Tips & Tricks
Tips
Button Bar shortcuts
Keyboard shortcuts
Context menu shortcuts
Menu Command Descriptions
Choosing a helper application

Tips

Button Bar shortcuts

Make sure that the Button Bar is displayed. To do so, hold down the mouse button over the View menu, and make sure that a check mark appears beside Button Bar.
Back Button Click to move backwards through the pages that you've visited.
Forward Button Click to move forward through the pages you've visited.
Stop Button Click to stop downloading a page.
Refresh Button Click to reload a Web page.
Home Button Click to visit your home page. Your home page is the web site that Internet Explorer accesses when it is first opened. You can change the home page.
Search Button Click to visit your search page. You can change the search page.
Mail Button Click to access your mail reader.
News Button Click to access your news reader.
Favorites Button Click to open your favorites list.
Larger Button Click to increase the text size displayed on the Web page.
Smaller Button Click to decrease the text size displayed on the Web page.
Preferences Button Click to open the Preferences dialog where you can customize your settings.

Keyboard shortcuts

The following is a list of keyboard shortcuts for frequently used commands. To see if a shortcut exist for a command that you use, click the menu under which the command is located. The shortcut is listed beside the command. Don't forget that the context menu and the Button Bar also provide quick access to commands.

To do this Press this
Open a file on your local disk [Command]- ).
Scroll toward the end of a document in larger increments Page Down
Scroll toward the beginning of a document in larger increments Page Up
Move to the beginning of a document Home
Move to the end of a document End
Refresh the current page F5
Stop loading a page Esc
Go to a new location [Command]- L.
Open a new window [Command]- N
Add a web site to your favorites list. [Command]- D.
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Context menu shortcuts

The context menu is displayed when you hold down the mouse button.

Command Description
Clone Window Opens a new browser window displaying the same page as the original.
Set Home Page Sets the current page as the default home page.
Set Search Page Sets the current page as the default search page.
Add Page to Favorites Adds the current page to the favorites list.
View Source Displays the HTML source for the current page or frame. To view the source of a frame, click inside the frame and then choose the View Source command.
Refresh Refreshes the contents of the current page.
Copy Image Places a copy of the image on the Clipboard.
Load Missing Image Downloads the missing image. Use this command when you have cleared the Show Pictures check box in the Preferences dialog box, but want to view a specific image on a page.
Open Image In New Window Displays the image in a new browser window.
Download Image to Disk Opens the Save dialog box where you can specify where you want to save the image.
Open Link Opens the Web page in the same browser window. If the link is part of a framed document only the contents of the link page will be displayed.
Open Link in New Window Opens the Web page in a new browser window. If the link is part of a framed document, only the contents of the link page will be displayed.
Download Link to Disk Opens Save dialog box where you can specify where you want to save the Web page
Add Link to Favorites Adds the link to the Favorites list.
Copy Link to Clipboard Places a copy of the link on the Clipboard. You can use the Paste command to insert the link into another document
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Command Descriptions

File menu
Command Description
New Window Opens a new window, showing the home page.
Open File Opens a local file.
Open Location Opens an address on the Internet.
Close Closes the active window.
Close All Closes all windows.
Save As Saves the current page to a file.
Get Info Shows the name, Internet address, comments, and visited dates of the selected favorite or history item.
Import Imports an HTML document into the Favorites list.
Export Exports the Favorites list or History list.
Download File Opens the Download File dialog box where you can specify the URL of the file you want to download. You can also specify where you want to save the file.
Download Manager Opens the Download Manager window where you can view the status of the files you have downloaded. You can double-click on a file to get more information on the file and to specify whether you want to use a Helper application when the file is launched.
Page Setup Changes the page setup for printing.
Print Prints the current page. To print the contents of a frame, click inside the frame and then choose the Print command.
Quit Closes all open windows and the program.
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Edit menu
Command Description
Cut Removes the current selection and copies it onto the Clipboard.
Copy Copies the current selection onto the Clipboard.
Paste Inserts the contents of the Clipboard into the selected location.
Clear Removes the current selection without copying onto the Clipboard.
Select All Selects all the text on the current page.
Find Searches the current page for text.
Find Again Searches again for the same text.
Preferences Opens the Preferences dialog box where you can change the options for Internet Explorer.
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View menu
Command Description
Button Bar Shows or hides the Button bar, which contains shortcut buttons for frequently used menu items.
Address Bar Shows or hides the Address bar, which contains a field for typing in Internet addresses.
Status Bar Shows or hides the Status bar, which shows the destination of the link the mouse pointer is over, status of the currently loaded page, or a description of the Button bar on which the mouse pointer is over.
Favorites Bar Shows or hides the Favorites bar.
Text Size Increases or decreases the font size.
Font Encoding Changes the character set for the current page.
Stop Loading Stops opening a file.
Refresh Refreshes the contents of the current page.
Load Images Loads images for the current page.
Java Messages Opens the Java Messages window.
Source Displays HTML source for the current page.
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Go menu
Command Description
Back Opens the previous page.
Forward Opens the next page.
Home Page Opens the home page.
Search the Internet Opens the search page.
Open History Opens the History window.
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Favorites menu
Command Description
Add Page to Favorites Adds the current page to the Favorites list.
Open Favorites Opens the Favorites window.
New Folder Adds a new folder to the Favorites list.
New Favorite Adds a new item to the Favorites list.
New Divider Adds a new divider to the Favorites list.
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Window menu
Lists all open windows.
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? (Help) menu
Command Description
Internet Explorer Help Opens Internet Explorer Help.
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Choosing a helper application

The table below lists common MIME types and provides suggested helper applications. Please read the Microsoft disclaimer before visiting the sites listed below.

MIME Type Description Extensions Suggested File Match
application/pdf Adobe Acrobat file pdf Adobe Acrobat Reader
application/postscript PostScript file ai, eps, ps Ghostscript
application/rtf Rich Text Format file rtf Most word-processor applications including Microsoft Word
application/x-compress UNIX compressed file Z StuffIt Expander 4.0.1 (with DropStuff 4.0)
application/x-director Macromedia Director animation file dcr Shockwave
application/x-gzip GNUzip compressed file gz StuffIt Expander 4.0.1 (with DropStuff 4.0)
application/x-tar TAR file archive tar StuffIt Expander 4.0.1 (with DropStuff 4.0)
application/x-zip compressed PKZIP compressed file zip StuffIt Expander 4.0.1 (with DropStuff 4.0)
audio/basic Sun/NeXT sound file au, snd Built-in Support
audio/mp2 MPEG sound file mp2 MPEG Audio for Macintosh
audio/x-aiff Apple (AIFF) sound file aiff, aif, aifc Built-in Support
audio/x-pn-realaudio RealAudio sound file ra, ram, rar RealAudio Player
audio/x-wav Windows sound file wav Built-in Support
image/gif GIF graphic gif Built-in Support
image/jpeg JPEG graphic jpeg, jpg, jpe Built-in Support
image/tiff TIFF graphic tiff, tif NIH Image
text/html HTML file html Built-in Support
text/plain Plain text file txt Built-in Support
text/tab-separated-values TSV graph tsv Built-in Support as plain-text or most popular spreadsheet applications including Microsoft Excel
video/fli Autodesk video fli, flc MacAnim Viewer
video/mpeg MPEG video mpeg, mpg, mpe Sparkle
video/quicktime QuickTime movie qt, mov Built-in Support
video/x-msvideo Windows movie avi Built-in Support

Related Topic
Starting an application when you open a particular type of file

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