Keyboard shortcuts for menus

[primrose]

In Winword you can easily pick a menu without using the mouse: Alt + a
letter from the menu name. You can see which letter you need because
it's underlined in the menu bar. Likewise, when a menu is open you can
pick a command by typing the letter which is underlined in the name of
the command. All this underlining doesn't look pretty on the screen, but
it works and it's fast.

I'm not sure how to do the same thing in the Mac version. I know that
Ctrl-F2 opens the menu under the blue apple, and that you can move to
another menu by hitting the right arrow. But isn't there some way of
going straight to the menu you want?

Once you have the right menu, typing the first letter of a command
sometimes highlights that command, but by no means always. For example,
in the Insert menu, typing C highlights first Comment, then Caption, but
not Cross-reference. Is there some logic to this?

Can any other mouseophobes help please? I'm using Word v.11.2, OS
10.3.9.

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm afraid that is a capability no longer supported in OS X

Actually, Ctrl+F2 just shifts the focus to the Menu Bar without opening a
menu. In addition to the arrows you can use Tab/Shift+Tab *or* type the
first letter of the Menu you want to access.

I can't explain why the single character doesn't carry you all the way
through the choices if there are more than 2, but if you type "cr" - as per
your example - it will select Cross-reference.

If you're a recent "convert" you may find the following link helpful:

http://word.mvps.org/mac/Differences.html

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Elliott Roper]

In Winword you can easily pick a menu without using the mouse: Alt + a
letter from the menu name. You can see which letter you need because
it's underlined in the menu bar. Likewise, when a menu is open you can
pick a command by typing the letter which is underlined in the name of
the command. All this underlining doesn't look pretty on the screen, but
it works and it's fast.

I'm not sure how to do the same thing in the Mac version. I know that
Ctrl-F2 opens the menu under the blue apple, and that you can move to
another menu by hitting the right arrow. But isn't there some way of
going straight to the menu you want?

Sure, type the initial letter(s) of the main menu item, followed by
down-arrow to open the menu. See more below.

Once you have the right menu, typing the first letter of a command
sometimes highlights that command, but by no means always. For example,
in the Insert menu, typing C highlights first Comment, then Caption, but
not Cross-reference. Is there some logic to this?

Can any other mouseophobes help please? I'm using Word v.11.2, OS
10.3.9.

You are almost there. What you describe is Mac wide, and is a little
better than you know. Just keep typing. e.g. ^F2 I down CR gets you
cross-reference in your example above. Often a little dance with the up
and down keys is helpful. You can move into submenus with the keys as
well.
It is *much* better than the ugly clunkiness on the dark side.

You might find it useful to modify some of the Mac wide shortcuts. I
changed ^F2 to ^M, both as a mnemonic, and to keep my left pinkie in
the pink.

Once you get the hang of it, it is remarkably quick and easy to
remember all the shortcuts, since the same tricks work everywhere on
your Mac.

The 'just keep typing' trick is especially useful in the font menu,
particularly if you have a zillion fonts. Turn off the wysiwyg font
list preference to make this work. Then to get into Zapfino say, I'd
hit ^MFOdownZdown return. (that extra down was to skip zapf dingbats
and the fo up front gets you past 'file' at the top level.)

Practice with the Finder in column mode. (cmd-3) It is amazing how long
you can work without looking for your mouse underneath all the paper in
your paperless office.

If you have Tiger (oops! you haven't - wait for Leopard it is only
weeks away), experiment with using spotlight as a launcher. That is
another fabulous toy for the musophobe. I set cmd-space for simple
spotlight so that cmd-space w usually gets Word as the top hit, then
cmd-ret is all you need to bring it to focus or launch it.

Don't forget cmd-` and cmd-tab for leaping from window to window and
app to app.

Finally, Word has lots of built-in shortcuts, and you can add your own
for any command. Sometimes they work better than burrowing down through
menus with the keyboard.

This post was constructed and the advice tested without harming any
mice.

 

[primrose]

Thanks Bob, but ...

Actually, Ctrl+F2 just shifts the focus to the Menu Bar without opening a
menu.

It sure opens a menu here.

In addition to the arrows you can use Tab/Shift+Tab *or* type the
first letter of the Menu you want to access.

Huh? Ctrl-F2 followed by "i" highlights Location, not the Insert menu.
Ctrl-F2 followed by "v" highlights System Preferences, not the View
menu.

if you type "cr" - as per
your example - it will select Cross-reference

OK, that works as long as you type "cr" quickly, rather than "c"
<pause>, "r", which takes you to Symbol! Is there somewhere that tells
you which letter(s) to use for which command? I don't see anything about
this at the link you gave.

primrose

 

[Elliott Roper]

Thanks Bob, but ...


It sure opens a menu here.


Huh? Ctrl-F2 followed by "i" highlights Location, not the Insert menu.
Ctrl-F2 followed by "v" highlights System Preferences, not the View
menu.

Oops. I made the same mistaken assumption in my other long post. Maybe
10.3.9 does not do the menu nav like Tiger does. It has been so long
since I went to Tiger I have forgotten.

Don't bother upgrading to Tiger. If your Mac is new enough, go straight
to 10.5 which is due this month.

 

[primrose]

Oops. I made the same mistaken assumption in my other long post. Maybe
10.3.9 does not do the menu nav like Tiger does. It has been so long
since I went to Tiger I have forgotten.

Don't bother upgrading to Tiger. If your Mac is new enough, go straight
to 10.5 which is due this month.

Thanks Elliott, I was kind of hoping I might get a response from you!

I believe Leopard will run on my G4 mini (though maybe not fast), but I
haven't been keeping up with the news on this (or Tiger) so I don't know
whether it is worth upgrading at all. Panther seems ok for my purposes,
apart from occasional niggles like this one. I think I'll probably wait
until I replace the mini.

 

[CyberTaz]

Yeah - Elliott caught this one

I'm in Tiger also & there were some changes in the keyboard shortcuts from
what happened in Panther. Sorry I neglected to take that into consideration,
but it's been nearly 2 years since I upgraded.

In any of the Help menus you can do a search for: shortcuts , which will
give you lots of direction. As Elliott also points out, custom assignments
are also readily available.

 

[Elliott Roper]

Thanks Elliott, I was kind of hoping I might get a response from you!

You are just a sucker for punishment you are!

I believe Leopard will run on my G4 mini (though maybe not fast), but I
haven't been keeping up with the news on this (or Tiger) so I don't know
whether it is worth upgrading at all. Panther seems ok for my purposes,
apart from occasional niggles like this one. I think I'll probably wait
until I replace the mini.

As you can see, Tiger is a musophobe's delight. I'm sure that Leotard
will be even shinier.
I too have such a mini, working as my mail and web server. I'll be
getting a family pack of the spotty one as soon as I can get my
clammies on it. I'll try to remember to tell you how it goes. If not,
remind me.
The new minis are not too shabby. I was playing with one the other day
in the Apple Store. It tried to follow me home to become my media
server, but my credit card went sensible on me and I left with nothing
more than one of those fancy new keyboards. I left Final Cut Studio 2
upgrade on the shelf too, which was an amazing feat of willopwer (I
liked that typo so much, I'm leaving it in)