Without your mouse

[Gettingbetter]

My friend, an all round IT guru (or so he thinks )

Has been trying to live without a mouse, I was absolutely devostated that the one excel shortcut he needed from me I could not tell him.

Not really a question for the question board, just wondered if you lot had ever found anything that wasn't possible without a mouse.

The question I couldn't answer was how to change the Fixed width fields (not delimeted) when doing a text to column.

Im gonna keep trying because there must be a way!

Bet theres loads, I too hate using the mouse, so im quite intrigued if you lot have any cool tricks!

 

[Oaktree]

Well, you could use LEFT/MID/RIGHT to get your parsed data into the corresponding cells and bypass the text to columns wizard entirely...

 

[DreamAlchemist]

Must still be on a 2003 or older version as I can't even get to text to column via keyboard in 07. I am a keyboarder as well and I get tee'd anytime I have to use the mouse just to click some silly graphic instead of pressing a key on the keyboard.

Correction you can get to it in 07 but it is a lot of arrow pressing.

 

[Greg Truby]

Has been trying to live without a mouse, I was absolutely devostated that the one excel shortcut he needed from me I could not tell him.
Not really a question for the question board, just wondered if you lot had ever found anything that wasn't possible without a mouse.
The question I couldn't answer was how to change the Fixed width fields (not delimeted) when doing a text to column.

I don't see a way. Even if you hold down Shift or Alt or Ctrl, the arrow keys still want to move you across the buttons. Even though the "p" is underlined, implying Alt+P would move you into the window, it doesn't. Looks like that's one where mouseketeering is required. Should you ever find a keyboard solution, do let us know.

...I can't even get to text to column via keyboard in 07. I am a keyboarder as well...Correction you can get to it in 07 but it is a lot of arrow pressing.

Alt+D, E is a lot of arrow pressing? 'cause that works in 2003 & 2007. Or if you want just 2007, Alt+A, E. Same # of keystrokes as 2003.

 

[Greg Truby]

Well, you could use LEFT/MID/RIGHT to get your parsed data into the corresponding cells and bypass the text to columns wizard entirely...

Along the lines of Matt's idea, I reckon a feller could hit Alt+F11 and - without using the mouse - write a VBA routine to invoke text-to-columns and hand-write the array for the FieldInfo parameter.

 

[Gettingbetter]

Well Ive spent about an hour trawling through the net (without my mouse of course) and can not find anyone even mentioning that this is not possible.

I deffo cant get in the box so I am going to have to admit defeat.

Greg I like your VBA aproach, it will have to do Especially as I now, like my friend have decided the mouse is an out of date tool that belongs in my draw with my floppy discs and cassette tapes.

Hopefully the rest of the world will soon catch on, and Microsoft will make everything accessable by the keys.

 

[kgkev]

How do you cope browing the web without a mouse?

I got to 30 tab pushs before even getting close to the Post Reply button.


Edit missed the button at the top so it was only 24

 

[DreamAlchemist]

I don't see a way. Even if you hold down Shift or Alt or Ctrl, the arrow keys still want to move you across the buttons. Even though the "p" is underlined, implying Alt+P would move you into the window, it doesn't. Looks like that's one where mouseketeering is required. Should you ever find a keyboard solution, do let us know.

Alt+D, E is a lot of arrow pressing? 'cause that works in 2003 & 2007. Or if you want just 2007, Alt+A, E. Same # of keystrokes as 2003.

Ah Didn't realize they didnt change the keys. When I first got it and pressed the alt key you got all the letters popping up on the icon to show you which one to press next. Nothing showed up for quite a few of the icons. Guess the programmer just got lazy half way through the ribbon.

 

[dcraker]

I don't know if 2007 has this or not.
You could always do MouseKeys if you are really wanting to avoid the whole mouse thing. Takes a little to get use to. There is even a link on Microsoft about it too. Here is the link to http://www.microsoft.com/enable/training/windowsxp/mousekeys.aspx that tells/shows you how.

They are missing a tidbit of info on it. They (site) say the shortcut to MouseKeys is -> Use a shortcut to turn MouseKeys on or off by pressing left ALT+SHIFT+NUM LOCK

it is left shift also, not likely that someone would go through the trouble of pressing the left ALT +right Shift+Num Lock

You would most definitely have to be a diehard fan of the keyboards uses versus mouse. I have learned alot of the keyboard keys myself, and people are continuously amazed.

Have fun

 

[Greg Truby]

Interesting. I had no idea that was even out there. I tapped my 5-key and my +-key and couldn't get it to click correctly, though I did get the cursor to move just fine.

Thanks,