Number 217 - June 2001
The Handy Four:
Using the Keyboard for Editing
by Jim Gaffney, SouthWest Internatl PComputer Club Tri-County Computer Club, Orville, OH www.tricountycc.org - January 2001
    They've been around since DOS. They can make your work a whole lot easier. Yet, they are largely ignored. Computer users have become so addicted to the mouse that they frequently ignore using the keyboard. I'm referring, of course, to keyboard shortcuts - keystrokes that will accomplish common editing functions (and more). Let's revisit the most common. The Handy Four are the four keys just to right of the left-hand shift key. The functions they accomplish are among the most common and frequently used.

    CTRL+Z - Undo. This is actually a Break key. Old-timers may remember it as the escape from ED, the original ASCII text editor. It accomplishes from within Windows applications the same thing as that funny looking left-hook button on the toolbar.

    CTRL+X - Cut. Why didn't they use Control and C? Well, then what would you use for Copy? Next best choice is X - when you X something out you are deleting it. And besides, the X looks a little bit like an open pair of scissors.

    CTRL+C - Copy. All right!!! We finally got one that is logical.

    CTRL+V - Paste. V = Paste? Well, aside from the fact that it is in a group next to the previous three shortcuts, you can think of it as an inverted caret or a wedge. Thus, the combination will insert whatever has been placed on the clipboard (copied or pasted) into the application at the location of the cursor.

    So why do I use these keystrokes in deference to the mouse? Actually, I use them in concert with the mouse. If I select text with the mouse, I can easily cut or copy with my left hand using the shortcuts. I then reposition the insertion point with the mouse, and paste back in using the shortcut keys via my left hand. (OK, so you lefties have got a problem - but you've probably already given up and started using the mouse with your right hand, anyhow).

    I use the technique a lot in capturing information from e- mail messages and pasting it into my address book or a database. Then, too, there are a lot of applications out there whose authors have carelessly neglected to include undo, cut, copy, and paste on their menus. Or maybe you have the toolbars turned off at the moment? Or perhaps the application window is scrolled up where you cannot see the toolbar on the screen? If you forget the Handy Four, just click Edit on the menu bar of most any Windows application - from that drop-down, you can quickly refresh your memory of Ctrl-Z, Ctrl-X, Ctrl-C, and Ctrl-V. And while I'm at it, let me throw in two more handy key combination that while not part of the Handy Four, they will help you work faster. (After a recount there are three extras.)
    ALT+F4 - This combination will exit an application. I use it frequently in the classroom for closing programs that students have carelessly left open at the end of a class period. It does the same thing as selecting File, and then exit or clicking the X button on the program title bar.

    F2 - The F2 key is an universal edit key. If you have selected a filename in Explorer, a cell in Excel or perhaps field data in Access, striking the F2 key places you into the edit mode.

    Use your keyboard. It may not always be the best choice, but frequently it can be.

   F5 - The F5 key is an update key. If you find that your desktop icons or MS Office shortcut bar buttons are incorrectly displayed, striking the F5 key will frequently re-scan and correct the problem. Likewise, if you have recently created a file and it appears at the bottom of the directory, the F5 will rescan and display the filenames alphabetically.

TOGGLE Editor's Note:
    There are many more keyboard equivalents than these. If you are interested, go online and read Aaron Potts article on Keyboard Shortcuts in Bob's Corner on the TOGGLE web page (www.toggle.org) or, more directly, at www.toggle.org/html/win-key.htm.

    Those old-timers who used WordStar as their word processor will remember the "navigation buttons" used in conjunction with holding down the Ctrl key, namely the ESDX diamond, which moved the cursor one space left or right, or one line up or down, and also did the same in other programs such as the dBASE II editor. The keys peripheral to the diamond, RCAF (No! Not Royal Canadian Air Force!) resulted in the cursor jumping to Page Top, Page Bottom, Word Beginning Left and Word Beginning Right. There were others as well similar to those described by Aaron Potts.

    We use a combination of mouse clicks and keyboard shortcuts. If you have been paying attention, the keystroke equivalents of the mouse clicks are often shown in the dropdown menus which appear in Windows' programs.

    Sometimes, of course, we are surprised when our keyboard shortcuts don't work at all, or in quite the same way, in WORD, say, or PageMaker, where this is being written. It's not so much teaching an old dog new tricks as forgetting that some of our learned behavior doesn't apply anymore.
  Number 217 - June 2001