On this blog and in the Accordance training seminars, I talk repeatedly about the one keyboard shortcut you absolutely must learn. For those of you who have missed it, that shortcut is command-T, which lets you change the display options for nearly every Accordance window. Get in the habit of using command-T, and you'll discover a world of features and options you may never have known were there.
Today, I want to talk about two keys (not key combinations) which are fairly obvious, but which you may not always think to use. These two keys, which I am hereby dubbing the two keys you absolutely must use, are the Tab and Return keys.
If you think about it, you already know what these keys do in other programs. The Tab key is used to cycle between text fields in a dialog box, web-form, and database record. That way you don't have to click on each field with the mouse before continuing to type your information. The Return key (or Enter key) is used to initiate some kind of action. In a dialog box, you'll usually get a Cancel and/or OK button, and one of those buttons will be active and pulsing by default. Hitting the return key is equivalent to clicking that pulsing button. Or think of a web form. How many of us actually go to Google, enter a search, and then click the button labeled "Google Search"? (Did you even know that button was there?) Most of us just type our search and then hit return, and Google performs the search.
Now that I've taken all this time explaining how to use two keys you probably use every day, you'll be happy to know that they do the exact same thing in Accordance.
Hitting the tab key on the keyboard will select the contents of each entry field in an Accordance window: namely, the search entry box and the Go To box. If you want to enter a search in an Accordance Search, Tool, or other window, just hit the tab key once. The entire contents of the search entry box will then be highlighted, so you need only start typing your new search. (In other words, you don't have to delete the previous search.) If you want to enter a verse in the Go To Box, hit the tab key twice and then type away.
Hitting the return key is equivalent to clicking the pulsing OK button. If you enter a search in the top of an Accordance window, the OK button beside that entry field will start to pulse to indicate that a new search has been entered but not yet performed. Hitting return will perform the search and dim the OK button. If you enter a verse in the Go To Box, that OK button will start to pulse, so hitting return will take you to the verse you entered.
I know, as Accordance tips go, I've now descended to the level of explaining the obvious. But if you're like me, the obvious is something you occasionally miss. If you're not habitually hitting tab and return in Accordance, I want you to be aware of the the two keys you absolutely must use. :-)
# posted by David Lang @ 8:51 AM
