FamilySearch Indexing Tip: Keyboard Shortcuts

When indexing it sometimes slows you down when you have to move your hand from the keyboard to the mouse. The programmers who created FamilySearch Indexing hate to get slowed down, so they implemented a series of keyboard shortcuts. You'll find they work for you too.

Keyboard shortcuts are special key combinations you can use to accomplish some of the common tasks that might otherwise require moving your hand from your keyboard to your mouse and, a moment later, back to your keyboard.

If the keyboard shortcut is Ctrl+S, that means you press and hold the Ctrl key down while momentarily tapping the S key. After tapping and releasing the S key, release the Ctrl key. For Ctrl+Shift+S, press Ctrl and Shift at the same time, then tap the S key.

Icon	Menu	Keyboard Shortcut	What It Does
	Edit > Ditto Field	Ctrl+D	Copy Field Above
	Edit > Mark Field/Record > Mark Field Blank	Ctrl+B	Mark the Field Blank
	File > Save	Ctrl+S	Save changes to disk. Do this every couple of rows.
	File > Save to Server	Ctrl+Shift+S	Save to Family Search Indexing servers. Do this every 15 min. if your Internet is fast.
		Tab or Enter	Move to next field or, if at the end-of-line, the next line.
		→	Move to next field (stopping at end-of-line).
		Shift+Tab or Shift+Enter	Move to previous field or, if at the start-of-line, the end of the previous line.
		←	Move to previous field (stopping at the start-of-line).
		F2	Change the current field. Then use arrow keys.
	View > Move Highlights > Left	Ctrl+Alt + ←	Move highlight Left.
	View > Move Highlights > Right	Ctrl+Alt + →	Move highlight Right.
	View > Move Highlights > Up	Ctrl+Alt+↑	Move highlight Up.
	View > Move Highlights > Down	Ctrl+Alt+↓	Move highlight Down.
	Edit > Lookup	Ctrl+F	Find in lookup list. (See this tip.)

More keyboard shortcuts are shown on the right-hand side of menus.

Keep your hands on the keyboard and your fingers will fly faster.