What are these lists of "macros" in 08 andhow do you link them to keystrokes?

[epilogue]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger)
Processor: intel

In all previous versions of Word, I created simple macros so that I could keep my fingers on the keyboard (delete word, skip ahead one word), etc. Well, I understand, to my dismay, that this new version of Word that I purchased today no longer lets me write macros.

There are, however, lists of macros. I see that something similar to my "delete word" exists, but how to shortcut it? I am mystified. Surely one wouldn't go through the drop-down menu process to run a "time-saving" macro?

Thank you for any help.

 

[CyberTaz]

The majority of what's in that list aren't macros - in fact, none really
are Although I can understand why the term was retained I have to agree
that it's a bit misleading. Most of those items are simply direct access to
menu commands within the program - and no, you can't map keystrokes to
them... At least not through that dialog. You can (for the most part),
however, via Tools> Customize Menus & Toolbars - Keyboard button.

That having been said, though, I believe you've been wasting a great deal of
time The actions you mentioned (as well dozens of others) already have
keystroke assignments & have had them for eons - Command+Del to delete a
word to the right, Command+ Delete to delete the word to the left,
Option+Left/Right Arrow to move by word, ad infinitum. You might consider
searching Word Help using the keyword: shortcuts.

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

 

[epilogue]

Thank you for your response. I did in fact search through the Help sectionand found a lot of shortcut keys that will help me.

However, the one shortcut I use most, which is <delete the word to the right> doesn't seem to work on my Macbook Pro keyboard. It seems that external keyboards have a second DELETE key with a little X symbol on it. I don't have that on my keyboard, and when I press Command-Delete, the keystroke simply deletes the character underneath my cursor. Is there a way around that, do you know ?

Again, thank you for your help.

 

[CyberTaz]

Try adding in the [fn] key;-)

Command+Delete removes 1 word to the left, fn+Command+Delete removes 1 word
to the right here on my MBP.

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

 

[epilogue]

Thanks so much, again, for your help. For some reason, on my MacBook Pro (1 year old), the combination of Fn-Command-Delete causes the cursor not to move at all.

Any idea why?

I have found one "fix," in that if I press Option-Forward-Delete, that effectively does the trick, but it is rather cumbersome.

 

[Clive Huggan]

My laptop keyboard works the same as CyberTaz has reported. It's a
PowerBook, but I can't imagine the arrangement being changed.

Could it be that you are using the Control key (labelled with "Ctrl") rather
than the Command key (labelled with an apple and pretzel in older keyboards
but with "Command" in newer ones)?

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

 

[epilogue]

Thanks, Clive.

I have a key marked Ctrl as well as a Command (apple/pretzel) key.

My left lower keyboard is
Fn Ctrl Option Command

Weird.

I have tried every combination of everything to try to delete ahead one word.

 

[CyberTaz]

I'm honestly not sure. Which model keyboard really makes no difference - the
keys are mapped - or "addressed" - by the OS & the apps. I don't believe it
should matter, but my MBP is running Leopard (10.5.0). Is it possible that
you're using a different keyboard layout than US English?

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

 

[CyberTaz]

OS X includes a feature by the name of Keyboard Viewer which you can
activate through Keyboard & Mouse Preferences. It may be helpful to
determine what's up. You should fine that the [fn] key reverses the
direction of the delete ("backspace") key to being a forward delete.
Combining it with the Command key should "forward delete by word" rather
than by character. Here, fn+Option+Delete does nothing.

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

 

[Clive Huggan]

Bob and "epilogue" <== [would be handy to have your real first name],

I don't have Word 2008 -- precisely because of lack of macros -- so please
bear that in mind when you read this (because I can't even start to test my
theory).

Noting "epilogue"'s comment "I see that something similar to my 'delete
word' exists": is it possible that a macro configured in Word 2004, now
inoperative in Word 2008 of course, has hijacked the function, thereby
making the function unavailable?

Cheers,

Clive
======

 

[John McGhie]

Well, it's Command + Delete on this MacBook.

Go to Tools>Customise... And choose the command from the All Commands list
(its named "Delete Word"). When you select it, you will be able to see what
keystroke is currently assigned to it.

To change it if need be, type the keystroke you want to use for it.

It's probably worth looking in your System Preferences>Keyboard and Mouse to
ensure that no other part of the system is stealing the keystroke

Cheers

Thanks, Clive.

I have a key marked Ctrl as well as a Command (apple/pretzel) key.

My left lower keyboard is
Fn Ctrl Option Command

Weird.

I have tried every combination of everything to try to delete ahead one word.

--

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
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[epilogue]

Thanks to all of you. I did find that "customize keyboard" capability and Word supposedly let me assign Ctrl-D to DELETEWORD, but the keyboard still refuses to respond. I am on my way to the Apple Store to find a genius this morning. Hopefully will clear this up.

Maryanne

 

[epilogue]

Well, spent 2 hours with 2 Apple "geniuses" who are stumped. Determined that the keystrokes do in fact work on all other computers, and even on my own computer when they started my machine on an external OS. Tried looking for any software conflicts, thought they had one with Wacoal tablet, disabled it, but still no luck.

They say what's left is to reformat my hard drive.

I really appreciate the feedback I got to my question, thanks.

---Maryanne

 

[Clive Huggan]

Thanks for giving us the feedback, Maryanne! It adds to our collective
knowledge. Hope all goes well.

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

 

[Madeline Koch]

I have a related question. I have just upgraded to Word 2008, and I would
happily use it except that I have years' of VBA macros that I can't live
without -- removing double spaces and space-before-commas and applying a
character style to all digits and applying templates and paragraph styles.
These save me hours of time.

I'm a little baffled as to how to convert these: do I use Automator or
AppleScript?

In previous versions of Word I rarely actually wrote out a macro but instead
would turn on the recorder, do what I wanted to do and then turned it off,
having applied a keyboard shortcut to it or adding it to one of the pulldown
menus for posterity (or so I thought!). But I did used to into the VBA
editor occasionally and meddle with the macros, so I'm not resistant to
using compilers, but I sure hope there's a way that's as easy as it used to
be to create these tools!

All advice and suggestions welcome. Thanks.
Madeline


Bob wrote, to Maryanne a while ago:

 

[John McGhie]

Hi Madeline:

I would re-install Word 2004 if I were you, for use when you need your
macros

There is no recorder in Word AppleScript. If you can't do what you want in
Automator, then you will have to roll up your sleeves and hand-code it.

Your first three can be done with Find/Replace. Look up "Wildcards" in the
Help for details. You won't need the macro.

Styles you can create a toolbar for and drag the styles you want to that.
If you can remember to ensure that your selection is just an insertion point
when you use them, they will work fine. If you have anything selected, the
style will be turned into a Character style and applied only to the
selection.

Sorry.

I have a related question. I have just upgraded to Word 2008, and I would
happily use it except that I have years' of VBA macros that I can't live
without -- removing double spaces and space-before-commas and applying a
character style to all digits and applying templates and paragraph styles.
These save me hours of time.

I'm a little baffled as to how to convert these: do I use Automator or
AppleScript?

In previous versions of Word I rarely actually wrote out a macro but instead
would turn on the recorder, do what I wanted to do and then turned it off,
having applied a keyboard shortcut to it or adding it to one of the pulldown
menus for posterity (or so I thought!). But I did used to into the VBA
editor occasionally and meddle with the macros, so I'm not resistant to
using compilers, but I sure hope there's a way that's as easy as it used to
be to create these tools!

All advice and suggestions welcome. Thanks.
Madeline


Bob wrote, to Maryanne a while ago:

--

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
Nhulunbuy, NT, Australia. mailto:[email protected]

 

[Madeline Koch]

Thanks, John... I think!

So if I understand you correctly, I can't turn on Automator to have it
follow my keystrokes and then save it as a "workflow" but have to either use
an existing one or hand-code one, right?

But I can assign a keyboard shortcut to a workflow, right?

Most of my Word 2004 macros are find-and-replace things that I added
keyboard shortcuts to. It's amazing how many of these things I have built
over the years, and they're so ingrained in my work habits that I can't tell
what's mine and what's Word.

At the moment, however, I don't see enough advantages in Word 2008 to
warrant rethinking/relearning/recreating all this! So you're right: I'll
stick to Word 2004.

Thanks again.
Madeline