Keyboard Menu Shortcuts Not Working (i.e. within paste special)

[spoof]

I think I'm missing something. I assigned PASTE SPECIAL to SHIFT-CMD-D.
In 2004, I would PASTE SPECIAL using the keyboard shortcut and then type F for paste formula, V for paste value, T for paste format, etc.

However, in Excel 2008, the menus don't have a shortcut letter anymore? If I use the PASTE SPECIAL shortcut, F, V, T, do not work.

Hopefully I'm explaining this correctly. Thanks in advance for any help. I hope this is just something I'm doing wrong on my side.

 

[CyberTaz]

Sorry, but I believe that's one of the "little things" that seem to have
been omitted from 2008 :-(

Take a moment to voice your dissatisfaction via Help> Send Feedback. The
more drops MS gets in the bucket the more likely they are to restore the
convenience.

 

[spoof]

Thanks for your help. That's really unfortunate that they'd omit something basic like that. Hmm...will go ahead and send feedback and hope something comes of it. Thanks again!

 

[CyberTaz]

Hold the phone - Just did a little poking around & found the following:

Paste:
All = Cmd+a
Formulas = Cmd+f
Values = Cmd+v
Formats = Cmd+t
Comments = Cmd+c
Validation = Cmd+n
All Except Borders = Cmd+x

Operation:
None = Cmd+o
Add = Cmd+d
Subtract = Cmd+s
Multiply = Cmd+m
Divide = Cmd+i

Toggle Skip Blanks = Cmd+b
Toggle Transpose = Cmd+e

As yet I haven't found any shortcuts for:

Column Widths,
Formulas & Number Formats, or
Values & Number Formats

So the strokes seem to be the same but you have to use the Cmd key.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[JE McGimpsey]

So the strokes seem to be the same but you have to use the Cmd key.

Like most other OSX and app dialogs. Imagine! <g>

 

[CyberTaz]

Like most other OSX and app dialogs. Imagine! <g>

So true - *But* the point is it's a change from prior behavior which, like
most, hasn't been documented anywhere (AFAIK). Just a little message in the
Paste Special dialog to that effect wouldn't have hurt, would it? Or
even a little blurb in the Help when you search for Paste Special... Oh,
wait, there is no Help Topic for Paste Special ;-)

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Oh, wait, there is no Help Topic for Paste Special ;-)

Huh?

When I search XL08 Help for "Paste Special", this is the top hit:

Copy formula results or formatting

which does a pretty good job of describing the various uses of Paste
Special.

OTOH, In XL04 Help, when I search for Paste Special, the top hit is:

Microsoft Excel keyboard shortcuts

which has *almost* nothing to do with PS. The second hit is

About working with data

which doesn't mention Paste Special at all...

 

[CyberTaz]

Yes, I get the same thing - which specifically focuses on *4* of the *16*
facilities within the feature. Neither of those 4 even offer a "See Also"
for any of the other capabilities. "Some" of the other aspects are tucked
away in the additional hits, but you have to go digging to find them. The
remainder have nothing to do with Paste Special at all.

When I search Help for a specific feature of a program I expect to find
something that covers that feature - not just a few individual aspects of
it. Further, searches for the other options - such as the Operations, Skip
Blanks & Transpose - provide either totally unrelated hits or 0 hits.

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[JE McGimpsey]

When I search Help for a specific feature of a program I expect to find
something that covers that feature - not just a few individual aspects of
it

I haven't, for many years now, for ANY non-trivial app... <g>

I'm hopeful that on-line updates will eventually get closer to that
state.

 

[CyberTaz]

I haven't, for many years now, for ANY non-trivial app... <g>

I'm hopeful that on-line updates will eventually get closer to that
state.

Yeah, John - I know what you mean. The developers keep telling people to use
Help, that it replaces printed manual, etc., etc., etc. but it just keeps
getting worse

Regards |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[spoof]

CyberTaz: GOOD CATCH! The thought to use CMD never even crossed my mind! Thanks so much for the help!

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Yeah, John - I know what you mean. The developers keep telling people to use
Help, that it replaces printed manual, etc., etc., etc. but it just keeps
getting worse

Well - 08 *is* worse, IMNSHO, for all Office apps.

For Word and XL, I think 2004 was a lot better than v.X, and 2001/v.X
was much better than 98.

But one of the big problems I have with Help is that, as I get more
familiar with the program, the more I need help for the what we used to
call the "oolies" back in the Navy - the little things.

So Help is less and less useful over time.

 

[Todd Aton]

Some of you had very candid and relevant suggestions for documentation
improvement. This would be a great opportunity for you to use the feedback
mechanism built into Help so we can improve topics and search using our
continuous publishing model.

For example, if you're online, and most of you are, take a moment to search
on "Paste Special", open the first topic, click "No" at the bottom where it
asks "Was this information helpful?", and explain why it wasn't helpful so
we can use your excellent suggestions to update the topic.

If you don't find a topic that covers what you're looking for, use the Send
Feedback about Excel command to tell us the keywords you used to search and
the information you were expecting to find.

Thanks!

Todd Aton, SDET
Macintosh Business Unit
Microsoft Corporation

This posting is provided ³AS IS² with no warranties, and confers no rights.