What if you could save 8 work days of time a year with one simple switch? The solution may be a simple keyboard click away.
Brainscape founder and CEO, Andrew Cohen, calculated that clicking with a mouse instead of using the equivalent keyboard shortcut for the same function costs us an average of 2 seconds for every minute of effort. If you work 8 hours a day for 240 days a year, and don’t use any keyboard shortcuts, you could be wasting up to 64 hours, or 8 entire work days!
Keyboard shortcuts are the use of keys on your keyboard to perform actions on the computer without having to use the mouse. By using a keyboard shortcut, you save time normally spent in locating the cursor, in finding the tool you need (including remembering where it is) and then in moving the cursor to the right position. Not only is this more efficient, it allows you to remain focused on the task at hand. You can also use the mouse simultaneously for other tasks, or when you’ve only got access to a laptop, you can easily complete tasks and avoid clumsy errors that can arise from the sensitivity of a trackpad.
Most of you will have used a shortcut in your life at one time or another. Those you may be most familiar with include CTRL + C and CTRL + V to copy and paste, CTRL + Z to undo, or CTRL + A to select all. Some applications, like the email client Superhuman, are so serious about their keyboard shortcuts that they’ve included keyboard shortcuts for every single action, removing the need for a mouse entirely. And if you don’t fancy trying to memorise the 4-page long list on your own, there are even apps aimed at helping you learn to remember the keyboard shortcuts for your various applications. One example is the Mouseless app, which trains your muscle-memory using a series of interactive drills.
While you don’t necessarily need to know the keyboard shortcuts to navigate your way around MapBrowser, here are a few to kick start your journey to improved productivity:
- ‘+’ to zoom in and ‘-’ to zoom out
- ‘Alt’ + the UP or DOWN arrow key to rotate the map
- ‘L’ for the Line tool
- ‘P’ for the Polygon tool
- ‘C’ for the Circle tool
- ‘CTRL /’ to Search
- ‘CTRL D’ to duplicate a layer
Easily create accurate measurements and outline precise areas with the Marker (M) and Rectangle (R) tools
To access the Keyboard Shortcuts menu in MapBrowser, go to the Help and Support icon in the bottom left of the sidebar and select “Keyboard Shortcuts”, or, if you’d like to save that extra few seconds, you can open the menu using the keyboard shortcut ‘CTRL + .’ Visit our MapBrowser page to learn more. Happy Clicking!