MS Office & Keyboard Shortcuts — IBPS PO
Of the handful of computer questions in IBPS Mains, MS Office and shortcuts are the most frequently asked — and the most useful, because a bank officer uses Word, Excel and email every day. The syllabus is shallow: what each application does, its file extension, the universal shortcuts (Ctrl+C/V/Z…), and a few Excel essentials (cell references, basic functions). This chapter is that finite list. It's near-free marks; lock it in a short session and don't donate them.
1. What IBPS actually asks
- Application purpose: which Office app is a spreadsheet, a word processor, a presentation tool.
- File extensions: .docx, .xlsx, .pptx, .pdf, etc.
- Keyboard shortcuts: the universal Ctrl combinations and a few function keys.
- Excel basics: cell reference (A1), a simple function (SUM, AVERAGE), rows vs columns.
2. The MS Office apps & extensions
| Application | Purpose | Default extension |
|---|---|---|
| MS Word | Word processing (documents) | .docx (older .doc) |
| MS Excel | Spreadsheets & calculations | .xlsx (older .xls) |
| MS PowerPoint | Presentations (slides) | .pptx (older .ppt) |
| MS Access | Database management | .accdb |
| Notepad | Plain text | .txt |
| Adobe / general | Portable document |
A common question is simply "the extension of an Excel file" or "which app makes presentations". Learn the app → purpose → extension triple.
3. Universal keyboard shortcuts (memorise cold)
These work across most Windows applications:
| Shortcut | Action |
|---|---|
| Ctrl + C / X / V | Copy / Cut / Paste |
| Ctrl + Z / Y | Undo / Redo |
| Ctrl + A | Select all |
| Ctrl + S | Save |
| Ctrl + P | |
| Ctrl + F | Find |
| Ctrl + B / I / U | Bold / Italic / Underline |
| Ctrl + N | New document |
| Ctrl + Home / End | Go to start / end |
| Alt + F4 | Close the program |
| F1 | Help |
| F5 | Refresh (or Slideshow start in PowerPoint) |
4. Word essentials
- Word wrap, alignment (left/center/right/justify), and formatting (font, bold/italic).
- Header/footer, page numbers, and spell check (F7).
- Cut/copy/paste and find-and-replace (Ctrl+H).
Word questions are usually "which feature does X" or a shortcut — nothing deep.
5. Excel essentials (the one to know a little more)
- A cell is the intersection of a column (letters A, B…) and a row (numbers 1, 2…); the cell reference is like A1, B5.
- A formula begins with
=. Common functions:=SUM(A1:A5),=AVERAGE(...),=MAX/MIN(...),=COUNT(...). - Rows are horizontal, columns are vertical.
- Autofill, freeze panes and sort/filter are common feature-name questions.
Excel is the one Office app worth a few extra minutes because DI-style data lives in spreadsheets — and it's the PO's daily tool.
6. PowerPoint & the rest
- PowerPoint makes slides; F5 starts the slideshow; a slide transition/animation are its feature terms.
- Access manages databases (tables, queries).
- Know that .pdf is a fixed-layout portable format (read-only by default).
Solved examples
Q1 (extension). The default file extension of an MS Excel workbook is:
Show explanation
Solution. .xlsx (older: .xls).
Q2 (shortcut). Ctrl + Z is used to:
Show explanation
Solution. Undo the last action (Ctrl + Y redoes).
Q3 (Excel). In Excel, "A1" refers to:
Show explanation
Solution. The cell at column A, row 1.
Q4 (app). Which application is used to create presentations?
Show explanation
Solution. MS PowerPoint.
Q5 (function). The Excel function to total a range A1:A10 is:
Show explanation
Solution. =SUM(A1:A10).
8. The protocol
- Learn app → purpose → extension triples (Word/.docx, Excel/.xlsx, PowerPoint/.pptx).
- Memorise the universal Ctrl shortcuts cold — they're the most-asked.
- Know Excel basics — cell reference (A1),
=SUM/AVERAGE, rows vs columns. - Learn a few feature names (spell check F7, find-replace Ctrl+H, freeze panes).
- Cap prep at one short session — it's shallow; over-investing steals time from higher-weight topics.
