Many users feel condemned to using the mouse to hunt and peck through the Microsoft Ribbon. They just don’t know a better way! Today’s tip is going to drill down on one shortcut, how to add a new text box in Microsoft PowerPoint, Word or Excel using the keyboard.

Once you have the program open and are ready to perform this technique, just press the Alt key and the letter N at the same time, then let go of those keys and press the letter X. That’s it! You’re ready to draw your text box. That technique is written as Alt + N, X. Mac users remember to use the Option key instead of the Alt key.

What’s going on here?

The truth is that Microsoft has littered it’s programs with shortcuts and methods that are intended to make the program more user friendly and to increase its accessibility to users with disabilities. One of the most famous is the Hot Tip method.

If you’ve ever just pressed the Alt key (Option key for Mac users) on your keyboard while using Microsoft Office, you will have noticed that little letters appear beside each tab. If you type the letter, you will change to that tab. Once on the tab, every command on the Ribbon will have a number or letter beside it. Press that key on your keyboard and voila, you have achieved the same result as if you had ˜