Do you use keyboard shortcuts during the workday? Odds are most of us do. Cut & paste, switching windows, opening/closing programs…
Most Microsoft programs have plenty of keyboard shortcuts built-in. Lync 2013 is no exception. Until recently, I only knew a couple of them. But when I came across the big collection of Microsoft guides I blogged about last month, that changed fast.
Where to Download the Lync Keyboard Shortcuts Guide
One of the guides on that page is is titled “Lync 2013 Keyboard Shortcuts”. It’s a short PDF, merely listing out all the keyboard shortcuts you can use to get around Lync. I didn’t mention it in last month’s blog post for one reason–it deserved its own. Direct Download Link.
Most of the shortcuts you’ll find in the PDF are for Lync 2013 on Windows only. (They use the Windows logo key.) For Mac users, visit this page: Keyboard Shortcuts for Lync 2011 for Mac – Microsoft Office.com (I have no idea what the name of that Mac key is.)
Ready? Let’s see what kind of keyboard shortcuts we have!
Conversations Shortcuts
Accept a conversation invite (use anywhere) – Windows+A Decline an invite (use anywhere) – Windows+Esc Accept an invite (while in Conversation window) – Alt+C “Engage Privacy Mode” – ignore any invite notifications. Alt+I
Change between conversation windows – Ctrl+Tab Save an IM log in Conversation History – Ctrl+S (This one saved my bacon a few times)
Phone Calls Shortcuts
Accept a call* – Alt+C
Mute your audio – Windows+F4 Place a call on Hold – Ctrl+Shift+H
*As of now, I don’t see a shortcut for initiating a call. It’s still very easy to do, by either clicking Call on a contact or typing a phone number into the Lync 2013 search window. If I were to guess the reason for no shortcut here, I would say initiating a call prompts Lync to examine its contacts database and conversation history, for auto-complete. Using a keyboard shortcut could circumvent this process, and thus cut you off from some of Lync’s functionality. Hence, no shortcut.
(Besides, you do have the Lync Browser Helper to launch click-to-call in other windows. That counts as a shortcut!)
Meetings/Presentations Shortcuts
Start a “Meet Now” meeting – Alt+M If Presenting: start/stop sharing, fullscreen/come out of fullscreen, close the sharing stage, switch views gallery/speaker
Persistent Chat Shortcuts
You can use the same shortcuts you see above for conversations.
Save Yourself Some Time in Lync 2013 with These Keyboard Shortcuts
This isn’t all of the keyboard shortcuts, of course. The full list is in the PDF linked above. It’s also available on its own Office.com page: Keyboard Shortcuts for Lync 2013 for Windows – Microsoft Office.com
Keyboard shortcuts are there for one reason: To save us time while working. With these shortcuts, Lync’s windows and popups are less of a disruption to workflow, and more of an additional tool.
There’s one shortcut missing here: Switching your Presence status. I’d really like to have that one in Lync 2015. Microsoft, you listening?