Microsoft Hardware Blog

Although we use our keyboards all day, every day, sometimes even we can underestimate their ability to make our computing much more efficient for us. The IntelliType Pro software that lets you configure your keyboard has all sorts of cool tricks to make your work faster and easier. If you have hot keys on your keyboard that you aren’t using, why not reassign them to something you will use?

With one key press, you can open the folders/libraries most commonly used.

• Computer
• Documents
• Pictures
• Music

If you want to open a different folder or file, you can assign that path to any hot key or Favorites key. There are several commands to make it easier to manage windows on your desktop.

• Flip, Flip 3D, and Instant Viewer all show thumbnails of open applications, just in different formats.
• Instant Viewer shows all open windows in a grid. (If you are familiar with Mac, It’s like Exposé.
• Flip shows the thumbnails in a rectangle in the middle of the screen, sort of like the view you get when you Alt+Tab through multiple windows. If you have too many windows open (like I always do), you’ll just see icons instead of thumbnails.
• Flip 3D shows the thumbnails in a carousel that rotates as you move through it. Flip 3D only works if you have the Aero theme on Vista or Windows 7.
• Next and Previous window cycle you through all the open windows in the same order you would get if you use Alt+Tab or Alt+Shift+Tab.
• Close window is the same as clicking the little X in the upper left corner of the window.
• Show/Hide desktop does just what it says.

You can easily start several common applications with the commands included in IntelliType Pro.

• Excel
• Word
• Windows Live Messenger
• Your default web browser
• Calculator
• Windows Media Player
• Your Outlook calendar
• Hotmail

If you want to start a different program, just tell IntelliType Pro the path to start it. You can also assign a hot key or My Favorites key to open a specific web page by typing in the URL.
You can assign commands to your hot keys to manage documents.

• Create a new file
• Open an existing file
• Save the active file
• Print the active file
• Run spell check
• Exit the program

Some of the commands are designed to help you see your work better.

• Zoom in
• Zoom out
• Magnify

Note: Zooming doesn’t work in all applications. You can read more about that here.

Here are a few great IntelliType Pro tricks that need a little more explanation.

Back and Forward are like the back and forward buttons in your browser, though back/forward are supported in several other application like Windows Explorer and PowerPoint. Some keyboards include a Back hot key, or often you can just use the Backspace key on your keyboard. Forward is a bit tricky because in many applications it only lets you go forward after you’ve used the back key. While we’re talking about browsers, you can assign a hot key to stop loading a browser window.

The Task Pane command shows or hides the task pane in Microsoft Office.

Lock Workstation and Log Off are helpful keys if you are concerned about people using your computer when you aren’t around. I assigned the Lock Workstation command to my Flip 3D button because I use Alt+Tab instead of flipping. When my hands are full with my laptop computer, my notepad, and my soda can, I can reach down with one finger and make sure my console is locked.

Got any hot key favorites you’d like to share? Leave your suggestions in the comments.