Thanks to the Ribbon interface, Word 2016 is a lot easier to use than in the old keyboard days. Still, keyboard shortcuts linger. The function key commands here are listed as they are mapped within Word 2016. Other programs installed on your computer may hijack certain key combinations. Also, some laptop computers may require you to press the Fn key in combination with the function keys to fully access their features.
F1 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Display the online Help for Word 2016. You can search for help, browse categories, and be otherwise baffled by the information displayed. |
| Shift | Display (or hide) the Reveal Formatting pane. |
| Ctrl | Show or hide the Ribbon. |
| Alt | Go to the next field. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Maximize the document window to fill the screen and hide the Ribbon. |
| Shift+Alt | Go to the previous field in the document. |
| Ctrl+Alt | Display the System Information window. |
F2 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Move To command. Select text and press F2. Click to position the insertion pointer, and then press the Enter key to cut and paste the selected block. |
| Shift | Copy To command. Select text and press Shift+F2. Move the insertion pointer and press Enter to copy the selected text. |
| Ctrl | Summon the Print Preview screen; the same as pressing Ctrl+P. |
| Shift+Alt | Save command; same as Ctrl+S. |
| Ctrl+Alt | Summon the Open dialog box. |
F3 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Insert building block. Type the first part of the building block text, and then press F3. |
| Shift | Change Case command. Press Shift+F3 to cycle between lowercase, uppercase, and Sentence Case formats. |
| Ctrl | Cut selected text and store it in the Spike. The Spike can contain a collection of cut items, similar to the Clipboard; however, spiked items are not stored in the Clipboard. |
| Alt | Create a new Building Block entry. After you press Alt+F3, the Create New Building Block dialog box appears. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Paste the contents of the spike. All spiked items (cut with Ctrl+F3) are inserted into the document. This is not the same command as Ctrl+V. |
F4 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Repeat command; the same as Ctrl+Y or Redo. |
| Shift | Repeat last browse object, such as Repeat Last Find or repeat the last Go To command, such as Go to Page. |
| Ctrl | Close the window; the same as the Ctrl+W command. |
| Alt | Quit the program. The Alt+F4 keyboard shortcut is the standard Windows command to close any window or program. |
| Shift+Alt | Close the window; the same as Ctrl+W and Ctrl+F4. |
F5 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Summon the Go To dialog box, or the Find and Replace dialog box with the Go To tab forward. |
| Shift | Move the insertion pointer to the last edit in the document. This command can be repeated four times to cycle through various locations. |
| Ctrl | Restore document window. |
| Alt | Restore program window. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Display the Bookmark dialog box. |
F6 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Cycle to the next open frame or pane. |
| Shift | Cycle to the previous open frame or pane. |
| Ctrl | Cycle to the next document window. |
| Alt | Cycle to the next document window; the same as Ctrl+F6. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Cycle to the previous document window. |
| Shift+Alt | Cycle to the previous document window; the same as Shift+Ctrl+F6. |
F7 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Proof the document. |
| Shift | Open the Thesaurus pane for the current word. |
| Alt | Move the insertion pointer to the next misspelled word. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Update Source command. This command applies to the IncludeText field and directs Word to update the contents based on the source document. |
| Shift+Alt | Open the Translation pane for the current word. |
| Ctrl+Alt | Summon the Korean-language spell checker. (A bug?) |
F8 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Activate extended selection mode. Use the cursor keys to extend the selection; type a character to extend the selection; press F8 again to select a larger document chunk. |
| Shift | Shrink the extended selection. Press Shift+F8 to undo the last F8 key press. |
| Ctrl | Change the window's size (though it doesn't work in Word 2016). |
| Alt | Display the Macros dialog box. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Enter block selection mode. In this mode, you select a rectangular chunk of text. Use the cursor keys or mouse to highlight a rectangle of text in the document. You can work with the block selection just as you can with any chunk of selected text. |
F9 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Update the current field: Click in a field and press the F9 key. The Ctrl+Shift+U key does the same thing. |
| Ctrl | Insert an empty field, a pair of curly brackets with nothing between them. |
| Alt | Toggle field codes for all fields in the document. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Convert the current field into plain text. |
| Shift+Alt | Simulate a user clicking on a field for programming macros. |
F10 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Display Ribbon accelerator-key shortcuts. |
| Shift | Nonfunctioning shortcut menu command. |
| Ctrl | Maximize the document window. |
| Alt | Show or hide the Selection pane. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Assigned to the WW2_RulerMode command, which no one knows anything about. |
| Shift+Alt | Displays the smart tag menu. |
F11 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Go to the next field in the document. |
| Shift | Go to the previous field in the document. |
| Ctrl | Lock the field. |
| Alt | Display the Visual Basic Editor. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Unlock the field. |
F12 key shortcuts
| Unmodified | Summon the Save As dialog box. This command works whether or not the document has been saved. |
| Shift | Summon the Save As screen if the document hasn't already been saved. |
| Ctrl | Summon the Open dialog box. |
| Shift+Ctrl | Summon the Print screen; the same as Ctrl+P. |
| Shift+Alt | Activate the button on a selected content control. |
