Effective in this scenario
You only need to bold the conclusion sentence on your proposal slide, but every time you select the text you navigate to the Home tab on the ribbon and click the 'B' button. Not knowing the shortcut is breaking up your workflow.
Knowing just three shortcuts — Ctrl+B, Ctrl+I, and Ctrl+U — means text formatting is done entirely without touching the ribbon. The speed of finishing a slide changes noticeably.
Shortcuts you will master in this article
Ctrl+B (Bold) / Ctrl+I (Italic) / Ctrl+U (Underline)
Using ribbon format buttons involves three steps every time: select text → look away to the Home tab → find and click the button. Even if each takes only a few seconds, ten formatting changes per slide adds up to minutes.
With shortcuts, it's: select text → press one key — done. Your eyes never leave the slide, so you maintain design context throughout.
Press these with text selected to apply the format. Press the same key again to toggle it off.
Ctrl+BUse for headings, conclusions, and key figures — anywhere you want to stop the eye. Overusing bold destroys the visual hierarchy, so aim for no more than 3 instances per slide.
Tip: 'Use it only for what you really want the audience to remember' — that's what gives it impact.
Ctrl+IUse to distinguish product names, technical terms, or foreign language words from regular text. Japanese fonts sometimes don't render italics beautifully, so consider your use case.
Ctrl+UOften used to indicate clickable links or reference points. Since slides have other emphasis options, using underline sparingly makes the deck look cleaner.
Ctrl+B → Ctrl+IYou can combine multiple formats — for example, emphasizing a key foreign term with both bold and italic. Press the same key again to remove one format at a time.
PowerPoint Shortcut Practice
Reading alone won't make them stick. Use KeyboardGym's PowerPoint practice mode to type the shortcuts from this article.
Visit each shortcut detail page to see key positions and usage tips.
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
Ctrl + B | Bold |
Ctrl + I | Italic |
Ctrl + U | Underline |
Ctrl + Shift + C | Copy Format |
A. Press Ctrl+Space to clear all character formatting from the selected text. The font reverts to the theme default.
A. Yes — Ctrl+Shift+> makes the font larger, and Ctrl+Shift+< makes it smaller. See the font size adjustment article in this tips section for more details.
A. Reading alone won't make them stick. Use KeyboardGym's PowerPoint practice mode to type the keys and build muscle memory through sequential and random practice.