Shift key: origin, uses and combinations on the keyboard

The Keyboards They have a wide variety of keys, some of them, such as the Shift key, having certain special functions that allow us to make combinations that give rise to a simplified mode, with which we can work more quickly.

This time we are going to talk about the shift key, one of the most used and also one of the most necessary when we are writing, whether with a typewriter or a computer keyboard.

The origin of the shift key

It was in 1978 when, for the first time, Remington introduced the shift key in its typewriters, but at the time it was only located on the left side of the keyboard.

From then on, the rest of the typewriter manufacturers began to incorporate this very useful key that simplified writing, since It allowed us to write capital letters by just holding it down, without the need to press the shift lock key twice.

Thanks to this, instead of pressing twice when we were going to write a single letter in capital letters, by simply pressing, marking the letter we want to write in capital letters and releasing, the objective was achieved and the writing speed increased considerably.

Shortly afterwards it also began to be adopted by computer keyboards, but on this occasion it was decided to place it on both ends, that is, from then until now, the shift key on our keyboards is located on both the left and the right side. Right part.

However, it should be noted that on some very specific keyboards we only continue to find it on the left, but it is rare to encounter this limitation.

The objective of placing a key on each side was to facilitate the possibility of writing capital letters with one hand, so that we could press the shift key and the letter and we would choose the shift key that was on the side that was most comfortable for us, so that, if the letter is on the right side, we have a key The right one exists, while if the key we want to press is on the left, we also have this shift key on this side of the keyboard.

Of course it also serves to enjoy greater comfort in the event that we use the cross combination, which would mean that for the keys on the left we could press the shift key with the right, and for the keys on the right we would use the shift with the left, so that we would only use one finger per hand, avoiding turning them into contortionists.

Where is the shift key located?

The shift key is very easy to recognize, since It is represented by an arrow pointing up., and even in many cases the word “shift", but the most important thing of all is that its location is always the same, so we can find it just above the control key "Ctrl” on both the left and right sides of the second row of keys from the bottom.

We leave you this image with which you can get a clearer idea of ​​where this key is located:

Uses of shift keys

As we said in the previous section, the shift key was intended to help us write capital letters much faster, but the truth is that, having reached the computer, it has also incorporated other very useful functions that allow us to write more fluidly as well as the possibility of performing key combinations that guarantee the execution of actions quickly.

In short, unlike the caps lock key, the shift key comes into action only when we are pressing it, but the moment we release it it stops working, while the caps lock is a one-press to activate and a second press to deactivate.

In this case, if we want to write a long text all in capital letters, the caps lock is a better choice, but if on the other hand we are writing in a normal way, so we only have to use some capital letters at the beginning of sentences and for proper names, obviously the shift key will be much more comfortable and effective for us, helping them write much faster.

But there is also a curiosity that is worth knowing, and that is that, in the same way that we have deactivated the caps lock button and we use the shift key to write a capital letter occasionally, if we activate the caps lock, That is, when writing everything would appear in capital letters, and we press the letter shift, what we will do is write lowercase letters while we have this second key pressed.

That is, with the shift key we are going to achieve the opposite effect to what we have selected with the caps lock.

But in addition to alternating upper and lower case letters, The shift key will also help us write special symbols with our keyboard.

As you may have observed, some of the keys on our keyboard, such as the numerical keys at the top, have two or three characters or symbols, of which, as a general rule, one is seen at the bottom and one at the top.

Well, if we press that key without touching any other, the symbol or character at the bottom will appear, while, to write the symbol at the top, we will need to press the shift key and keep it pressed while In turn, we press the key in which we are interested.

In this image you can get a clearer idea of ​​the keys we are referring to.

For example, if you look at the key with the number 1 at the top of the keyboard, just above it is the closing figure of the exclamation “!”, so that, If we press the key naturally, the number 1 will appear, but if we press the shift key and then the 1 key, the exclamation mark will appear.

Select a text without the mouse thanks to the Shift key

The shift key also has other additional uses such as the possibility of select text without using the mouse.

The only thing we have to do is place the cursor in the place where we want the text selection to begin, then press the shift key, and continue with the direction keys, so you will see that with each touch we will select a new letter.

In fact, this was the most used system when there were still no mice, and on some occasions it can be very useful to us, so it is worth knowing about it.

The most useful key combinations with Shift

There is also the possibility of making key combinations that can be very useful to us at a given moment, thus managing to carry out actions that may be repetitive but in a much faster and more comfortable way.

Below we indicate some of the most used ones that you will need at one time or another:

• Ctrl+Shift+N: With this combination we will be able to create a new folder.
• Win + V + Shift: When we move through the notifications section, with this key we can go back.
• Shift+Tab: useful combination to move through the options.
• Ctrl + Shift + Esc: essential key combination through which we will be able to open the Task Manager.
• Alt+Shift+PrtSc: With this combination we can activate high contrast.
• Alt+Shift+NumLock: and with this we will activate the mouse keys.
• Shift + Ins: If we have copied content to the clipboard, with this key combination we can paste it wherever we want.
• Ctrl + Shift + Left arrow: combination to select a block of text on the left.
• Ctrl + Shift + Right arrow: combination to select a block of text on the right.
• Ctrl + Shift + Up arrow: combination to select a block of text facing up.
• Ctrl +Shift + Down arrow: combination to select a block of text down.

Of course there are also many other key combinations with ALT, so we advise you to take a look and look for all those that may be useful to you in your daily life.

And finally, with the shift key we will also be able to activate what are called special keys.

All we have to do is Press the shift key five times and we will see that a window appears asking us if we want to activate these special keys, so that it will help us make combinations without having to keep pressed keys.

Basically it is a system developed for those people who have any difficulty holding down several keys at the same time, so they will no longer have problems carrying out the key combinations they need.

This is all we wanted to explain to you about the shift key, and of course we encourage you to share with us the most frequent uses you make with it to incorporate them in case it may be interesting for other users.

Shift key in Google Chrome

Chrome is one of the most important search engines currently available. If you want to increase your productivity, we will show you the different commands you can use:

Shift + Ctrl + N: If you use this command, incognito mode will automatically open.

Shift + Ctrl + T: With this option you will access the tab that you last closed.

Shift + Ctrl + Tab: You access the previous tab.

Shift + Ctrl + W: You close the current tab.

Shift + Ctrl + Q: Exit the Google Chrome search engine.

Shift + Ctrl + B: You hide or open the favorites tab.

Shift + Ctrl + O: You open the favorites manager.

Shift + Esc: You access the Google Chrome task panel.

Shift + Alt + T: You set focus on Chrome tasks.

Shift + Ctrl + G: Allows you to move to the previous match for your search in the search bar.

Shift + Ctrl + J: You open the "programming" mode.

Shift + Ctrl + Del: You delete all browsing data.

Shift + Ctrl + M: Access in incognito mode.

Shift + Alt + I: You open the contact form.

Shift + down arrow + Del: Remove predictions from the address bar.

Shift + Ctrl + R: You can open the browser ignoring the stored cache.

Shift+Tab: Thanks to this option you will be able to access the back page in the elements where you can click.

Shift + Ctrl + D: Save everything you have open to favorites.

Shift + Spacebar: Scroll up on a website.

Shift + scroll mouse wheel: Scroll horizontally within a website.

Shift + Ctrl + click a link: You open the link directly.

Shift + click a link: You open any link in a new tab.

Best Shift Key Shortcuts

In this section we show you the less well-known shortcuts that you can do with the shift key:

CTRL+SHIFT+N: Activate incognito mode

CTRL+SHIFT+B: Make browser bookmarks invisible

ALT+SHIFT+TAB: We can find out what applications we have open on the PC and move between them.

CTRL+SHIFT+T: open again last tab closed.

Access the tab you closed before.

SHIFT + DELETE: Delete any file directly

CTRL + SHIFT + DEL: ddestroy browsing history

CTRL+SHIFT+TAB: We can navigate between the different windows that are open in our browser.

These are the different functions and shortcuts that you can perform with the shift key.