Ctrl+Space

Updated: 12/10/2023 by Computer Hope
Ctrl+Space keyboard shortcut

Alternatively written as Control+Space and C-space, Ctrl+Space is a keyboard shortcut most commonly used to clear formatting of text in Microsoft Word and other text programs. Below are other programs that use this keyboard shortcut and related information.

How to use the Ctrl+spacebar keyboard shortcut

To use this keyboard shortcut, press and hold either Ctrl key, and while continuing to hold, press the spacebar key.

Ctrl+space in Excel and other spreadsheet programs

In Microsoft Excel and other spreadsheet programs, pressing Ctrl+spacebar selects the entire column containing the active cell.

Tip

The keyboard shortcut Shift+spacebar selects the entire row containing the active cell.

Ctrl+spacebar in LibreOffice

In LibreOffice version 3.0 and earlier, Ctrl+spacebar creates a hard space.

Note

For all recent versions of LibreOffice, this shortcut was changed to Ctrl+Shift+space

Ctrl+spacebar in Microsoft PowerPoint

In Microsoft PowerPoint, Ctrl+spacebar resets highlighted text to the default font size and type.

Ctrl+spacebar in Microsoft Word

In Microsoft Word, highlighting any formatted text and then pressing the keyboard shortcut Ctrl+spacebar clears formatting on the highlighted text. For example, if the highlighted text was bold, this shortcut removes the bold formatting.

Ctrl+spacebar in Google Docs

Pressing Ctrl+spacebar in Google Docs clears formatting of text that is highlighted.

Ctrl+spacebar in WordPerfect

In WordPerfect, Ctrl+spacebar creates a hard space.

Below are links to related keyboard shortcuts and individual key pages.

Ctrl, Keyboard shortcut, Keyboard terms