RibbonX: Customizing the Office 2007 Ribbon

Appendix D. Keytips and Accelerator keys

The keyboard is probably the quickest way to perform an action in just about any application. This is mainly because you do not need to take your hands away from the keyboard to reach for the mouse in order to actually execute a command — you just keep on typing and never lose the positioning of your fingers.

This appendix provides a list of common keytips and accelerator key combinations that you can use to open some common dialog boxes, such as the Format Cells dialog box in Excel or the Font dialog box in Word.

You call either a keytip or an accelerator by pressing the Alt key or the F10 function key followed by the letters that make up the sequence. This is different from the shortcut key, which must be pressed simultaneously to get the desired result. Keytips and accelerator keys require that the keys be pressed in sequence, one after the other.

Keytips and Accelerator Keys for Excel

Using the keyboard instead of the mouse often represents a gain in terms of speed when performing an action. If you are someone who prefers to use the keyboard instead of the mouse, then you should be happy to learn that the Ribbon offers even more possibilities to quickly perform tasks without ever reaching for the mouse.

The list in this appendix is not exhaustive, but it gives you a sense of what is possible with accelerator keys (a legacy from previous versions of Office).

Tip

To remove the keytips or accelerator sequence displays, press either Alt, F10, or ...