Obscure keyboard shortcuts

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G’day,

I’m trying to put together a Word keyboard shortcut template, inspired by a Function Key template I found with my copy of Word 2.0 (Basically, it’ll be a picture of a keyboard with all standard keyboard shortcuts displayed on each key.)

I’ll post a link to it once I’m done, but for now I need some help understanding some of the more obscure keyboard shortcuts, as follows (all of these refer to Word 2003):

Ctrl-Alt-= (Add to Menu) (a.k.a.ToolsCustomizeAddMenuShortcut)
Turns the mouse pointer into a + sign, but how do you get it to actually add something to a menu, after that?

Ctrl-Shift-F7 (Update Source)
Apparently this “Copies the modified text of a linked file back to its source”, but I can’t get it to do so. In what circumstances is this useful? When does it work?

Ctrl-Shift-X (XML Tag View)
What does this do? What objects does it work on?

Ctrl-Shift-R (Recount Words)
When does this actually do something?

Alt-Left (Web Go Back)
Presumably, this works like the Back button in IE, but when does it actually do something in Word?

If anyone can give me a sequence of steps that show any of these commands in action, I would be enormously grateful!

(Below is a sample of what the Keyboard Guide will look like.)

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Hi PStepanas,

Ctrl-Shift-F7 (Update Source)
Apparently this “Copies the modified text of a linked file back to its source”, but I can’t get it to do so. In what circumstances is this useful? When does it work?

This works when you have an INCLUDETEXT field in your document, pointing to a range in a separate source document. Ordinarily, if you were to make any edits within the range bounded by the INCLUDETEXT field, the changes would be lost immediately the field updated (eg when you print the document). If you want to avoid that, and export the changes to the source document (eg because other documents link to the same point and you want the changes reflected in all target documents), simply press Ctrl-Shift-F7.

Cheers,
Paul Edstein
[Fmr MS MVP - Word]

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This project is very ambitious…

Alt-Left (Web Go Back)
Presumably, this works like the Back button in IE, but when does it actually do something in Word?

If you use Word’s hyperlinks to jump within a document, e.g., from a Table of Contents to a heading, you can use Alt+LeftArrow to go back to the TOC. You can use Alt+RightArrow to go forward again. Same as in IE and other browsers.

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Ctrl-Alt-= (Add to Menu) (a.k.a.ToolsCustomizeAddMenuShortcut)
Have a look at this post from years ago. I think that this probably wont work with Word 2007+ since the old toolbars have been superceded with the Ribbon.

Ctrl-Shift-X (XML Tag View)
I’m wondering whether this is an old command that is no longer relevant in the current Word version. Even if I open an XML file with Word 2010 this command does nothing

Ctrl-Shift-R (Recount Words)
I would guess this was useful once upon a time to refresh the document property which showed the word count. In Word 2010 it would be useless since if you show the word count in the status bar, you can see it update dynamically with every edit.

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I’d be very interested to see this when finished, PStepanas! Which version of Word are you intending it to work with/for?

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Thank you, all!

You’ve answered all but one question:

Ctrl-Shift-X (XML Tag View) First appeared in Word 2003. Still don’t know what it does.

To answer Beryl M.’s question: I’m putting this together for Word XP and Word 2003 initially (since they’re the two versions I use at home and work). I may get around to doing a version for Excel XP/2003 as well. I’ve no current plans to extend this work to Office 2007 or 2010. If anyone else wanted to do so, I’d ask that they contact me (once I’ve released my own version) so we can be on the same page regarding quality assurance for the package.

In the meantime, if you have any thoughts about how to package it, I’d love to hear them. This is what I was thinking:

1. PDF document of Word XP shortcuts
2. PDF document of Word 2003 shortcuts

But I also want to cater to those who want to fill in their own, customised assignments. Should I include Word docs of one or both XP and 2003 shortcuts in the main package, or distribute a second, “Developer’s” package?

I should be able to release a v0.9 in the coming week. Will post a link here.

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In the meantime, if you have any thoughts about how to package it, I’d love to hear them. This is what I was thinking:

1. PDF document of Word XP shortcuts
2. PDF document of Word 2003 shortcuts

But I also want to cater to those who want to fill in their own, customised assignments.

PDFs are ideal for printing, as they usually don’t have font or pagination inconsistencies that can arise with Word documents. For editability, Word obviously is preferred. But… for reference, I would be partial to an interactive application, and based on my limited programming scope, would lean toward JavaScript in a browser. This would allow you to click or mouse over to zoom, which could be useful for a document that otherwise might have rather smallish text. It also would be possible to have the user start typing a keyword (e.g., bold or back) and have keys with no match be progressively grayed out until the correct one is left. Of course, that may be far beyond what anyone needs, but if you’re making a wish list… And a mobile phone version, of course. I’ve heard those $0.99 payments can really add up.

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Is Word XP not the same version as Word 2003, then? I’ve always used the terms interchangeably …

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Word XP is the same as Word 2002, part of the confusingly-named Office XP (aka Office 2002).

Gary

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Version 0.9 is Ready to Go!

See the full announcement for all the details.

Or go directly to the download page.

Note: Please post all feedback to the new thread, and not here. Thanks.

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