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Microsoft Word - manual return to normal keyboard shortcut for text highlighting - Ctrl+B
Microsoft Word - manual return to normal keyboard shortcut for text highlighting - Ctrl+B

This morning Lucy asks me, "Dad, Ctrl+b doesn't work for me, to highlight text in Word, there is Ctrl+n". What? Just always Ctrl+b(old), you must have messed something up, look in the help to fix it... That's the end of our online communication.

Microsoft Word comes with a new keyboard shortcut for text highlighting, it is no longer Ctrl+B but Ctrl+N

After a couple of hours, I'm typing something in Word and after selecting the text and clicking Ctrl+B... nothing, then Ctrl+b, and nothing... and again... Then my morning conversation pops up and lo and behold, I have a new keyboard shortcut "CTRL+N" on the "B" button in the menu, grrrr, Redmonders are at it again ;o)

Microsoft Word comes with a new keyboard shortcut for text highlighting, it is no longer Ctrl+B but Ctrl+N - probably a Christmas present from Redmond

After a bit of searching I find how to change it to the standard, i.e. the decades-old keyboard shortcut that is everywhere else simply for controlling "bolding" => on/off/bolding/canceling bolding, just a kind of cyclic switch... Ctrl+N, I believe used to be for "new file".

So here's how to change it, so you don't hunt and waste time:

 

Microsoft Word - manual return to normal keyboard shortcut for text highlighting - Ctrl+B

  1. in MS Word click on "File"
  2. then on the bottom left click on "Options"
  3. in the new dialog, in the left vertical menu, select "Customize Ribbon"
  4. in the displayed settings, click on the "Customize..." button in the bottom center
  5. in the next dialog box, in the left panel, find "Home Tab"
  6. then browse the tabs in the right panel for "Bold", with the name sorted abced (a, B, c, ...)
  7. click in the "Press new shortcut key" box and press your favourite: "Ctrl+b" on your keyboard (or press Ctrl and while holding it, press B
  8. too, then release both, don't click any plus there, it just writes itself ;o)
  9. confirm by clicking on the "Assign" button then back off from 5 => by clicking on "Close", "OK", ...

Happy Redmond holidays and lots of extra cranking :-D

JIM ;o)


PS: I translated this article with the help of deepl.com