Word: Moving a table row quickly

Here’s a neat trick I learned from this post: http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/10things/10-tips-for-working-with-word-tables/3594

You can quickly move one or more table rows up or down a table by pressing Shift+Alt and either the up or down arrow key.

Who knew? That one was new to me, but I suspect I’ll use it quite a bit!

Word 2010: Keyboard shortcut to paste unformatted text

In Word 2003 and 2007, you couldn’t easily paste copied text as unformatted text. You either had to go through several clicks in the the menus, or set up a macro and assign a keyboard shortcut to it (see this blog post for how to do this in Word 2003/2007: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/word-keyboard-shortcut-to-paste-unformatted-text/).

However, in Word 2010 you don’t have to do any of that as there’s a quick and easy way to paste as unformatted text using the keyboard. Laura alerted me to it in her 13 November 2012 comment on the Word 2003/2007 post above, and, with some more help a few days later from Xuberi, I finally got it!

To paste copied text as unformatted text in Word 2010 using the keyboard:

1. Press Ctrl+v to copy the text into your document.
2. Press Ctrl to activate the Paste Options icon.
3. Press t to select the ‘Text only’ option (pressing t is a separate action to pressing Ctrl in step 2 — DO NOT press them together otherwise it won’t work).

More detailed explanation:

What happens in Word 2010 when you press Ctrl+v (Step 1) is that you get the Paste Options icon, and it has (Ctrl) next to it, indicating that the Ctrl key activates the options (you don’t get this in Word 2003 or 2007):

So when you press Ctrl (step 2 above), the Paste Options display:

Now you press the key for the paste option you want — hover over each option’s icon to see which key activates it:

The keyboard options are:

• H — Use destination theme
• K — Keep source formatting
• M — Merge formatting
• T — Keep text only (the unformatted text option).

See also:

• How to paste as unformatted text in Word 2003/2007: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/word-keyboard-shortcut-to-paste-unformatted-text/
• Office 2010: Paste options button not displaying: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2012/04/12/office-2010-paste-options-button-not-displaying/

[Links last checked November 2012]

Word: Lesser known keyboard shortcuts

There are likely hundreds of keyboard shortcuts built into Word, most of which you’ll never need to know.

Committing a few keyboard shortcuts to memory will end up saving you a lot of time when you’re writing or reviewing documents. Keyboard shortcuts mean you just press two or more keys at the same time and the action is performed. You don’t have to hunt around on the ribbons with your mouse then click four or five times to do what you need to do. Over the life of a document, you can save many hours by using the keyboard instead of the mouse.

Many Microsoft Word keyboard shortcuts may be familiar to you (e.g. Ctrl+s to save, Ctrl+c to copy, Ctrl+v to paste, Ctrl+f to find, Ctrl+z to undo, etc.). But here’s a list of some that aren’t so familiar that you may find useful when writing or reviewing documents (NOTE: Don’t type the plus sign!).

See also:

• http://cybertext.wordpress.com/tag/keyboard-shortcuts/

[Links last checked September 2012]

Excel doesn’t allow you to view or specify keyboard shortcuts

One of the things I like about Word is that you can specify your own keyboard shortcuts for your macros and for functions that don’t already have a key combination. Or you can modify those that are already assigned in Word (though I wouldn’t advise it, because if you have to reinstall Word or you use someone else’s machine your keyboard shortcuts won’t work the same as the ones you’ve set up for your installation of Word).

Assigning keyboard shortcuts has been a feature in Word for years, and I just assumed that the other Office products would have similar functionality. Not so. I was alerted to this lack because of a comment on one of my blog posts — Ctrl+Shift+C activates the Format Painter in Word, but doesn’t do so in Excel, even though Excel also has the Format Painter function.

Microsoft Excel 2010 (and likely earlier versions), does NOT have any option available to view existing key combinations or to create your own. And on further investigation nor does PowerPoint 2010, Visio 2010, or Outlook 2010 (I didn’t check all the Office programs).

For example, here’s the Word 2010 screen with the option to assign a keyboard shortcut (found under File > Options > Customize Ribbon):

Word 2010 allows you to assign a keyboard shortcut

And here’s the same screen in Excel 2010 — nothing!:

Excel 2010 doesn't let you to assign a keyboard shortcut

I think this is a really big oversight by the Microsoft Office team. Those who use these products all day, every day, can be incredibly efficient using keystrokes instead of the mouse. I can’t believe that Microsoft has denied users the ability to add their own to existing functions.

Note: I understand that you can still assign a keyboard shortcut to a macro you create in Excel etc.

See also:

• http://superuser.com/questions/212583/how-do-you-customize-excel-2010-keyboard-shortcuts
• http://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/office/forum/office_2010-customize/excel-2010-customize-keyboard-shortcuts/6b707c53-cbca-451e-8343-86b719e418ca

[Links last checked January 2012]

Word: Keyboard shortcut for adding a comment

I add a lot of comments to the documents I edit in Word. And I finally went hunting for a keyboard shortcut for adding a comment balloon. It’s obscure and not listed on the tooltip for the ‘New Comment’ icon on the Review ribbon in Word 2007 (or later). And even looking for it in the Word Options > Customize > Keyboard Shortcuts area for the Review Tab was an exercise in ‘Huh?’ But I found it!

It’s Ctrl+Alt+M (that’s intuitive… Not!)

If you go looking for it yourself in the keyboard shortcuts list, you’ll find it under InsertAnnotation in the list of Review tab commands.

Windows: Open any program with a shortcut key

Did you know that you can assign a keyboard shortcut to open any Windows software program? It’s very easy to do, but it’s also easy to assign a shortcut that’s used for something else as there’s no message that tells you it’s already assigned to another function (such as a function in Microsoft Word).

To add, remove, or change a keyboard shortcut for an application:

1. Click the Start button, and display the list of programs.
2. Right-click on the program’s name, then select Properties.
3. Go to the Shortcut tab.
   
4. In the Shortcut key field, you can:
   • Add a new shortcut: Type a letter, number or symbol. This character is appended to Ctrl+Alt, so you’ll end up with something like Ctrl+Alt+W.
   • Change the existing shortcut: Type a different letter, number or symbol. This replaces the character after the Ctrl+Alt.
   • Delete the existing shortcut: Press the Backspace key to delete the shortcut; it will be replaced with None.
5. Click OK.

NOTES:

• Keyboard assignments for programs are automatically prefaced with Ctrl+Alt. You cannot change this.
• You can only add a single letter, number or symbol to the Ctrl+Alt combination.
• Only some symbols can be used; from what I can figure out, only the ‘lower’ case ones. If you press Shift to get a $, for example, you’ll get a 4 instead.
• You can only assign a keyboard shortcut from the list of program files available via the Start button. You cannot do this for *.exe files listed in Windows Explorer.
• If you assign a shortcut that’s used inside another program, weird things can happen! See http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2009/09/01/change-the-keyboard-shortcut-for-an-application/.

[Links last checked May 2011]

Word: Stop hyphens breaking over a line

I know. That sounds silly. Surely one of the uses of a hyphen is to break a word at the end of a line.

But sometimes you have a hyphen in a term that you DON’T want to break at the end of a line. For example, in some of the docs I’ve been working on, there are hyphenated license and permit numbers, such as W2345-98-P67. I want this string of numbers to stay together no matter what and I don’t want them to break if they hit the end of a line.

I’d never checked if I could do that, and had put up with the occasional instance of such a number splitting. Then a few days ago, a tip from Jeanne M Perdue’s Technical Writing Tips from the Oil Patch blog came into my Inbox — and there was the solution!

To insert a non breaking hyphen, hold down Ctrl+Shift as you press the hyphen key.

That’s it. With Ctrl+Shift+- a non breaking hyphen is inserted (it looks a little like a cross between a hyphen and an en dash) and all parts of your term will stay together.

Thanks Jeanne!

See also:

• Jeanne’s original post: http://oilpatchwriting.wordpress.com/2010/10/15/nonbreaking-hyphens/
• Non breaking spaces the easy way: http://cybertext.wordpress.com/2008/12/29/word-nonbreaking-spaces-the-easy-way/

[Links last checked October 2010]

Word: Change case

A quick keyboard shortcut for changing the case of selected text in Word:

Shift+F3.

Depending on the case of the words you want to change, and what case you want to change them too, you may have to press Shift+F3 a couple of times in succession to get the case you want.

For example, if the selected text is all lower case and you want all upper case, you have to press the Shift+F3 key combination twice — the first time changes the case to initial capitals for each selected word, and the second changes the text to all upper case. To change back to lower case, press Shift+F3 again.

Word: Assign a keyboard shortcut to a task

I’ve given instructions before on how to assign a keyboard shortcut for a particular task. However, the instructions below are more generic and show you how to apply a keyboard shortcut to ANY Word task, such as a standard function for which there’s no default keyboard shortcut, or perhaps to a macro you’ve recorded.

Here’s how…

Word 2007

1. Click the small drop-down arrow at the very right of your Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).
   
2. Select More Commands.
   
3. Click the Customize button.
   
4. On the Customize Keyboard window, select one of the options from the Categories list (1 in the screen shot below), then the select the relevant task from the Commands list (2).
   
5. Put your cursor in the Press new shortcut key field, then press the key combination you want to use for this action (3). (In the example above, I pressed Alt and c — you can press whatever key combination you think you will remember easily. Just make sure that it’s not currently assigned to another action by checking the Currently assigned to information below the Current keys box).
6. Optional: You can save your keyboard shortcut in a specific template. By default, the ‘Normal’ template is selected.
7. Click Assign (4), then click Close (5).

You’re now ready to use this keyboard shortcut in your document, and in any document you create based on the selected template.

Word 2003

1. Go to Tools > Customize on the menu.
2. Select the Commands tab.
3. Click the Keyboard button (bottom of the dialog box).
4. Select an option from the Categories list (1 in the screen shot below).
5. Select an action from the Commands list (2).
   
6. Put your cursor in the Press new shortcut key field, then press the key combination you want to use for this action (3). (In the example above, I pressed Alt and c — you can press whatever key combination you think you will remember easily. Just make sure that it’s not currently assigned to another action by checking the Currently assigned to information below the Current keys box).
7. Optional: You can save your keyboard shortcut in a specific template. By default, the ‘Normal’ template is selected.
8. Click Assign (4), then click Close (5).

You’re now ready to use this keyboard shortcut in your document, and in any document you create based on the selected template.

Word: Jump to next Track Change with keyboard

If you use Word’s Track Changes, you’re probably familiar with the Review tab (Word 2007) or the Reviewing toolbar (Word 2003), and the buttons to skip to the next change to review it.

Word 2007: Changes group on the Review tab, showing Next and Previous buttons

Word 2003: Next (and Previous) buttons on the Reviewing toolbar

The problem is, sometimes you need to make other edits in between accepting or rejecting changes, or need to add further comments. Moving your mouse back up to that Next button becomes tedious very quickly.

What you need is a keyboard shortcut for skipping to the next change. There isn’t one set by default in Word, so you need to create your own.

Here’s how…

Word 2007

1. Click the small drop-down arrow at the very right of your Quick Access Toolbar (QAT).
   
2. Select More Commands.
   
3. Click the Customize button.
   
4. On the Customize Keyboard window, select the Review Tab from the Categories list (1 in the screen shot below), then select NextChangeOrComment from the Commands list (2).
   
5. Put your cursor in the Press new shortcut key field, then press the key combination you want to use for this action (3). (In the example above, I pressed Alt and c — you can press whatever key combination you think you will remember easily. Just make sure that it’s not currently assigned to another action by checking the Currently assigned to information below the Current keys box).
6. Click Assign (4), then click Close (5).

You’re now ready to use this keyboard shortcut for skipping to the next Track Change in your document.

Word 2003

1. Go to Tools > Customize on the menu.
2. Select the Commands tab.
3. Click the Keyboard button (bottom of the dialog box).
4. Select All Commands from the Categories list (1 in the screen shot below).
5. Select NextChangeOrComment from the Commands list (2).
   
6. Put your cursor in the Press new shortcut key field, then press the key combination you want to use for this action (3). (In the example above, I pressed Alt and c — you can press whatever key combination you think you will remember easily. Just make sure that it’s not currently assigned to another action by checking the Currently assigned to information below the Current keys box).
7. Click Assign (4), then click Close (5).

You’re now ready to use this keyboard shortcut for skipping to the next Track Change in your document.