Selecting Word Menu Commands 
from the Keyboard

by Ron Baron

Irritated at continually having to use your mouse to select menu commands in Microsoft Word? There’s a quicker, simpler way that speeds things up — and reduces your exposure to mouse elbow. It’s the Activate Keyboard Menus command.

The Command

1.
Access the Commands dialog box. You’ll find it in Microsoft Word 4.0 in the Edit menu and in Word 5.x in the Tools menu.

2.
In the Commands list window, click Activate Keyboard Menus to select it.

3.
The keyboard shortcuts assigned by Word are Command-Tab or the Period on the numeric keypad.

4.
To add your own custom keystroke, click the Add button on the Keys side of the dialog box and press the keystroke combination you want.

Using It

Whenever you press the keystroke for the Activate Keyboard Menus command, the menu bar highlights. To display a menu you have three choices:
•
type its initial letter,
•
type a number from 0 (Apple menu) to 9 (Work menu), or
•
move to it using the right or left arrow keys.

The menu opens. Select the command you want by either typing its initial letter, or moving to it with the down or up arrow keys. When using the initial letter, the first menu or command with that letter is selected. In pulled-down menus, pressing a repeated initial letter takes you from one command to the next. It’s fast and easy — you’ll save time, and wrist ache!

Ron Baron runs a one-man consultancy that produces technical and press information, newsletters, marketing plans and campaigns for Swedish export companies. Contact him on AppleLink (SW1112).  •