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If you've been waiting to buy your copy of QuicKeys or if you need an additional license or two, now is the time to order.
From October 20 - 31 you can purchase QuicKeys for Mac OS X, Windows, or Mac
Classic for only $59.95.
That's 40% off the regular price! Place your order today to make sure you don't miss out on these great savings.
BUY NOW
(offer expired) |
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TEXT or HTML?
Welcome to the October issue of TRIGGERED. The first couple of issues were very well received, but we did hear a few calls for a plain TEXT version of our newsletter rather than HTML. While the aesthetics of a well formatted HTML message can be pleasing and easy to read, it does make the message significantly larger, and some e-mail systems don't properly render or even accept HTML messages.
This month we've begun offering a plain text version of TRIGGERED for those of you preferring not to receive HTML formatted e-mail. If you would like to change your subscription from HTML to TEXT, see the Subscription Maintenance section at the bottom of this newsletter. Let us know if you have any difficulty changing your subscription or have suggestions for the newsletter in general:
newsletter@startly.com
QuicKeys for Windows has been updated!
Windows
QuicKeys for Windows was updated to Version 2.5.3 on October 5th. This is a free update for owners of QuicKeys for Windows version 2.5 or greater. The update can be downloaded from our web site
here. The reason for the update is that version 2.5.2 of QuicKeys introduced a problem where new Quick Type shortcuts had no "Universal" scope option. This update fixes that problem. For more information or to download this update, visit our
Download pages.
Text Tricks or Treats!
The Explore QuicKeys topics of the past couple issues of Triggered have been rather in-depth. This month we're going to take a step back in difficulty level and cover some basic text manipulation sequences aimed more at the new or lower-intensity users. While nothing earth-shaking will be revealed for the long time user by this tutorial, perhaps we'll get an "I never thought of that" or a "that gives me an idea" out of you.
The plan here is to make a short sequence whose purpose is to swap the position of two characters. If you spend a lot of time working with text, this can be a valuable shortcut. The makers of BBEdit® (a very popular text editor) find this type of operation useful enough to give it its own menu item and hot key.
What we want to be able to do is place our cursor/insertion point between two characters, hit a hot key, and watch as their positions are automatically swapped by QuicKeys. Let's go:
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Macintosh
This sequence will consist of 4 steps, all of which will be Type Keystroke shortcuts. The first step selects the character to the right of the insertion point, the second cuts that character, the third moves the insertion point in front of the left character, and the fourth step pastes in the character that was cut earlier. Simple!
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Bring up your QuicKeys main editor window and select
User Actions -> Type Keystroke
from the
Create
menu to create a new Type Keystroke shortcut.
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Click in the
Keystroke
field and press Shift+Right Arrow. This is the keystroke we want QuicKeys to type.
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From the
View
menu, select
Show Steps Drawer
if it isn't already displayed. This drawer lists the steps in a sequence as you create them.
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Go back to the
Create
menu and select User Actions ->
Type Keystroke.
This should append a second step to the first, not create a new, separate shortcut!
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Set the
Keystroke
field in this new second step to Command+X.
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Let's make the third step in a different way: In the steps drawer, select step number 2 by clicking on it, press Command+C to copy and Command+V to paste. A new step should have been created below step 2.
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In the newly created shortcut step 3, enter a Left Arrow in the
Keystroke
field.
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Click on step 3 in the steps drawer and do another copy/paste to create shortcut step 4.
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In the newly created shortcut step 4, enter Command+V in the
Keystroke
field.
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Assign a hot key of Control+` (or something else of your choice) and make sure it is scoped to "All Applications".
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Save your new 4-step sequence and name it "Exchange Characters". Your shortcut should look like
this at this point.
Close your new shortcut and launch TextEdit or another text editor and type "wrok". Now put your cursor between the "r" and the "o" and hit the hot key for your new Exchange Characters shortcut.
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Windows
This sequence will consist of 4 steps, all of which will be Type Keystroke shortcuts. The first step selects the character to the right of the insertion point, the second cuts that character, the third moves the insertion point in front of the left character, and the fourth step pastes in the character that was cut earlier. Simple!
-
Just so we're on the same editing page,
bring up your QuicKeys main editor window,
select
Options
from the
View
menu, and uncheck "Always use Setup Wizards for editing".
-
Now select
Sequence
from the
Create
menu to create a new multi-step shortcut.
-
Select
System Tools -> Type Keystroke
from the
Create
menu to insert the first step.
-
Click in the
Key to Type
field and press Shift+Right Arrow. This is the keystroke we want QuicKeys to type. Click the OK button.
-
Go back to the
Create
menu and select
System Tools -> Type Keystroke.
This will add a second step to your sequence.
-
Set the
Key to Type
field in this new second step to Control+X, and click OK.
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Let's make the third step in a different way: In the Sequence window, select step number 2 by clicking on it, press Control+C to copy and Control+V to paste. A new step should have been created below step 2.
-
Double-click the newly created shortcut step 3, enter a Left Arrow in the
Key to Type
field, and click the OK button.
-
Click on step 3 in the Sequence window and do another copy/paste to create shortcut step 4.
-
Double-click the newly created shortcut step 4, enter Control+V in the
Key to Type
field, and click the OK button.
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Name this Sequence "Exchange Characters" and assign a hot key of Control+` or something else of your choice.
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Switch to the Action Scope tab and ensure this shortcut is scoped to "Universal", your shortcut should look like
this at this point.
Click Save & Exit, and launch Notepad or another text editor and type "wrok". Now put your cursor between the "r" and the "o" and hit the hot key for your new Exchange Characters shortcut.
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In addition to swapping character order, this same technique can be used in numerous ways. When editing a Word document, a shortcut could cut selected text, place a left quotation mark, paste the text back in, and add a closing quote. Similarly, when editing web pages, a designer might use this type of shortcut to bracket selected text with opening and closing HTML tags.
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A Great Resource!
Drop by the QuicKeys Community forum and tell everyone your favorite QuicKeys tips & tricks or float a question or two. A great resource for experts and novices alike!
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How are users tapping QuicKeys' potential?
The Cool Customer for this issue is Dan Galbraith. Dan tells us how QuicKeys helps him shave 20 minutes off of a 30 minute PDF creation process:
"I actually use QuicKeys to help create the PDF product in my online publishing company www.praisecharts.com. I spent two days creating a script that compiles documents from several files and combines them into a PDF file, then creates a customized PDF with several bookmarks, javascript links, PDF "open" options, and passwords. The whole script takes about 12 minutes to complete, but it would take me a half hour or more doing it manually - it's actually my laptop computer's only job during the course of the day."
Thanks Dan!
If you'd like a shot at 30 days of fame, send your Cool Customer submissions to
coolcustomer@startly.com. If your submission is chosen for a newsletter, we'll send you some free stuff! (such as a T-shirt or mug, not a puppy or fabulous pair of shoes)
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We'll Write It
For You
We now offer a custom shortcut creation service to help you get QuicKeys shortcuts set up and tailored to your business needs. If you are interested in having us create a QuicKeys shortcut for you, head on over to our web site for details. |
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Create Shortcuts with drag-and-drop
Macintosh & Windows
Users typically create shortcuts by selecting them from QuicKeys'
Create
menu, or by clicking on QuicKeys Editor toolbar icons. But, there is a faster drag-and-drop method available for making certain types of Shortcuts.
To create a shortcut using drag-and-drop, all you need to do is open the QuicKeys main editor window and drag a file, folder, or block of text onto it. This will automatically generate a shortcut of the appropriate type. Just assign a trigger, name it and save it, and it's ready to go.
QuicKeys can create 3 different types of Shortcuts depending on what kind of object is dragged and dropped onto the main editor window.
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Open items shortcuts are automatically created by drag-and-drop of files & folders onto the QuicKeys editor window.
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Text shortcuts are automatically created by drag-and-drop of selected blocks of text from documents onto the QuicKeys editor window.
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Most Mac apps support drag-and-drop of text blocks from one application to another, but that capability is somewhat hit and miss with Windows programs.
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Web/URL launcher shortcuts are automatically created by drag-and-drop of properly formatted web addresses or other types of URLs onto the QuicKeys editor window.
-
Properly formatted
means "http://www.addr.com" rather than "www.addr.com"
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QuicKeys Toolbars also accept drag-and-drop in a similar way.
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In QuicKeys for Windows, dragging programs, files, and folders onto toolbars is supported, but the dragging of text blocks and URLs is not.
The Stuff at the End of the Newsletter
We sincerely hope this newsletter has provided an item or two of interest to everyone. As a monthly publication, we hope to incorporate suggestions from the readership and iron out any problems uncovered along the way. If you have any feedback regarding this newsletter, please send it to newsletter@startly.com.
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