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DOWN for some TIPS, EXAMPLES,
and examples for ADVANCED USERS
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Assigning a macro, feature, program, or string
of keystrokes to a key or key combination (i.e., a "shortcut"
or "hot key")
You can customize your keyboard so
that pressing the <Alt>, <Ctrl>, or
<Shift> key (or any combination of these) plus
a number or a letter (e.g., <Ctrl+1>, <Alt+Shift+m>),
will -
- play a macro, or
- use a WordPerfect feature,
or
- start a program, or
- send a string of keystrokes to WordPerfect
or your current document.
These keys are often called "shortcut
keys" or "hot keys," and their assignments are
stored in a keyboard definition. This is a small internal
area of the program you can select (i.e., choose), create, edit,
copy, rename, or reset with Tools, Settings, Customize, Keyboards
tab. (More on this later.)
You can have several keyboard definitions
on your system. In fact, WordPerfect ships with several default
definitions (<WPWin Keyboard>, <WPDOS6.1 Keyboard>,
<MSWord 2000>, etc.).
You can also create custom keyboard
definitions to suit your everyday needs or for special purposes,
as explained below.
Before you begin . . .
- There are many WordPerfect features
(e.g., inserting the current file's path and name) or WordPerfect
functions (e.g., setting line spacing) that you may find useful
candidates to assign to a key or key combination. (See Step #3
below for information on locating the list of these features
and functions.) While many are pre-assigned to menus, toolbars,
or keys, many of them are not.
- As mentioned, you can have multiple custom keyboards for different purposes. Even though only one can
be active at a time, they are very easy to switch between using
the keyboard icon on the bottom status bar. (See Footnote
1)
- You may find that some WordPerfect features
or functions are more useful when they are assigned to a toolbar
since their button icons might make them easier to locate or
make them less prone to accidental use when you are typing. If
so, see Part 1 of this series of
web pages. You can, however, assign them to new or existing menus
as explained in Part 3.
- To directly play a specific macro using
a desired combination of keys -- in contrast to playing a macro
by choosing one from a list with the standard <Alt+F10>
keys or with Tools, Macro, Play -- you should first ensure the
macro exists on your system. (This might seem obvious, but sometimes
macros are moved or removed by others.) If it does not, you will
need to create your macro first -- either by recording it (with
<Ctrl+F10 or Tools, Macro, Record), downloading
it from a site such as this one, copying
the code from somewhere, or by writing
the code for it, or by a combination of these methods -- and
then save it in either your Default or Supplemental macros folder
(which are specified in Tools, Settings, Files, Merge/Macro).
- For a list of navigation and text selection keys that are used in WordPerftect's Windows (CUA) and
DOS keyboard definitions -- the former is the "standard"
or "default" keyboard used by the program -- you can
read (left-click) or download (right-click, then Save Target
As) "CUA-DOS.pdf,"
a small Adobe PDF file. Normally, you will not want to assign
other things to these default keys unless you really need to
use them for a special purpose; if you do, it is always a good
idea to do so with a copy of the keyboard definition, as explained
below.
How to do it
STEP 1
- Click on Tools, Settings, Customize.
- Click the "Keyboards" tab in the
Customize Settings window, then select either the default keyboard
definition for your version of WordPerfect (e.g., <WPWin Keyboard>)
or another keyboard definition (e.g., <WPDOS 6.1 Keyboard>).
- Then, do one of the following things.
- Either click Create to create a new keyboard
(based on the definition you just selected);
- or click
Copy to make a copy of the keyboard (choosing the
desired keyboard in "Select keyboards to copy") and
save it under a different name;
- or click
Edit to edit the existing keyboard.
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IMPORTANT: You
might feel more comfortable with this process by customizing
a new keyboard definition or a copy of the current
or default keyboard definition -- the first two alternatives
above -- and leave your existing default or customized keyboards
alone. In fact, this is recommended unless you are certain
that you want to modify the existing default or custom keyboard.
It makes it much easier to restore things if you do not like
the changes you have made. |
- If you choose to Create a new keyboard definition
or Copy an existing one, be sure to select it after you've
modified it. You can do this by returning to the Customize Settings
window with Tools, Settings, Customize. The keyboard definition
you choose will remain in effect until you change it.
Tip: If you right-click the status
bar -- the very bottom edge of the WordPerfect window -- you
can then click Settings and check the box, "Keyboards."
This will put a small icon on the status bar to let you quickly
access the keyboard definition of your choice. [This works in
WP8 and later, and may work in earlier versions.]
STEP 2
- The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog box will now
be open. Choose the key or key combination you want to change
(reassign) in the left-hand "Choose a shortcut key"
window. (You may have to scroll down a bit.) Choose an available
letter or number combination -- perhaps Y+Alt or 3+Ctrl. In this
example, the assigned macro (or feature or keystrokes) will play
when you press <Alt+Y> or <Ctrl+3>.
- Make a note so you'll remember which keys
are being reassigned. (WordPerfect
11+ users can click the Print Report button to print a list of
current shortcut key assignments.)
Tips
- The checkbox at the bottom, "Allow assignment of character keys," will bring up a list of ordinary character
keys (A, B, C, a, b, c), punctuation marks, and extended characters.
Normally, you will have little use for this list (except perhaps
to assign a "quick save" macro to the period [full
stop] key; see here
for this trick), but certain infrequently used keys could be
used to play a macro, such as the ` key (next to the 1 key).
These might be best used to play a "two keypress" macro
so that you still have use of the key for normal text entry.
See the Advanced User section below.
- You might also want to enable the "Shortcut key appears on menu" checkbox so that you'll see it in on WordPerfect's
Insert menu.
STEP 3
- Either click on the Remove Assignment
button if the key already has an assignment;
- or select
the type of new assignment from the right-hand side of the dialog box, the area
that shows four tabs: Features, Keystrokes, Programs, or Macros.
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For features, under the
Features tab, scroll down in the Feature categories drop list
to choose the appropriate cateogory, such as File, Edit, View,
Insert, Format, etc. In the lower "Assign a feature"
list, choose the feature you want to assign to the keystroke
or combination, and click on Assign Feature to Key. [You might
find some features you didn't know about by scrolling through
the list and trying them out in a test document.] |
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For keystrokes, under the
Keystrokes tab, in the "Type the text to be inserted..."
pane, enter the keystrokes, characters, or symbols you need,
like this:
- For keys such as <Alt>, use
{Alt}. Other examples: {Ctrl}, {Shift}, {Space}, and {Tab}.
- For combinations such as <Alt+F>,
use {Alt+F}.
- For text strings such as "the,"
enter them directly, or if this does not work, use {t}{h}{e}.
- For accented
characters (diacritical marks), use the numeric keypad
and enter the proper code found in the Windows Character
Map (under Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, Character
Map).
- For example, to enter an é in the
Keystroke field, put the cursor in the field an type <Alt+0233>
on the numeric keypad. (The leading zero is required.)
- Charles Rossiter (Corel C_Tech) writes: "For
example, I use Alt+e for e-acute, Ctrl+Shift+E for E-grave, Alt+a
for a-umlaut, Alt+Shift+O for O-umlaut, Alt+Shift+C for C-cedilla,
etc. There is no conflict with other Alt-key shortcuts (e.g.,
Alt+a for T_a_ble): Alt+a gives a-umlaut [i.e., press and hold
the Alt key, then press a]; Alt,a gives T_a_ble (i.e., press
and release the Alt key, then press a)."
- Alternative #1:
You can insert diacritical marks using the WordPerfect symbol
feature (Insert, Symbol) by first pressing Ctrl+w, then typing
the base letter (e.g., the letter e), then typing the accent
mark (e.g., '). (Other "accent" marks you can use on
the keyboard: `, ", ^, /, ~, etc.)
- Alternative #2:
You can use QuickCorrect
abbreviations to replace a typed abbreviation with the accented
character.
- Caveat: If
you use Windows XP/Vista/7 with WordPerfect X3 or later,
see the Notes section below.
- For symbols, press <Ctrl+W>,
select the symbol, then click Insert and Close on the Symbols
dialog.
- When done, click "Assign Keystrokes
to Key."
Notes
- There may be a limit to the number of
characters (including the left and
right braces) that you can enter into this dialog window. There
are other ways to insert large blocks of boilerplate
text, such as QuickWords.
- WordPerfect X3 and later versions, using
Windows XP/Vista/7 means that what
you can enter under the Keystrokes tab is limited:
- In Windows XP you can use only text
strings and/or WordPerfect symbols in the Keystrokes pane.
You cannot use script commands (i.e., {Alt}, {Space},
etc.).
- In Windows Vista/7 and with up to version
WPX3 (but apparently not in a fully patched WPX4 or later) it
is even more limited: You have to disable
the User Access Control (UAC) in Vista/7 to make such text/symbol
keystrokes work (script commands still will not work). Disabling
the UAC is something that is not generally recommended.
- Tip: Consider
using other methods of inserting boilerplate
or keystrokes, especially if
using WPX3 and later versions.
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For programs, click the
Programs tab, then the Assign Program to Key button. Locate and
choose the exectuable program to play. |
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For macros, click the
Macros tab, then click "Assign Macro to Key..." and
select the desired macro from those listed in your macros folder.
This will assign it to the shortcut key combination.
If you get a message, "Save macro with
full path?" you most likely will want to answer "No."
WordPerfect will then use the path to the default and
supplemental macros folders specified in Tools, Settings,
Files, Merge/Macro. If you answer "Yes" you can specify
a path to a any other folder; however, if you do so the paths
specified in Tools, Settings, Files, Merge/Macro will not be
used for that macro.
Then click OK.
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STEP 4
- Close all dialogs with Close or OK.
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Tips
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For macros, features, programs,
and keystrokes:
You can use "reserved" keys such
as <Alt+T> (which normally accesses the Tools menu). But
if you do, the macro (or feature or program or keystrokes) will
play instead of the Tools menu opening. However, you can still
get at the reserved keys: If you press Alt, release it, and then
press T (i.e., press the keys in sequence, not simultaneously),
the Tools menu will open.
Related tip:
If you can't see underlines under the <Alt>-key letter
or number on a menu or dialog, they might have been hidden in
Windows. See here.
For macros only:
If customizing your keyboard is not an option,
you may want to use an old WP trick to play a macro: Give the
macro a name such as ctrlx.wcm or ctrlsftx.wcm,
where "x" is a keyboard letter from A to Z or
a number from 0-9. WordPerfect recognizes macro filenames that
use "Ctrl" and "CtrlSft" (notice there's
no "hi" in "Sft") in the filename as special.
So, for example, if you press <Ctrl+J> or <Ctrl+Shft+J>
the macro named CtrlJ.wcm or CtrlSftJ.wcm will play. This assumes,
of course, that the macro exists in the default macros folder,
which is specified in Tools, Settings, Files, Merge/Macro.
Notes
If the <Ctrl+(key)> combination you
want to use as a macro filename has already been assigned in
the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog, then that keyboard assignment
will take precedence over any macro on disk with the same filename
as the key combination.
For example, in WP10 and later versions, <Ctrl+1>
normally inserts single spacing, and <Ctrl+2> inserts double
spacing -- neither of which might be obvious when you press these
keys. In this case, a macro on disk named Ctrl1.wcm will not
play automatically when you press <Ctrl+1>, since these
keys have already been assigned. However ...
You can verify if the combination is in use
by opening the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog (see above steps); you
may be able to change the current control-key assignment or remove
it altogether to allow the named macro to play.
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Examples
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Example #1 - Starting an
Outline
Suppose you want to bring up the Outline feature
quickly, using the keyboard instead of clicking on Insert, Outline/Bullets,
OK. In the old DOS keyboard, for example, "Outline Body
Text" was assigned to <Ctrl+T>, but you can assign
this feature to any unassigned keystroke combination. Here's
how.
- Click on Tools, Settings, Customize, then
the Keyboards tab. Select the keyboard you want to edit (e.g.,
<WPWin 9>), then click on Edit to bring up the Keyboard
Shortcuts dialog. [As mentioned above under step 1, some users
may feel more comfortable with customizing a new keyboard or
a copy of the current keyboard definition, and leave their default
keyboard alone.]
- In the left pane, scroll down to an available
key combo that you want to use (e.g., O+Alt) and select it with
your mouse.
- On the right side of the dialog, use Feature
Categories to select the Insert category, then in the lower pane
select Outline Body Text.
- Click on Assign Feature to Key, and also
(optionally) enable the "Shortcut key appears on menu"
checkbox so that you'll see in in WP's Insert menu.
- Click on OK, then Close (twice).
Now, when you press <Alt+O> the outline
should start. Press <Alt+O> again when you want it to stop.
If you want to use a key combo to start an
outline item with a new number (e.g., "1") you could
assign "Outline Number Set..." to, say <Alt+Shift+O).
Example #2 - Deleting words
the way Microsoft Word deletes them
Microsoft Word allows you to press <Ctrl+Backspace>
to delete the previous word, even if there's a space after
the word. In WordPerfect, this key combination works only
if there is no space.
Update: (08/18/2009)
Corel recently made an internal change to the Microsoft Word
2000 and 2002 keyboard definitions (see Step 1 above) to enable
the same functionality of Ctrl+Backspace that you have if you
use MS Word. You can choose one of those keyboards (Tools,
Settings, Customize, Keyboards) or you can use one of the workarounds
below with a WordPerfect keyboard. [The specific date of this
change is not known to this author, but it might have been done
with the release of WordPerfect 12, or perhaps earlier. You can
simply try the MS Word keyboards to see if this functionality
is present.]
Here is a way to delete the previous word
or delete the next word in WordPerfect [with a WordPerfect
keyboard] -- even if there are spaces adjacent to the word --
with a key combination:
- Click on Tools, Settings, Customize. Select
the keyboard to edit under the Keyboards tab, then click the
Edit button. The Keyboard Shortcuts dialog appears.
- In the left pane, choose a shortcut key for
the "delete the previous word" feature, such as <Left+Ctrl+Alt>,
which will activate the feature when you hold down the <Ctrl>
and <Alt> keys, then press the <Left Arrow> key.
- Under the Features tab on the right side
of the dialog, in the Feature categories list, select the Edit
category. Scroll down in the "Assign..." list to Delete
Word Begin and select it. Then click on Assign Feature to
Key.
- Repeat the process for the "delete the
next word" feature, using <Right+Ctrl+Alt> and Delete
Word. (Not Delete Word End, since that just deletes
remaining letters in the current word.)
- Click OK when you are finished, then Close.
When you press one of these key conbinations
(e.g., <Ctrl+Alt+LeftArrow>) repeatedly, you can delete
consecutive words at the cursor location (assuming there are
no format or other codes present).
[Thanks to Wolfgang Deiminger for posting
this tip in the public Corel newsgroup.]
Tip
A guru on WordPerfect Universe (Noal Mellott),
posted
a solution that uses a macro assigned to the <Shift+Delete>
keys to perform the same "Delete Word Begin" function
above (note that it is a slightly different command in the macro
language):
"...Since users cannot assign anything
to Shift+Backspace, I made a macro and assigned it to Shift+Delete.
As we know that key combination cuts what is selected to the
clipboard (a standard Windows key assignment), but does nothing
if nothing is selected. So I made the macro below, and assigned
it to Shift+Delete. If a selection has been made, it is cut to
the clipboard. If nothing is selected, it deletes to the start
of the word or, if the cursor is at the start of the word, it
deletes the previous word...."
//
Macro begins:
If(?BlockActive>0) EditCut()
Else SelectMode(Off!) DeleteToBeginningOfWord () EndIf
Return()
// Macro ends
To copy this code into your WordPerfect program,
see here. Then assign it to the <Shift+Delete>
keys using the method described above.
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Advanced users
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"Double-key"
or
"double-strike" macros
are macros that are played by two consecutive presses of the
same, single alphanumeric key, and can be constructed
using the format in the examples below. They can be useful to
quickly play a favorite macro or one that must be played multiple
times to process some text.
You should note, however, that most alphanumeric
keys are not very good candidates to use to play a macro
this way, since there are many letters and numbers that might
appear twice in a particular word or number. You could use upper
case (by pressing the <Shift> key), but some might find
this awkward. The best cadidates probably are the ` and = keys on the
top row of your keyboard, and the backslash (backstroke) key
(\). |
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Example 1 - Change
multiple spaces to a Tab
Suppose you want to use the ` key (to
the left of the 1 key on most keyboards) to play a macro that
(1) deletes all multiple spaces at the cursor location
and (2) replaces them with a tab. This is sometimes needed when
you copy material from another source and the paragraph indentations
are made up of spaces, not tabs.
Suppose also that you want to be able to use
this key to type a ` character whenever it might be needed.
In other words, you do not want to lose the functionality of
the ` key.
Copy the code below and save it in your macros folder, then assign
the macro to the ` key -- just to the left of the "1"
key on the top row of your keyboard -- using the procedure described
in the "How to..." sections above. [When you get to
the Keyboard Shortcuts list in Step 2 above, you must enable
(i.e., tick) the "Allow assignment of character keys"
checkbox to change the list to the alphanumeric key list. Scroll
down in that list. The ` key item is located just above the left
brace ( { ) in the list.]
Note again that
the macro uses -- is assigned to -- the ` key on your keyboard.
Thereafter, pressing the ` key once will type a ` character,
as usual. Pressing it twice consecutively will cause the
first ` characer to be "seen" by the macro on
the left of the cursor, whereupon it will delete it and play
the "working" part of the macro (i.e., convert the
spaces to a tab) instead of simply typing another ` character.
// Macro begins here -
If (?LeftChar="`") // if a ` character
is on the left -
DeleteCharPrevious
// - delete the character
//
The "working" part of the macro begins here -
vCount:=0 // - initialize
a counter
// While the
left character is a space, move to the left -
While
(?LeftChar=" ")
PosCharPrevious
Endwhile
//
Start selecting text -
SelectMode
(On!)
// While the right
character is a space, move right -
While
(?RightChar=" ")
PosCharNext
vCount:=vCount+1
// - increment counter
Endwhile
// If there's more than one
space, delete all of them -
If (vCount>1)
SelectDelete
Tab //
- then insert a Left Tab
Else
SelectMode
(Off!) // - turn select mode off
Endif
// The "working"
part of the macro ends here
Else
Type
("`") // - type a ` character
Endif
Quit
// Macro ends here
Notes
You can directly download this macro as 2Key-S2T.zip. It also contains
optional code to search for all multiple spaces and replace them
with tabs; you can use this code as a standalone macro.
You can create "triple-strike" or
even "quadruple-strike" macros by having the macro
assigned to the alphanumeric key check the number of instances
of that character that appear to the left of the last instance.
If (for a triple-strike macro) the character appears two times,
then the third press of the key would cause the two characters
to be deleted and the macro to execute other commands. This approach
increases the number of ordinary alphanumeric keys that might
make good candidates to use to play such a macro. See "Make a key do 'double duty'..."
for examples.
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Example
2 - Center the current cursor location vertically on screen
Suppose you wish to quickly center the cursor's
current location vertically on the screen so that you can see
the context at that location.
First, to demonstrate
the technique, here's a simple macro to do the job (and that
could also be assigned to any single key combination as
described above in the "How to..." sections).
If (?Substructure or ?GraphicSelected)
Quit Endif
QuickmarkSet
Display (On!)
QuickmarkFind
Display (Off!)
BookmarkDelete ("QuickMark")
Quit
However, if
instead of assigning the macro to a single key or key combination,
you want to use this type of macro by pressing a particular alphanumeric
key twice in succession (i.e., make it a "double-key"
macro), then the modified version below can do it.
As in Example 1 above, the modified macro
below uses the ` key in such a way that it is also available
to type the ` character whenever it might be needed.
Copy the code below and save it in your macros folder, then assign
the macro to the ` key -- just to the left of the "1"
key on the top row of your keyboard -- using the procedure described
in the "How to..." sections above. [When you get to
the Keyboard Shortcuts list in Step 2 above, you must enable
(i.e., tick) the "Allow assignment of character keys"
checkbox to change the list to the alphanumeric key list. Scroll
down in that list. The ` key item is located just above the left
brace ( { ) in the list.]
Note again that
this macro uses -- is assigned to -- the ` key on your keyboard.
Thereafter, pressing the ` key once will type a ` character,
as usual. Pressing it twice consecutively will cause the
typed character to be deleted and the screen to refresh itself,
and place the cursor location (as far as it is possible to do
so) in the center of the screen, vertically.
If (?Substructure or ?GraphicSelected)
Quit Endif
If (?LeftChar="`") // If there's a ` character on the
left
DeleteCharPrevious // - delete the ` character
QuickmarkSet
Display (On!)
QuickmarkFind
Display (Off!)
BookmarkDelete ("QuickMark")
Else
Type ("`") // - type a ` character
Endif
Quit
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Barry MacDonnell's