The computer mouse is one of the most useful computer accessories ever to be invented. But did you know you can use it in many other ways, apart from just clicking on a program or document to open it? You are probably conversant with the drag-and-drop function or right-clicking to open the context menu, but there are more mouse tricks and shortcuts that can help speed up your work.
This article shares some easy mouse tricks that Windows 10/11 users can try. These tricks will be useful especially if you are a writer or if you are constantly working with word documents.
Use the [SHIFT] key to select text
Clicking and holding down the left mouse button on a text, and then dragging the mouse is the most common way to select text. However, the easiest way is to combine the [SHIFT] key with the left mouse button.
To select text using this mouse trick, click on the part of the text where you would like your text selection to begin. Scroll down to the part of the text where you want your selection to end, then hold down the [SHIFT] key and click the left mouse button.
Open a link in a new tab using the [CTRL] key
Apart from opening a link in a new tab using the right-click function, there is also a speedy and easy way using the [CTRL] key on the keyboard. Simply hold down the [CTRL] key and click on any link. That’s it. The link will open in a new tab. This mouse trick works even on websites that have disabled the right-click function, where you cannot open links in new tabs by right-clicking.
Select multiple texts using the [CTRL] key
This mouse trick lets you select multiple text pieces scattered across the page. To do this, simply select some text, then scroll down to another text you want to select, hold down the [CTRL] key on the keyboard and select it. You can select as many texts as you can.
Drag and drop instead of copy-paste
Instead of selecting text, right-clicking and copying it to the clipboard, you can instead select, drag, and drop to wherever you would like to move the text on a document or a text field.
This mouse trick works even when you want to copy text across tabs, from one tab to another, say on a web page to a Google Docs document you are working on. Simply select the text you would like to copy, drag it to your Google Docs tab on the browser, and then move it to the exact location you want it to be on the document.
