Windows Keyboard Shortcut of the Day

F5: In Notepad, enter a Timestamp

Posted in Applications by estephen on March 22nd, 2007

Quick, run Notepad. (You’ll find it under Start | Programs | Accessories — and if you run this program often, you might want to make a custom shortcut.)

Now press F5. Instantly Notepad pops in a timestamp, like this:

8:43 PM 3/22/2007

Pretty useful, right? If only more applications supported this shortcut. (We learned earlier that F5 has a very different function in Word and Excel.)

6 Responses to 'F5: In Notepad, enter a Timestamp'

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  1. Peter N Roth said,

    on March 23rd, 2007 at 6:38 am

    In Word, enter a Timestamp with Alt-I,T. First time, set your default Format.

  2. toen said,

    on March 24th, 2007 at 10:33 am

    in excel you can use
    ctrl+; for date
    ctrl+shift+; for time
    or ctrl+; [space] ctrl+shift+; for date & time together.

  3. Mako said,

    on July 2nd, 2008 at 12:09 pm

    I think this keyboard shortcut is really terrible. The date format is not customizable, so it becomes a nuisance every time I accidentally hit this key.

  4. estephen said,

    on July 11th, 2008 at 10:59 am

    To each their own, I guess! Personally I use this dozens of times a week.

  5. cardo said,

    on September 10th, 2008 at 7:39 am

    Thanks, for the tip. I always forget this shortcut.
    Is there a similar shortcut for the OS X?

  6. estephen said,

    on September 18th, 2008 at 4:42 pm

    Not that I’m aware, sorry! But I don’t know OS X at all.

    I use this one daily personally; it’s one of my favorites.

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