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    Saving Seconds: A Writer’s Guide to Mouseless Editing

    Fact checked by Vahe Arabian
    Vahe Arabian

    Founder and Editor in Chief of State of Digital Publishing. My vision is to provide digital publishing and media professionals a platform to collaborate and promote their efforts, my passion is to uncover talent and… Read more

    Edited by Andrew Kemp
    Andrew Kemp

    Andrew joined the State of Digital Publishing team in 2021, bringing with him more than a decade and a half of editorial experience in B2B publishing. His career has spanned the technology, natural resources, financ…Read more

    Saving Seconds_ A Writer’s Guide to Mouseless Editing

    Thomas Bellink is a freelance writer and editor in the B2B space. In his spare time, he works on his fiction and art blog.

    Thomas Bellink is a freelance writer and editor in the B2B space. In his spare time, he works on his fiction and art blog.

    The greatest time-saver I’ve found for editing is a little-known technique: mouse-less editing. To me, this is as essential to an editor as touch typing is to a writer.

    Although using shortcuts to save a second two at a time might seem a little underwhelming at first, its true potential blooms when viewing it at scale.

    For example, if every shortcut saves around 5 seconds, then editors can save an hour and 20 minutes over the course of 1,000 edits — a more than realistic figure for a particularly troublesome piece. A day’s worth of work can be saved within 6,000 edits.

    Editors are traditionally time-poor, often working to tight deadlines. As such, any tool that can save them time is a welcome addition.

    With that in mind, here’s a list of shortcuts and techniques that can help editors — and even writers — be as efficient as possible.

    This guide was specifically created for editors working within Google Documents on Windows-based computers. However, much of what’s discussed here can be used in other text editing programs such as Microsoft Word. We’ve highlighted shortcuts that are either used across multiple apps or Gdocs specifically.

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    PUBLISHERS, THESE 20+ TOOLS WILL SUPERCHARGE YOUR GROWTH

    Subscribe to our newsletter and receive the ultimate list of smart technologies and free resources to boost your publisher SEO and content efforts.

    Join 3,000+ publishers around the world and get exclusive tips and resources delivered to your inbox.

    Being a part of the SODP Community has made a real impact on my problem-solving at work. From bouncing off paywalls solution ideas to thinking about an SEO strategy for my paywall, it’s the most value-adding professional community I’m a part of.

    Yvette Dimiri, Head of Growth, Stears