If you work with a software solution in your logistics company, you are already using your time smarter than before. Can you remember the time that you stored important information in several folders? And that you had to copy this data into an Excel-file, to send it to your customer(s) afterwards? Although it was as usual as possible back then, today it is hard to imagine. Where did you get the time from? And maybe even more important, the patience? You might get the same realization at the moment you start introducing keyboard shortcuts in your daily tasks. So you, while you press Alt + F7, think about the days when you manually sorted columns.

The most popular keyboard shortcuts according to Microsoft

In the image below you see the (according to Microsoft) most popular keyboard shortcuts. Especially the function (F-) buttons seem popular with our supplier. Where F3 is the hotkey to place, edit and reset filters. And F6 helps you with switching between tabs. Finally, F8 is an interesting key in this overview. Because it helps you copy the cells directly above. Even if you are already using hotkeys, this one prevents you from using the classic Ctrl C + Ctrl V combination.

Searching and filtering lists with F3 keyboard shortcuts

As stated before, F3 is the key you need to deal with Dynamics filters in a smart way. Or at least to find what you are looking for. By pressing F3, the search bar appears. After pressing this key, you can instantly start typing your search term. Is your search bar already active? Than you will return to the list you are working in, without deleting the text in the search bar. Below you can find which combinations F3 offers as well in Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central.

• Shift + F3: Open and close the filter pane
• Ctrl + Shift + F3: Open and close the filter pane, focused on Filter total by
• Alt + F3: Toggle filtering to the selected value
• Shift + Alt + F3: Open the filter pane and add a filter on the selected column
• Ctrl + Shift + Alt + F3: Reset filters

Keyboard shortcuts with F6 in Cards and Documents

The aforementioned F3 hotkeys help you filter your lists. The F6 combinations help you speed up switching between separate cards and documents. When hearing cards, you can think about customer cards for example. And when it comes to document pages, think of transport orders. The function key F6 applies in this context mainly to tabs, sub-pages or “FastTabs”. The combinations are a bit less thrilling than the F3 possibilities, but that does not make them less useful.

• Alt + F6 : Collapse and expand the current FastTab
• F6: Move to next FastTab
• Shift + F6: Move to previous FastTab

Use keyboard shortcuts for a higher productivity

Can you remember all the info above? if so, well, I am very impressed. If you are unable to sum up all combinations tomorrow, than you can consult this keyboard shortcuts cheat sheet. Save it as a tab or print it for on your desk (or for one of your colleagues that could work a bit harder). Despites the person who is going to use these hotkeys with his or her tasks, everyone will become more productive.