In our last newsletter, I complained about accidentally hitting the Insert key and thus turning on Overstrike by mistake. Microsoft Word lets you reassign the Insert key to paste the contents of the Clipboard, but that brings its own set of problems.
Subscriber Kathy Anderson suggested using the Insert key as an additional Delete key. Bruce (whi-@msn.com.au) from WinHelp IT Editing (http://winhelp.nu) suggested using it to insert a commonly used symbol, such as the copyright mark. For instructions on how to do this, see the May 2 Editorium Update:
http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1700545039&sort=d&start=0
(If that address breaks in your email, you may need to put it back together.)
These still don?t solve my problem, however, which is my tendency to hit the key by mistake and then change the document without realizing it. If you, too, have that problem, here are some reassignments you might consider, with their "official" command names (which you?ll need later):
* OtherPane switches to and from another window pane, whether that be a notes pane, an annotations pane, or a split window--very handy if you do a lot of moving back and forth between one of those and your main document. Best of all, if no pane is open, it does nothing!
* ViewFootnotes opens and closes the notes pane at the bottom of your Word window. If you work with notes a lot, this would be a great feature to assign to the Insert key.
* ToolsWordCount displays the number of pages, words, characters, paragraphs, and lines in your document. See the June 27 Editorium Update for a way to use this feature:
http://www.topica.com/lists/editorium/read/message.html?mid=1701177723&sort=d&start=0
* ToolsThesaurus looks up a selected word in Word?s built-in thesaurus, which I?d probably use a lot more if it were on a conveniently placed key rather than under the Tools menu.
* FormatChangeCase selects a word and lets you change its case.
* EndOfLineExtend extends the selection to the end of the line. After using this feature, you could press the delete key to delete to the end of the line.
There are many other candidates, too, which you can explore using a test document and the instructions below. I?ll discuss one of my favorites, ExtendSelection, in our next newsletter. In the meantime, here?s how to assign a different feature to the Insert key if you?re interested in doing so:
1. Click the Tools menu at the top of your Word window.
2. Click "Customize."
3. Click the Keyboard tab or button.
4. In the Categories list, find and click "All Commands."
5. In the Commands list, find and click the feature you want to assign to the Insert key (OtherPane, for example).
6. With your cursor in the Press New Shortcut Key box, press the Insert key on your keyboard.
7. Make sure the Save Changes In box shows Normal.dot.
8. Click the Assign button. (If you wanted to remove a reassignment, you'd click the Remove button.)
9. Click the Close button.
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