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I recently found myself editing a really messy document. You know the kind: Not only was it loaded with spelling and grammatical errors, but I also had to contend with extraneous formatting codes because it wasn't created in Word. I had to dump all of those codes and issue about a dozen Find and Replace commands before I could get down to the business of editing the document.

In the course of editing this document, I had to bring out the heavy artillery: Word editing shortcuts. Although these shortcuts aren't new to Office XP, they're as useful as ever. Here are some of my favorites.

Select a Column of Text

You don't often need to select a column of text in Word--but when you do, you'll be frustrated if you don't know the trick. If you've ever opened a long document with unwanted periods or other characters at the beginning of each line, you know what I'm talking about. You can select a column of text by holding down the Alt key while you click and drag to extend the selection. Once you've made your selection, you can send that column of text to perdition's flames by pressing the Delete key.

Toggle That Case

Some people Tend to use UpperCase and lowercase Creatively. Some misguided folks like to emphasize Words they consider Important. Others like to SHOUT. If it just happens once in awhile in your document, it's no big deal to change it manually. If it happens in a long string of text, Word comes to the rescue with its Change Case command. When you format the text and choose Format, Change Case, you can change the case to uppercase, lowercase, title case, sentence case, or reverse the text from its current case. Handy enough. But when you have a document loaded with case errors, you don't want to futz with menus and dialog boxes. Instead, select your text and press Shift-F3 until you get the case you want. This key combination toggles among upper, lower, and title case, and it's a handy little devil.

Find and Replace Quickly

Find and Replace is without a doubt one of the handiest word processing features. Not only can you quickly and easily change every instance of a word or phrase to something else, but you can also replace formatting, special characters, and even blank spaces. (I love Find and Replace so much, I find myself longing for it in other areas of life besides computing, but that's another matter entirely.) To quickly fire up the Find and Replace dialog box without taking your fingers off the keyboard, press Ctrl-H. (Ctrl-R right-aligns the current paragraph, so you'll have to think of a good mnemonic for Ctrl-H.)

As I mentioned, Find and Replace is handy for much more than replacing an instance of a word or phrase. For instance, some writers haven't trained themselves away from the old typewriter custom of pressing the spacebar twice after each period. With Find and Replace, you can quickly change all instances of double spaces to single spaces. Just enter two spaces--hit the spacebar twice--in the "Find what" field, enter one space in the "Replace with" field, and click Replace All.

Another shortcut I find handy is to double-click anywhere inside the left side of the Status Bar (at the bottom of the Word screen, the bar that displays "Page #," Sec #," "Ln #," and so on ). This opens the Go To dialog box, with its handy pals Find and Replace just a Tab click away. And if you want to keep your hands on the keyboard, use F5.

Send E-Mail Without Mousing Around

This column has inspired you to write me about your favorite shortcuts so I can share them with other readers, right? And in the spirit of maximizing your time savings through keyboard shortcuts, you want to compose the entire message without using the mouse at all. With your Outlook Inbox on screen, press Ctrl-N to start a new message. Type officeguy@att.net (my e-mail address) in the To field, and press the Tab key twice to move to the Subject field. Type "My goodness, you are a charming, sophisticated, and handsome devil!" (or other appropriate subject) and press Tab to move to the body of your message. Now type your message, including dozens of handy tips and shortcuts other readers will enjoy. Finally, press Alt-S to send the message. No mouse required!

One last shortcut: Once you've started your e-mail message by pressing Ctrl-N, you can open your address book by pressing Alt-Period. With the address book open, press the Down Arrow key to move down through your list of addresses. To add a recipient, press Enter. When you're finished choosing recipients, press Enter again to return to your message. And you did it all without your hands ever leaving your keyboard!

Handy Keyboard Shortcut Recap

Word Shortcuts

• Alt-click 'n' drag: Selects a column of text
  
  
• Shift-F3: Toggles the case of selected text
  
  
• Ctrl-H: Opens the Find and Replace dialog box
  
  
• F5 or double-click Status Bar: Opens Go To dialog box
  
  

Outlook Shortcuts

• Ctrl-N: Starts a new e-mail message
  
  
• Alt-S: Sends the current message
  
  
• Alt-Period: Opens the address book
  
  

Microsoft Gives Students and Teachers a Break

Microsoft recently released Office XP Standard for Students & Teachers, a discounted version of Office XP. The $149 version includes Word, Outlook, Excel, and PowerPoint and is available at that price to students and teachers from kindergarten through college. That's a pretty sweet deal, compared to the normal $479 price tag. The software is available at retail stores. For more info, including an "official announcement" replete with corny jokes about dogs eating homework, go to the Microsoft Web site.

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