Frequently Used Shortcuts. Undo the last action. To use a keyboard shortcut, press and hold one or more modifier keys and then press the last key of the shortcut. For example, to use Command-C (copy), press and hold the Command key, then the C key, then release both keys. Mac menus and keyboards often use symbols for certain keys, including modifier keys: Command (or Cmd) ⌘. First, find the text you’d like to change the capitalization of in your Word document and click and drag to select it. With the desired text selected, press the keyboard shortcut Option-Command-C. If you press it once, it will change your selected text to ALL CAPS. Press Option-Command-C again to change the selection to all lowercase. In Word, click on File, Options, Proofing, Autocorrect Options. In the grid that pops up, type a two- or three-character shortcut in the Replace box. In the With box, type the sentence that you want your computer to type for you. Create your own “text expander” using shortcuts.
Ok, but what if you want an actual formatted list? On Mac you’re in luck for MS Office, for Windows you may have consistency issues going between versions. I find that strange. There is a way around this however. If you feel it will pay off you can build your own shortcut. Open the Customise Keyboard dialog box. To find this choose tools/customise/keyboard (pre Word 2007) and Office/Word options/customise. Now choose formatting from the categories list then in the commands list choose format bullet default. Click the press new shortcut key box and type in your shortcut. Select assign and then close everything. Now you have a bullet point shortcut for Word or Office on PC.
Bullets have been around for a while. In the day of the typewriter people would type a lowercase ‘o’ and then fill it in with ink. The Alt-8 shortcut back then would have blown their minds! The symbol for a bullet list can vary from a dash to a little black heart to a tiny cross. No one truly knows the origin of the phrase ‘bullet point’ but some say they came about because it was too much trouble to renumber a list once edited on a typewriter.