Keyboard operation Short Cuts

Some people XE "keyboard shortcuts" avoid the mouse, preferring XE "shortcuts:keyboard" to control actions from the keyboard. A clue for quick operation is in the underlined letters of menu words. Press and hold Alt, and tap the key for an underlined letter to drop that menu. The line in the menu can be chosen by merely pressing the key for the underlined letter. A third menu, or dialog box, will require Alt and the letter.

This is a general usage in windows. If you see an underlined letter in that word, Alt and that letter call for the action. The menu bar shown above is a special case where all underlined letters are the first letters in the word. The menu in Microsoft Word for Windows includes File,Format, Tools, and Table, requiring that you look closely, because the first letter is not always the one used. The QuickBooks menu bar generally goes by first letters, with the exception that (in version 5) Alt-O drops the online menu, even though there is no underline.

Menus also list shortcut keys for other frequently used actions. Control-P shown above as Ctrl+P for example, (hold down the Control key, which is marked Ctrl, and tap the letter P ,) can be used instead of using a menu selection to print a report. Within menus, many more Ctrl shortcut keys are listed. They will procure the action faster than use of the down arrow cursor move key to select an action, and pressing Enter when the correct line is highlighted.

Some users have incorrectly interpreted Ctrl with another meaning. The key is descended from the Control key on teleprinters, long before the days of computers.

Another standard shortcut is listed at the end of the menu in the above example. Alt-F4 (the function key F4) means to exit the program, a universal usage under Windows. Control-F4 closes a window within a program.

Many menus in QuickBooks list shortcut keys down the right. You will find many of them useful, and quickly learn them. Others are for functions rarely used, and just as easily accessed from the menus.

Control-L is a special XE "control-L" key combination in QuickBooks. If you are working in a form, at a box with a down-arrow, Ctrl-L opens whatever list is appropriate to that box. This frequently useful shortcut is not listed in any menu.