action	Windows	Mac
Jump to previous / next word	Ctrl+Left / Ctrl+Right	Option+Left / Option+Right
Start / end of line	Home / End	Command+Left / Command+Right
Start / end of document	Ctrl+Home / Ctrl+End	Command+Up / Command+Down
Previous / next paragraph	Ctrl+Up / Ctrl+Down	(no system shortcut listed)
Select a word at a time	Ctrl+Shift+Left / Right	Option+Shift+Left / Right
Select to start of document	(not on Microsoft’s list)	Shift+Command+Up
Delete word to the left	Ctrl+Backspace	Option+Delete
Delete word to the right	Ctrl+Delete	(not on Apple’s list)
Forward delete (one letter)	Delete	Fn+Delete or Control+D

On a Mac, Control+A and Control+E also move to the start and end of a line or paragraph, and Control+K cuts the selection, or the text from the insertion point to the end of the paragraph, into a separate clipboard that only that app can use.

A practical pattern: to replace the last three words you typed, press Ctrl+Shift+Left three times (Option+Shift+Left on a Mac) and type over the selection. To delete a misspelled word, Ctrl+Backspace (Option+Delete) is one keystroke instead of several.

Google Docs shortcuts

Google Docs uses the system copy, paste and undo keys and adds its own. These are from Google’s own shortcut list. In Docs, Ctrl+/ (Command+/ on a Mac) opens the full list inside the editor.

Action	Windows / ChromeOS	Mac
Paste without formatting	Ctrl+Shift+V	Command+Shift+V
Clear formatting	Ctrl+\ or Ctrl+Space	Command+\
Find and replace	Ctrl+H	Command+Shift+H
Word count	Ctrl+Shift+C	Command+Shift+C
Redo	Ctrl+Shift+Z	Command+Shift+Z
Strikethrough	Alt+Shift+5	Command+Shift+X
Insert link	Ctrl+K	Command+K
Insert comment	Ctrl+Alt+M	Command+Option+M
Normal text / Heading 1	Ctrl+Alt+0 / Ctrl+Alt+1	Command+Option+0 / Command+Option+1
Numbered / bulleted list	Ctrl+Shift+7 / Ctrl+Shift+8	Command+Shift+7 / Command+Shift+8
Voice typing	Ctrl+Shift+S	Command+Shift+S
Show all shortcuts	Ctrl+/	Command+/

There is no case-changing shortcut in Google’s list. If you need to turn a paragraph in capitals into sentence case, paste it into the case converter, choose the case and copy the result back. The word count shortcut opens a dialog. Our guide on counting words in Google Docs and Word explains what it counts.

Microsoft Word shortcuts

Word follows the system shortcuts and adds many of its own. These are from Microsoft’s “Keyboard shortcuts in Word” page, which has separate Windows and Mac tabs.

Action	Word for Windows	Word for Mac
Change case (upper, lower, title)	Shift+F3	Shift+F3
All caps format	Ctrl+Shift+A	Command+Shift+A
Small caps format	Ctrl+Shift+K	—
Find (search box)	Ctrl+F	Command+F
Find and replace	Ctrl+H	Control+H
Paste text only	Ctrl+Shift+V	Command+Shift+V
Paste Special dialog	—	Command+Control+V
Remove character formatting	Ctrl+Spacebar	—
Go To a page or object	Ctrl+G	—
Repeat last action	F4	—
Move paragraph up / down	Alt+Shift+Up / Down	—
Extend selection (word, sentence, paragraph)	F8, press repeatedly	—

Shift+F3 is the case-changing shortcut. Select text and press it repeatedly: Word switches the selection between upper case, lower case and title case. All caps (Ctrl+Shift+A) is different. Microsoft describes it as changing the text to all upper case, and it does not cycle. Use Shift+F3 when you want to cycle through cases instead.

When a shortcut is not enough

Shortcuts work one selection at a time. Some jobs are faster in a tool that processes the whole text at once:

• Changing case across many lines. The case converter offers sentence case, lowercase, UPPERCASE, Capitalized Case, Title Case (APA), camelCase, snake_case, kebab-case, CONSTANT_CASE and a few more. It does not recognize names, so check proper nouns after converting to sentence case or lowercase:

Before	Sentence case
PLEASE REVIEW THE ATTACHED REPORT BEFORE FRIDAY	Please review the attached report before friday

• Find and replace with options that apps lack. The replace text tool has Match case, Whole words only, Regular expression ($1 for groups) and “Use \n and \t for line breaks and tabs (in Find and Replace with)”. The last option turns a comma list into one item per line: find , , replace with \n, and apples, pears, plums becomes three lines. With Whole words only on, replacing cat with dog in “The cat sat on the category mat. Cat food.” gives “The dog sat on the category mat. dog food.”: “category” is left alone. The replacement is inserted exactly as typed, so “Cat” became “dog” with a lowercase d.
• Cleaning pasted text. Text copied from PDFs often has a line break at the end of every line. Remove line breaks and remove extra spaces fix that in one pass. See removing line breaks from PDF text.
• Counting. Google Docs and Word both have word count shortcuts, but for text in an email, a form or a CMS, the word counter shows words, characters, sentences and reading time as you type.

A short practice routine

Shortcuts stick when you use them on real work. Learn them in this order:

1. Paste as plain text (Ctrl+Shift+V, or Option+Shift+Command+V on a Mac). Using it every time you paste from a web page saves you from fixing fonts later.
2. Word jumps and word deletes (Ctrl/Option+arrow, Ctrl+Backspace or Option+Delete). These save the most keystrokes when you edit your own drafts.
3. Select with Shift. Combine Shift with any movement shortcut instead of reaching for the mouse.
4. Find and replace (Ctrl+H in Docs and Word on Windows). Use it for repeated fixes, such as a name spelled two ways.
5. Your editor’s shortcut list. In Google Docs press Ctrl+/ (Command+/) and search for the action you use most.