Announcing: Word XP/2003 Keyboard Guide v0.9

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Word XP/2003 Keyboard Shortcut Guide

Inspired by an old Word 2.0 function key template, I’ve built a comprehensive guide to all the default keyboard shortcuts in Word XP and Word 2003, which you can download from:
[indent] http://paulius.50webs.com/officekeys.html[/indent]

The package contains PDF documents showing all standard Word keyboard shortcuts, both in categorised lists and on a keyboard template.

This is effectively a beta release, and I’m looking for as much feedback and suggestions as I can get. I’m particularly interested in the stuff noted in the readme file (colours, packaging, clarity, and what does Ctrl-Shift-X really do?). Feedback can be through this thread, or the email link at the above web page.

I hope to have v1.0 out by the end of the month. The biggest attraction will be the inclusion of the original Word documents so you can incorporate and print out your own keyboard customisations.

At the same time, I’m releasing a guide to Equation Editor / MathType keyboard shortcuts, which should appeal to anyone using Word to build equations. You’ll find it further down the same web page.

There’s a few other things also in the pipeline (all at the same web site), including updated versions of all my Game Reference Booklets.

Anyway, here’s a taste of the Word Keyboard Guide. I hope you find it as useful as I have.

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Thanks, Paulius. I haven’t looked over them in great detail, but I was more interested in the Equation Editor/MathType shortcuts than the Word shortcuts. Looks to be very complete. I didn’t have any trouble figuring it out, but I think some people might not understand what (for example) C-T, * … *L means. Looking at the guides, there’s plenty of room for a short explanation if you decide it’s needed.

BTW, the current version of MathType is not 5.x — it’s 6.x (6.0 for Macintosh; 6.7 for Windows).

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Thanks, Bob.

I did include a quick explanation of the * terminology in the Readme file, but I take your point.

As for the MathType version, guess I’ll have to ask IT at uni to upgrade me! (They don’t exactly volunteer such services…)

I should also make the point that installing MathType creates its own keyboard shortcuts in Word itself. When I realised, I though maybe I should include those in the MathType guide. Any thoughts?

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I should also make the point that installing MathType creates its own keyboard shortcuts in Word itself. When I realised, I though maybe I should include those in the MathType guide. Any thoughts?

Quite right. We added some new shortcuts with MathType 6.5 that let you…

[*]Insert display equation (Alt+Q)[*]Insert right-numbered equation (Alt+Shift+Q)[*]Insert left-numbered equation (Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Q)[*]Open Math Input Panel [Windows 7 only] (Ctrl+Shift+M)[*]Toggle MathType/TeX (Alt+)[*]Edit equation in-place in the document [as opposed to in a separate MathType window] (Alt+E)[*]Open equation for editing in a separate MathType window (Alt+O)

These supplement the one that already existed:

[*]Insert inline equation (Ctrl+Alt+Q)

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Hi Paulius,

Have you seen Microsoft’s “List of keyboard shortcuts for Word 2002, Word 2003, and Word 2007” at: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/290938

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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Thanks macropod.

I don’t think I’d seen that particular page, though I have seen the Word 2000 equivalent.

Trouble is, that page is both enigmatic and incomplete. That’s part of the reason I built this package.

But I’ll keep this in mind if I extend to Word 2007.

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Hi Bob,

It seems all the shortcuts you mention on the Q key are already set up in my installation of MathType v5.2a.

I’ll have a look at the others when I upgrade to 6.7a. Since there’s room, I think I will add these in (though perhaps not this week).

Thanks!

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It seems all the shortcuts you mention on the Q key are already set up in my installation of MathType v5.2a.

That could be because someone at the university may have added the shortcuts manually (but it would indeed be quite a coincidence if they were the same ones we’ve added). Those shortcuts were added into MathType’s integration to Word with MathType 6.5 though. If they’re working for you, great.

Bob

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Hi all,

Quick update.

I could really use some feedback on the Word keyboard shortcuts package. I hesitate to release version 1.0 without a little bit of collaborative discussion. I’ve been disappointingly surprised at how little response there’s been.

My current plan is to release version 1.0 in January. That will include versions of the documents in Word format so you can customise them with your own keyboard shortcuts. Beyond that, at this stage there will only be minor tweaks. I’ve personally found the keyboard template very useful for planning which keystrokes to use for the commands I use most often.

As you may have noticed, most of the discussion has centred around the companion, MathType shortcuts release. Bob Mathews has been very helpful with reviewing this. In particular, it turns out that a number of templates have alternate shortcuts. I’m still figuring out how best to incorporate these, and don’t expect an updated release until February.

Thanks in advance for any comments.

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Paulius,

Nice job. Here’s what these old eyes saw.

1. Per above, and I know there isn’t much you can do about it given the amount of data and limited space, I can’t read it in printed form. If I blow it up to 200% in Foxit Reader it reads just fine.

2. I’d suggest you color the background of the Shift, Alt, & Control keys and put the text in white. This may help make the color coding more readily apparent.

3. Although obvious, just for completeness you may want to put New Paragraph on the Enter key.

4. This is a personal preference but, I’d drop the the prefixes, C/CS/CA/CAS etc. The color coding and positional alignment should be sufficient, i.e. like the old WP templates. It would also give you a little more room to work with.

I hope this helps?

Again, thank you for doing the research and work of putting this all together. If I was still teaching Word I’d have this either blown up on a large poster or displayed on a 2nd projector screen for student reference {as well as my own}.

I’ll be traveling for the next couple of days and will get back to you on content after we settle in Texas for the winter.

May the Forces of good computing be with you!

RG

PowerShell & VBA Rule!
Computer Specs

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Thank you for your kind feedback, RetiredGeek.

I’ll try to address all your points in turn:

1. You’re right, not a lot I can do. The text is 7pt for the Function keys and 5pt for the rest. Even removing the labels (as you suggest in point 4.) only let me increase the font size to 5.5pt! That said, most printer drivers allow rescaling. Also, don’t let Adobe Acrobat rescale the page when printing; set Page Scaling to None, and turn on Auto-Rotate and Center. That’s particularly an issue for printing on Letter paper, or you’ll lose 9% in size! Unfortunately, using narrower margins would be too much work at this stage. Sorry.

2. Interesting. I may try this. Only problem is, it wouldn’t show the mixed colours.

3. None of the keys on the main keyboard list their unmodified function.

4. As mentioned, this doesn’t give enough extra room to make a difference, but I’m thinking I’ll provide a macro that removes the key reminders to accompany the customisable Word doc in version 1.0.

All good suggestions. Thank you!

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I like it – have been missing this (but not maybe enough to create my own) since switching from WordPerfect about 10 years ago. They used to give you a laminated Fn key guide with the software.

Only extra thing I would alsk is for (another) guide for the other keys on the keyboard eg arrows & page up etc.

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@MiKe_W: The keypad and navigation keys are on the second page of the PDF.

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@MiKe_W: The keypad and navigation keys are on the second page of the PDF.

DOH! ……:o:

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