By Marlo Anderson – The Tech Ranch
Changed your mind halfway through a sentence? Instead of tapping Backspace one letter at a time, hold Ctrl and press Backspace. A whole word disappears with every press.
The Shortcut
- Ctrl + Backspace: delete the word before the cursor
- Keep pressing to delete more words
- Works in email, documents, browsers and most apps
- Mac: Option + Delete
Bonus Tip: Move Word by Word
Press Ctrl + Left Arrow or Ctrl + Right Arrow to jump the cursor one word at a time. Add Shift to select whole words as you go. On a Mac, use Option + Arrow.
More Keyboard Shortcuts, Explained
This is part of my Keyboard Shortcuts Explained series: quick, plain-English tips that make everyday computer work faster. Watch the whole series on YouTube and subscribe to The Tech Ranch so you don’t miss the next one. Short on time? Here’s the quick Short version.
Found this helpful? Give the video a thumbs up on YouTube. Got a shortcut you can’t live without? Tell me in the YouTube comments and it might show up in a future video.
