Limited Key Strokes for Macros

[Guest]

Are we really limited to the alt key and only two characters for keyboard
macros in Word 2003?

 

[Jay Freedman]

Are we really limited to the alt key and only two characters for
keyboard macros in Word 2003?

What makes you think that? See
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/AsgnCmdOrMacroToHotkey.htm.

Also, the terminology "keyboard macros" makes me think you're a former (or
current) WordPerfect user. Word doesn't have the same feature. You may have
in mind something more along the lines of AutoCorrect or AutoText in Word.
You might get some use from
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/General/WordVsWordPerfect.htm.

 

[Guest]

I've always used Word. I have a large amount of statements for our proposals
that are assigned to macros, named G1, IP2, EQ1, etc.. I want to be able to
use keyboard strokes to run these macros, and I want the keyboard strokes to
be the assigned number of the proposal statement. So for statement EQ1, I
want to be able to type in EQ1 and have the macro run.

When I try to assign keyboard strokes to the macro, it will only let me
enter "alt" and two other characters.

 

[Tony Jollans]

Yes, you are limited to two characters, a prefix key of, say Ctrl and
another character (I don't like using Alt because it can disable accelerator
keys) followed by one other character. It has always been that way.

It might be possible to write a macro that would run in response to a
single hotkey which could check the last few characters you typed and act
accordingly - but I suspect there a few traps for the unwary and I don't
think it would be easy.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

What you want is either AutoText or AutoCorrect. See these articles:

What Is Autotext and How Do I Use It?
http://word.mvps.org/FAQs/Customization/AutoText.htm

Exploiting AutoCorrect
http://word.mvps.org/faqs/customization/AutoCorrect.htm

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Jay Freedman]

If by "statements for our proposals" you mean paragraphs of text, then
macros are completely the wrong tool for the job. The text should be stored
in AutoText entries. You can give these entries names as long as you like;
you type the entry name and press F3, and the whole passage is deposited in
the document. See http://www.word.mvps.org/faqs/customization/AutoText.htm
for more explanations.

The AutoCorrect feature is another candidate for the job. Look it up in the
Help.

 

[Guest]

The only problem with that many of the paragraphs start with the same
sentence, so we would have to type a large amount of text before the autotext
kicks in, right?

So if I have five different statements and each one starts with "Our crew
will be responsible for...", then I have to type in that entire line before
autotext would kick in.

 

[Guest]

Got it! Thank for the tip! This is exactly what I need!

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Nope. You give your AutoText entries whatever name you want. The default
name would be the beginning of the paragraph. Store your AutoText entries
outside of normal.dot, though, if you want to be able to share them. Either
in your document template or in a global template.

See http://addbalance.com/word/movetotemplate.htm for step-by-step
instructions on moving / sharing / copying / backing-up customizations
including AutoText, AutoCorrect, keyboard assignments, toolbars, macros,
etc.
--

Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

The only problem with that many of the paragraphs start with the same
sentence, so we would have to type a large amount of text before the
autotext
kicks in, right?

So if I have five different statements and each one starts with "Our crew
will be responsible for...", then I have to type in that entire line
before
autotext would kick in.

 

[Charles Kenyon]

Also, you can assign keyboard shortcuts to AutoText.
--
Charles Kenyon

Word New User FAQ & Web Directory: http://addbalance.com/word

Intermediate User's Guide to Microsoft Word (supplemented version of
Microsoft's Legal Users' Guide) http://addbalance.com/usersguide


--------- --------- --------- --------- --------- ---------
This message is posted to a newsgroup. Please post replies
and questions to the newsgroup so that others can learn
from my ignorance and your wisdom.

The only problem with that many of the paragraphs start with the same
sentence, so we would have to type a large amount of text before the
autotext
kicks in, right?

So if I have five different statements and each one starts with "Our crew
will be responsible for...", then I have to type in that entire line
before
autotext would kick in.