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April 18, 2005
Oops! Undo
Oh, the cruel irony. I was just polishing up some fine points on the "Undo" command, previewed it, and accidentally closed my browser window and lost my post. I need a new posting method. One that gives me the option to undo. (Safari has an undo, but it doesn't work if you are typing in a text box on a web page. Urgh!) I know the solution, I just need to implement it.
Anyway...
The keystroke, or keyboard shortcut for "Undo" is:
APPLE+Z
where APPLE is the key with the Apple icon on it, and Z is the letter 'z.'
In other words, hold down the APPLE key - there's one on each side of the space bar - and press the 'z' key. I've written it in all caps as a convention - so it stands out from the normal words. Note that this does not mean capital 'z,' which would mean pressing the SHIFT key as well, to make the 'z' a capital 'Z.' (I thought that for a while myself. But of course, APPLE+SHIFT+Z is the "Redo" command, which is used to re-do something you undo-ed ;-)
The point of keyboard shortcuts is that they are faster than using the mouse. Most keyboard shortcuts are common accross all applications, and most of them are very common tasks which you may use many times a minute, so if you spend a little time learning the basic ones, it's definitely worth it.
If you look at the Edit menu pictured above, you'll also note that to the right of each item in the menu, there's a squiggly thing with a letter beside it. These are the keyboard shortcuts for each menu item. As you know, "Undo" is APPLE+Z. Taking that as an example, from the menu we can see the keyboard shortcut for "Copy" is APPLE+C. "Paste" is APPLE+V, and so on.
Also, what I've been calling the APPLE key is actually called the "command" key. Like many people though, I tend to confuse the "command" key with the "control" key. They both start with 'C' and only the "control" key is labelled: "cntrl." The APPLE key has no name - just the squiggly icon you see in keyboard shortcuts in the menu - and an Apple icon. So it's called the APPLE key.
So many qualifications for such a simple, little panic button.
Posted by Brad at April 18, 2005 10:38 PM
Comments
Hey Brad
The Missing Manual arrived yesterday! It looks very interesting and well set up. I will read it as I go. Thanks again.
Much love
Mom
Posted by: Mom at April 22, 2005 05:12 PM
