Mastering WordPress Shortcuts

If you are running a low-traffic blog then using shortcuts at this stage may not bother you but as soon as your website or blog starts gaining numbers, you will definitely find shortcuts indispensable for a speedy workflow.

Shortcuts in WordPress can be used in two main areas:

WordPress Post Editor (Visual and text editor) Comments moderation

WordPress Editor shortcuts

If you write articles frequently, you must agree how much distracting and time consuming it is to scroll to the top menu for even minor tasks like making the text bold. What about just selecting the text in your article and pressing Ctrl+b to make it bold and then continue writing rest of the post.

These are the scenarios where you will find how helpful are the keyboard shortcuts in WordPress!

To quickly see a list of keyboard shortcuts within WordPress text editor, click the Toolbar Toggle button in top menu bar and then click the tiny question mark button.

Let’s see WordPress keyboard shortcuts in detail now.

Ctrl + Letter

Lets see some keyboard shortcut combinations with Ctrl key. Mac users can use the same shortcuts with Command (⌘) key. The list below has been assembled as a keyboard letter with corresponding action.

Letter | Action

x | Cut

c | Copy

v | Paste

a | Select all

b | Bold

i | Italic

u | Underline

z | Undo

y | Redo

k | Insert/edit link

For example to copy (action) the selected text in text editor, you can press Ctrl+c (letter) shortcut.

Can you answer what is the keyboard shortcut to insert a link in WordPress post?

Alt + Shift + Letter

There is a different set of actions which can be executed by pressing Alt + Shift together with any of the letters below. Mac uses Option key instead of Alt.

Letter | Action

n | Check Spelling

l | Align Left

j | Justify Text

c | Align Center

d | Strike-through

r | Align Right

u | Un-ordered List

a | Insert link

o | Ordered List (1.2.3.)

s | Remove link

q | Quote

m | Insert Image

w | Distraction Free Writing mode

t | Insert More Tag

p | Insert Page Break tag

h | Help

x | Add/remove code tag

1 | Heading 1

2 | Heading 2

3 | Heading 3

4 | Heading 4

5 | Heading 5

6 | Heading 6

9 | Address

Frequent publishers will definitely like WordPress distraction free writing shortcut by pressing Alt+Shift+w. It’s sort of a full screen text editor mode.

Can you guess what is the keyboard shortcut for justify text?

Formatting Shortcuts

Formatting shortcuts in WordPress work the same way as above shortcuts but the action gets executed only once you press Enter key.