No shortcut keys/key combinations tocalculate (add, subtract) in Word 2008?

[Maggie]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

We recently upgraded to a new desktop iMac (running Leopard OS) from a now-ancient original iMac (running OS 9.2) and Office/Word 98. I'm beginning to get a handle on the differences between Word 98 and Word 2008, but I am totally dismayed that one very useful feature of Word 98 (and at least several earlier versions) seems to be missing from Word 2008. Or at least I can't find it by searching through all menu and Help (which isn't very helpful in general, actually). Whether versions between Word 98 and 2008 also had this feature, I don't know.

In Word 98 it was very easy to add columns of numbers or to subtract one number from another in a document that was mostly text. Here's how it was done:

1. Hold down Option key while selecting/mousing over the column of numbers to be added. (Selecting this way prevented the text on the lines with the numbers from also being included in the selection.)

2. Hold down Option key and Apple/Command key simultaneously/together, then the = sign key (at top right of keyboard).

3. Presto, the result of the calculation (the total) was announced in the lower left of the screen, and evidently also went automatically into the clipboard. Then one could quickly paste (using Command + V) the answer/total where desired, usually beneath the column in the usual place for a total (after underlining the last entry in the column).

When doing subtraction, one simply put a minus sign in front of the lower number in the column and made sure to include the minus sign in the selection before doing the key combination to perform the calculation. As with addition, the result of the calculation appeared quickly on the lower-left screen (or maybe it was on the strip at the bottom), and one could paste it where desired.

I thought I might find out how to do this in Word 2008 in the Tools menu, going then to Macros, and Word Commands and List Commands, then clicking Run (after clicking on Current menu and Keyboard Settings, then clicking Print). Indeed I got the whole long (18 pages) list of combinations, but the key combination for the calculation operation that I want/need did not seem to be included, drat. I didn't print the list but scanned the whole thing carefully.

For years, I've found it useful, easy, and quick when organizing and itemizing information in preparation for doing income-tax returns.

It's hard to believe that somebody at Microsoft at some point decided to leave out this useful feature from Word 2008, but I suppose it's possible. Not a wise decision if that's the case!

Can any of you tell me whether or not this easy calculation operation can indeed be done on Word 2008 or if the capability really doesn't exist there. If it can be done, please tell me how to do it. Thanks!

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

Hi Maggie--

Big shift!

I've not used this feature myself, nor tested it in Word 2008, but I
believe you want the ToolsCalculate command, as described here:
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/ToolsCalculate.htm

Your step 1 (option-select) is not related to ToolsCalculate and should
still work.

In step 2, you invoked the ToolsCalculate command. Dig it out of the
Customize dialogs as described in this tutorial and put it on a toolbar
or assign a keyboard shortcut to it, to use it.
http://word.mvps.org/mac/customizeToolbars.html

Let us know if it still works in Word 2008.

Re Help--make sure you are allowing Online Help--more content will be
added over time.

 

[CyberTaz]

Yeah, it's still there, works as always & Option+Command+= is available to
be assigned... However - even though I can't say for sure about earlier
versions - the keystroke is not a default assignment in 2008 *or* 2004, and
you have to select All Commands in the Customize dialog in order to get to
the ToolsCalculate command (it's not in the Tools category).

....And Option-Select is as effective as ever too

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

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Maggie:

As the others have said, it is still there. But it is a "deprecated"
feature That's because it is because both its accuracy and reliability
are a little questionable

Personally, I have a shortcut in my Dock for the Apple system Calculator,
and one for Excel

They're both more reliable than Tools>Calculate!

Hope this helps

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: intel

We recently upgraded to a new desktop iMac (running Leopard OS) from a
now-ancient original iMac (running OS 9.2) and Office/Word 98. I'm beginning
to get a handle on the differences between Word 98 and Word 2008, but I am
totally dismayed that one very useful feature of Word 98 (and at least several
earlier versions) seems to be missing from Word 2008. Or at least I can't find
it by searching through all menu and Help (which isn't very helpful in
general, actually). Whether versions between Word 98 and 2008 also had this
feature, I don't know.

In Word 98 it was very easy to add columns of numbers or to subtract one
number from another in a document that was mostly text. Here's how it was
done:

1. Hold down Option key while selecting/mousing over the column of numbers to
be added. (Selecting this way prevented the text on the lines with the numbers
from also being included in the selection.)

2. Hold down Option key and Apple/Command key simultaneously/together, then
the = sign key (at top right of keyboard).

3. Presto, the result of the calculation (the total) was announced in the
lower left of the screen, and evidently also went automatically into the
clipboard. Then one could quickly paste (using Command + V) the answer/total
where desired, usually beneath the column in the usual place for a total
(after underlining the last entry in the column).

When doing subtraction, one simply put a minus sign in front of the lower
number in the column and made sure to include the minus sign in the selection
before doing the key combination to perform the calculation. As with addition,
the result of the calculation appeared quickly on the lower-left screen (or
maybe it was on the strip at the bottom), and one could paste it where
desired.

I thought I might find out how to do this in Word 2008 in the Tools menu,
going then to Macros, and Word Commands and List Commands, then clicking Run
(after clicking on Current menu and Keyboard Settings, then clicking Print).
Indeed I got the whole long (18 pages) list of combinations, but the key
combination for the calculation operation that I want/need did not seem to be
included, drat. I didn't print the list but scanned the whole thing carefully.

For years, I've found it useful, easy, and quick when organizing and itemizing
information in preparation for doing income-tax returns.

It's hard to believe that somebody at Microsoft at some point decided to leave
out this useful feature from Word 2008, but I suppose it's possible. Not a
wise decision if that's the case!

Can any of you tell me whether or not this easy calculation operation can
indeed be done on Word 2008 or if the capability really doesn't exist there.
If it can be done, please tell me how to do it. Thanks!

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Clive Huggan]

For what it's worth I use ToolsCalculate frequently, and I find either it is
completely reliable or it throws an error message (e.g. because some text
got in the way, other than e.g. "nil", which it can cope with). Admittedly
that's in Word 2004, as I have not yet moved to 2008. I allocated
Command-[equal sign] as the keyboard shortcut.

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
============

 

[Maggie]

Thanks for all the advice, with which (plus some other online info and experimenting) I was able to muddle through and install the ToolsCalculate command in my Word menu bar (under Tools) and then assign a keyboard shortcut to it. I chose Command+Option+=, which is what I'm used to using from Word 98 (and maybe one earlier version). I believe Command+= was what might have been used in Word 5.1, but that key combination was already taken (by superscript or subscript, I think).

I don't know why Microsoft doesn't just include this useful, easy tool in the Tools menu that one starts out with, rather than having it entirely hidden and also not documented, at least not in the anemic Help that now comes with Word. Actually, I'd rather have the old-fashioned hard-copy manual(s), voluminous though they were. At least there one could see what was possible and pick and choose what to read and use. Actually, though I really can't recall clearly, I might have picked up the tip about the ToolsCalculate feature back in a non-Microsoft publication about whatever version of Word.

I'll try to reconstruct here what I did, in case someone else can benefit. The ToolsCalculate FAQ that Daiya mentioned above was helpful, though incomplete for my purposes. But it gave also considerable info other than installation directions. One problem with it is that these articles/FAQs are undated, and this one seemed pretty old. They should be dated.
<http://word.mvps.org/faqs/general/ToolsCalculate.htm>

1. On the View menu, click on Customize Toolbars and Menus. The screen opens with the Toolbars and Menus button/tab near the top selected. I wasn't sure what to do, if anything, with that screen, so clicked on the other button/tab option at the top: Commands.

2. The Commands screen opens with List All Commands selected in the left-hand column (Categories). This lists all commands possible on Word 2008, whether or not they're already in a menu or toolbard or "activated." Stick with this selection.

3. In the right-hand column of commands, scroll down to the ToolsCalculate command and select and drag it to where you want to add it (to Tools in the menu bar rather than the toolbar is what I did). This is a kind of cumbersome/imprecise process (with some sort of temporary, secondary toolbar appearing, which confuses things), and I had to make repeated attempts before concluding I'd finally gotten my add-on where I wanted it.

4. I clicked OK (which evidently confirms the addition and also saves the change to the Normal template (or whatever it's called). It might have been possible then, or earlier, to set up my desired shortcut key combination, but I got out of the customizing window(s) then and went back to Word to see what had had happened, in the end making all these a separated two-stage process. Indeed, I found ToolsCalculate, dimmed, where I'd put it in the Tools menu.

5. I first thought that the dimmed state meant that I'd done something wrong--put the command there but somehow it wasn't active. However, I later learned that ToolsCalculate shows as a clickable choice only when one is working in a Word document and has selected (by dragging over it with the Option key down) a column of numbers to be added (or subtracted or whatever). I tested out some addition, and the calculation tool worked fine.

6. To add a keyboard shortcut for ToolsCalculate, go back to the View menu and again select Customize Toolbars and Menus, then the Commands tab/button. On the commands screen, go directly to the Keyboard button at the bottom. On the Customize Keyboard screen that comes up, the All Commands option is (stupidly) not listed first in the left-hand list, as was the case earlier; it's near the bottom. Select it, because if you choose the Tools option, the ToolsCalculate command won't appear in the Tools list of commands on the right, despite the fact that it was just added to the Tools menu.

7. Select ToolsCalculate from the commands list and t

 

[Maggie]

Here's the rest--I got smarter this time, writing and saving in Word, then pasting, so it didn't matter that what's above got truncated. I still had the rest and could paste it in a follow-up posting.

7. Select ToolsCalculate from the commands list and then type/key in your desired key combination/shortcut in the space provided. Then click the Assign button. (The space for any existing key combination will be blank because nothing was assigned by MS to ToolsCalculate, and nothing should be filled in there.)

I can't recall what, if anything, came up to be done after clicking the Assign button, but if something further must be done, it's probably obvious. In any case, upon checking the Word Tools menu, not only was ToolsCalculate shown there, but also the key combination for it.

I ran a batch of trials to try the addition and subtraction operations, with decimals (via use of the decimal point tab settings) and without. Seemed accurate every time. In fact, in using this calculation feature over the years, I've never had a problem with errors. However, one does have to be sure that not only are columns aligned properly before running ToolsCalculate, but one also has to be very sure to include all digits in the column when selecting/dragging with the Option key down. If the first/top number in a column being added is a short one, with fewer digits than the ones below, one must place the insertion point/cursor (whatever it's called) in front of that first number and hit the space bar a time or two (or more)--i.e., add spaces, so that one can drag/select the whole column accurately.

 

[John McGhie]

Thanks Maggie:

It's actually in the Help, if you persist.

Check for a topic named " Customize toolbars and menus".

I think I prefer your version

Cheers

Here's the rest--I got smarter this time, writing and saving in Word, then
pasting, so it didn't matter that what's above got truncated. I still had the
rest and could paste it in a follow-up posting.

7. Select ToolsCalculate from the commands list and then type/key in your
desired key combination/shortcut in the space provided. Then click the Assign
button. (The space for any existing key combination will be blank because
nothing was assigned by MS to ToolsCalculate, and nothing should be filled in
there.)

I can't recall what, if anything, came up to be done after clicking the Assign
button, but if something further must be done, it's probably obvious. In any
case, upon checking the Word Tools menu, not only was ToolsCalculate shown
there, but also the key combination for it.

I ran a batch of trials to try the addition and subtraction operations, with
decimals (via use of the decimal point tab settings) and without. Seemed
accurate every time. In fact, in using this calculation feature over the
years, I've never had a problem with errors. However, one does have to be sure
that not only are columns aligned properly before running ToolsCalculate, but
one also has to be very sure to include all digits in the column when
selecting/dragging with the Option key down. If the first/top number in a
column being added is a short one, with fewer digits than the ones below, one
must place the insertion point/cursor (whatever it's called) in front of that
first number and hit the space bar a time or two (or more)--i.e., add spaces,
so that one can drag/select the whole column accurately.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Consultant Technical Writer
McGhie Information Engineering Pty Ltd
http://jgmcghie.fastmail.com.au/
Sydney, Australia. S33°53'34.20 E151°14'54.50
+61 4 1209 1410, mailto:[email protected]

 

[Daiya Mitchell]

rather than having it entirely hidden and also not documented, at least not in the anemic Help that now comes with Word. Actually, I'd rather have the old-fashioned hard-copy manual(s), voluminous though they were. At least there one could see what was possible and pick and choose what to read and use.

Help is unfinished--with the switch to online Help, they will be adding
to it over time. Be sure you are allowing online help. Also, if you
click on Contents at the top of the index drawer, it will offer you a
chapter structure that you can browse--there's no less there than would
be in a manual.

One problem with it is that these articles/FAQs are undated, and this one seemed pretty old. They should be dated.

Yeah, well, it's a volunteer site with thousands of articles, and who
has the time to go back and fix all that? You are 100% right, of course.

Daiya

 

[jefkt]

Thank you all ... I found this after 2 hours of googling and exploring the help file of word 2008, which most of the time is no help at all.
I think it is rather ridiculous that you have to dig into Customize Toolbars or look for or ToolsCalculate ... and that there isn't even a Calculate item in the help-index. Typically Microsoft.
Where are the days of Word 5 for mac, the last really intuitive version of Word ever ...

 

[Clive Huggan]

Thank you all ... I found this after 2 hours of googling and exploring the
help file of word 2008, which most of the time is no help at all.

What did you find?

(Sorry, I'm viewing this in Entourage and I don't see any previous post. But
it's a "Re:" post, so something may have happened.)

I think it is rather ridiculous that you have to dig into Customize Toolbars
or look for or ToolsCalculate ... and that there isn't even a Calculate item
in the help-index. Typically Microsoft.
Where are the days of Word 5 for mac, the last really intuitive version of
Word ever ...

Ahhh ... <deep nostalgic sigh>

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

 

[Phillip Jones]

Actually I liked Word.01a better (AKA word95 for Mac).

The only defect it had was with envelope printing, I couldn't be fixed.

What did you find?

(Sorry, I'm viewing this in Entourage and I don't see any previous post. But
it's a "Re:" post, so something may have happened.)


Ahhh ... <deep nostalgic sigh>

Cheers,

Clive Huggan
Canberra, Australia
(My time zone is 5-11 hours different from the Americas and Europe, so my
follow-on responses to those regions can be delayed)
====================================================

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Phillip Jones]

how in the word did I manage to drop the 6 in sentence below.

That is supposed to: be 6.01.a not .01a

I'm sure there are plenty here scratching there heads.

Actually I liked Word.01a better (AKA word95 for Mac).

The only defect it had was with envelope printing, I couldn't be fixed.

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Phillip:

Well, *I* liked Word 6 too, but the Net Nazis around here are probably
writing hate mail to us as we speak...

Nyah nyah nyah!! Word 6 rules!!!

Cheers

how in the word did I manage to drop the 6 in sentence below.

That is supposed to: be 6.01.a not .01a

I'm sure there are plenty here scratching there heads.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones]

WE don't have a thing to worry about. we are so old I don't expect they
don't even know What Word 6.0.1.a even looked like. ;-) they haven't
been in the trenches like us.

Hi Phillip:

Well, *I* liked Word 6 too, but the Net Nazis around here are probably
writing hate mail to us as we speak...

Nyah nyah nyah!! Word 6 rules!!!

Cheers

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[Phillip Jones]

Hey you want me to blow your mind?

I got around the envelope printing deal by using Novel's WordPerfect 3.5
for envelopes.

It had a nifty feature when you create a specific envelope for a person
you save in that person's Name when you went to create a new envelope
days, weeks, months later you just went to the name and boom there was
the predigested envelope. I even put a Bug into to MS to added that
feature but they never did. <sigh>.

Hi Phillip:

Well, *I* liked Word 6 too, but the Net Nazis around here are probably
writing hate mail to us as we speak...

Nyah nyah nyah!! Word 6 rules!!!

Cheers

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[John McGhie]

Riiight...

I got around it by conning the boss' secretary into doing it.

This is a strategy that still works today (although she's harder to con,
these days...)

Cheers

Hey you want me to blow your mind?

I got around the envelope printing deal by using Novel's WordPerfect 3.5
for envelopes.

It had a nifty feature when you create a specific envelope for a person
you save in that person's Name when you went to create a new envelope
days, weeks, months later you just went to the name and boom there was
the predigested envelope. I even put a Bug into to MS to added that
feature but they never did. <sigh>.

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Phillip Jones]

It nice you had cute young thing you could con into doing that.

I never was fortunate to have a secretary. :-(

Riiight...

I got around it by conning the boss' secretary into doing it.

This is a strategy that still works today (although she's harder to con,
these days...)

Cheers

--
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Phillip M. Jones, CET |LIFE MEMBER: VPEA ETA-I, NESDA, ISCET, Sterling
616 Liberty Street |Who's Who. PHONE:276-632-5045, FAX:276-632-0868
Martinsville Va 24112 |[email protected], ICQ11269732, AIM pjonescet
------------------------------------------------------------------------

If it's "fixed", don't "break it"!

mailto[email protected]

<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/90th_Birthday/index.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Fulcher/default.html>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Harris/default.htm>
<http://www.kimbanet.com/~pjones/Jones/default.htm>

<http://www.vpea.org>

 

[John McGhie]

Phillip:

*I* never had a Secretary either!! How do you think I got to be a Microsoft
Word expert?

The boss had a secretary (still does...). And she wasn't a cute young
thing, she was a redoubtable lady with steel-grey hair and a demeanour to
match, who terrified the entire company.

But she would type envelopes for us, if there were not too many and the
request was accompanied by a bar of Dark Chocolate...

Cheers

It nice you had cute young thing you could con into doing that.

I never was fortunate to have a secretary. :-(

--
Don't wait for your answer, click here: http://www.word.mvps.org/

Please reply in the group. Please do NOT email me unless I ask you to.

John McGhie, Microsoft MVP, Word and Word:Mac
Sydney, Australia. mailto:[email protected]