Creating Keyboard shortcuts (anomaly)

[Basil Brush]

Help Please.
(1st problem) If I open a Word document and follow this sequence of actions
:-
Tools | Customize | Keyboard | Categories | All Commands | Commands then
Select Draw Set Fill color and assign a keyboard shortcut. The said shortcut
does not open color option as stated, the same is true of various other
options
in the Commands field. Any reason why this should be?

(2nd problem) If the Word document with the Customize dialogue box on top is
minimized to the task bar and another Word document on the task bar (with my
list of existing shortcuts), is opened so as to add further text, I am
unable to
do so (edit it), it is as thought the page was dead, the cursor does not
appear at all. I seem to remember that I was able to edit such a document on
my previous computer [which also had XP with SP2] without having to close the
Customize box in the other document. Is this limitation the norm for XP? For
if it is? I must be mistaken in my recollection of creating keyboard
shortcuts on my previous computer. Regards B Brush.

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi Basil,

Help Please.
(1st problem) If I open a Word document and follow this sequence of actions
:-
Tools | Customize | Keyboard | Categories | All Commands | Commands then
Select Draw Set Fill color and assign a keyboard shortcut. The said shortcut
does not open color option as stated, the same is true of various other
options
in the Commands field. Any reason why this should be?

I don't see any command "Draw Set Fill color", but there is one called
FormatFillColor so I'll assume that's what you referred to. The
command does nothing if you don't have an AutoShape selected. When a
shape is selected, the effect of the command is to apply the most
recently selected fill color (shown on the button in the Draw toolbar)
-- it doesn't open the popup menu or the Format AutoShape dialog, the
two places where you can select a different color. If you want the
dialog, the command for that is FormatDrawingObject. Again, a shape
must be selected or the command does nothing.

(2nd problem) If the Word document with the Customize dialogue box on top is
minimized to the task bar and another Word document on the task bar (with my
list of existing shortcuts), is opened so as to add further text, I am
unable to
do so (edit it), it is as thought the page was dead, the cursor does not
appear at all. I seem to remember that I was able to edit such a document on
my previous computer [which also had XP with SP2] without having to close the
Customize box in the other document. Is this limitation the norm for XP? For
if it is? I must be mistaken in my recollection of creating keyboard
shortcuts on my previous computer. Regards B Brush.

I think your memory is mistaken. I tried the same thing in Word 2003
and in Word 2000. In Word 2003, the cursor (insertion point) doesn't
appear in the second document but I can type, and the characters
appear. In Word 2000, as long as any dialog is open in the first
document, you can't even type in the second document -- the dialog
doesn't release focus (in programmers' lingo, the dialog is
"application modal", meaning you can't do _anything_ else until the
dialog is dismissed).

--
Regards,
Jay Freedman
Microsoft Word MVP
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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

It has never been possible to work in a document with the Customize dialog
open. You must close it before continuing to work.

I don't find a DrawSetFillColor command in All Commands (in Word 2003).
Indeed, I don't find Fill Color anywhere in the list under any likely name;
I do find Fill Color in the list for the Drawing category on the Commands
tab, but not in the Keyboard dialog, which is reasonable, since the button
opens a palette, and buttons that open a palette (such as Columns, Borders,
Insert Table) don't usually have keyboard shortcuts.