F12 shortcut for saveAs

[ChrisGreaves]

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I know that I am the last person on the planet to use the keyboard as the fastest way to get things done, but even I have a thing or two to learn!

Over the years I have tried to train people to believe that they can train themselves - they don't need me to teach them, and a main path has been to "Examine the menu system", for that is where the shortcut keys are shown.
Imagine my surprise early this morning when I thought to test my assumptions and found that the <F12> key is NOT listed as a shortcut key in either Word2003 or in Excel2003.

Someone laboriously clicking on "File" and then "Save" will see that a simple Ctrl+S would do the trick with less time and less effort. Likewise instead of "File" "Open", Ctrl+O is your other friend.
But while <F12> works in Word and Excel, it is not listed in the drop-down menu.

And then as I prepared the composite image a few minutes ago, I saw that Excel2003 offers a shortcut for ""File", "New", but Word2003 does not.

So, roughly thirty years after I started preaching, I have seen the light!

I know that there exist thousands of lists "the top five/ten/twenty/million shortcuts that will save you time", but wondered how many others have realised that not all shortcut keys are listed in applications.

For example, is the Ctrl+S, Ctrl+O, Ctrl+N and <F12> behaviour I have documented above consistent along the later versions of MSOffice?

To my mind this is either a breakdown in communication between silos OR a failure to adhere to standards.
P.S. I have just noticed that the Caption bars are a different format "Application - Document" versus "Document - Application"!
Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

The Office menu in Office 2007 and the File menu in Office 2010 and later do not show keyboard shortcuts at all.
If you add New, Open and Save to the Quick Access Toolbar in Word, Excel or PowerPoint, their tooltip displays the keyboard shortcut, except for the Open button in Excel (in Office 2019 at least).

The title bar now consistently displays "document name - application name" across all Office apps (and the application name is just Word, Excel or PowerPoint, without Microsoft before it).

[JoeP]

See Keyboard shortcuts in Office for links to Office shortcuts by individual application product.

[ChrisGreaves]

The Office menu in Office 2007 and the File menu in Office 2010 and later do not show keyboard shortcuts at all.

Well that's a relief. Wouldn't want users to use the computers efficiently, eh? Better to spend up to an hour each day moving a mouse to the wrong place before clicking; makes the workers look busy; need more workers; bigger budget; have to get promoted to be in charge of that many staff; bigger salary; bigger pension.
I understand.

... except for the Open button in Excel (in Office 2019 at least).

So nothing has changed (hah hah)

The title bar now consistently displays "document name - application name" across all Office apps (and the application name is just Word, Excel or PowerPoint, without Microsoft before it).

Now this one makes sense. I had been wondering who/what supplied the software I've been using Lo! these past 35 years ...

Hans, I apologize for my snarky response, but I'd been having a good day until I read your factual response.
I suppose that having invested so much real-estate in the ribbon we had better justify it by weaning folks off the keyboard.

Oh well. Serves me right for looking closely at what I was doing.
Thanks, honestly, for the confirmation that while the shortcut keys are there, fewer and fewer people will know about them.
I think that this gives me the right to go on using 2003 for another year?

Cheers
Chris

[ChrisGreaves]

See Keyboard shortcuts in Office for links to Office shortcuts by individual application product.

Thanks, Joe, for this link.
I shall add it to my collection of lists of keyboard shortcuts once I free up some space on my other laptop ( ).
Cheers
Chris

[HansV]

Even worse, File > Open does not activate the Open dialog, and File > Save As does not activate the Save As dialog. They activate a different part of the 'backstage'. So I avoid using these File menu commands and either use Ctrl+O and F12, or click buttons on the Quick Access Toolbar.

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[ChrisGreaves]

Even worse, File > Open does not activate the Open dialog, and File > Save As does not activate the Save As dialog.

I think that this gives me the right to go on using 2003 for another two years?

The mind boggles.

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Thirty-eight years and they still haven't got it right
Cheers
Chris

[Jay Freedman]

They've spent 38 years getting it wrong in an astonishing number of ways, and they're still working on it.