Word 2007--Using Access keys and keyboard shortcuts

[Guest]

Hi to the experts. I had just learned after 10 years to use the "customize"
toolbar in Word. I had figured out that I could add certain styles to the
"shortcut menu" that pops up when you right click, and my heart was glad. I
had learned that I could even assign keystrokes like "Alt, 1" to my 3 or 4
most-used styles, and blaze through formatting. I experienced a happiness I
cannot describe.

Now, I have Word 2007 and all of that seems gone. It seems that every new
version, Microsoft always destroys and remakes the style system, in a
desperate hope to get people to understand it. But usually the old way
lingers on in hiding somewhere. Is there anyway I can continue to assign keys
to my favorite styles, or to add them to a shortcut menu?

 

[Guest]

I don't believe you can customize shortcut menus in Word 2007.

You can apply some styles by using built-in keyboard shortcuts
 Normal style – CTRL+SHIFT+N
 Heading 1 – ALT+CTRL+1
 Heading 2 – ALT+CTRL+2
 Heading 3 – ALT+CTRL+3
 List Bullet – CTRL+SHIFT+L

You can create custom keyboard shortcuts to apply any style
ï‚¡ Open the document containing the styles you want to create custom keyboard
shortcuts for or a document based on the document template containing the
styles you want to create keyboard shortcuts for
ï‚¡ Click the Office Button to display the Office menu, click Word Options to
display the Word Options dialog box
ï‚¡ Click Customize, click Customize beside Keyboard shortcuts
ï‚¡ In the Customize Keyboard dialog box, scroll down and select Styles in
Categories (near the bottom of the list)
Note: The Customize Keyboard dialog box can also be accessed from Modify
Style dialog box or the Create New Style from Formatting dialog box, by
clicking Format and then clicking Shortcut key
ï‚¡ In Save changes in, accept the default location of Normal.dotm, select the
document template if different from Normal.dotm or select the active document
ï‚¡ Click the desired style in Styles
ï‚¡ Click in the Press new shortcut key box
ï‚¡ Assign a key combination by pressing the keys
 If the combination is already in use, it will be noted and you can decide
if you want to override the default or try a different combination
ï‚¡ Click Assign

You can add some styles to the Quick Access Toolbar (Normal style, Heading
1, Heading 2, Heading 3 and List Bullet)
ï‚¡ TRAP: The icon is the same for each style and cannot be changed
ï‚¡ Click the Office Button to display the Office menu
ï‚¡ Click Word Options to Word Options dialog box
ï‚¡ Click Customize
ï‚¡ Under Choose commands from, select All Commands
 Scroll down to Apply Heading 1, Apply Heading 2, Apply Heading 3, Apply
List Bullet or Normal style and select the desired style
 Click Add
 Click OK

NOTE: You can also create macros to apply styles and add them to the Quick
Access Toolbar

 

[Guest]

Thank you! That gave me exactly what I needed it. I recognized it as the old
system in a different location as soon as I started to read your explanation,
so it solves my problem perfectly.

 

[Beth Melton]

You can customize the shortcut menus in the Office 2007 apps but not like we
could in the past - now you need to use VBA in order to add the
customizations which is a bit of pain compared to previous versions.

Please post all follow-up questions to the newsgroup. Requests for
assistance by email cannot be acknowledged.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Beth Melton
Microsoft Office MVP

Coauthor of Word 2007 Inside Out:
http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9801.aspx#AboutTheBook

Word FAQ: http://mvps.org/word
TechTrax eZine: http://mousetrax.com/techtrax/
MVP FAQ site: http://mvps.org/