Keyboard Shortcuts Make Quick Work of Accounting Tasks

By David H. Ringstrom, CPA

Many users fall into the trap of using their mouse exclusively to work with computer programs such as Microsoft Office Accounting. Indeed, Office Accounting’s user interface is very mouse friendly, but you may be surprised to learn that there are dozens of keyboard shortcuts available. Your hands are often on the keyboard anyway, so a keyboard shortcut can provide instant access to a list or transaction form. Keyboard shortcuts can also reduce wrist strain, since you minimize moving your hand to your mouse, and then moving the cursor to the desired position. This is particularly considering most lists, such as Customers and Vendors, require 3 mouse clicks to access, but only a single keystroke.

Ctrl+Number Shortcuts

Each home page in Office Accounting has a numeric shortcut:

•  Ctrl+1  – Company Home services as a dashboard for your company, with profitability and cash flow charts, reminders, and lists of overdue bills and invoices.
• Ctrl+2 – Customers Home serves as a navigation aid for customer-related transactions. You can initiate any customer-related task from the customer home page, as well as run reports and access lists.
• Ctrl+3 – Vendors Home is similar to Customers Home, but is used to carry out vendor transactions and receive inventory.
• Ctrl+4 – Employees Home serves as a one-stop-shop for processing payroll.
• Ctrl+5 – The Banking Home page provides one-click access to banking tasks, such as entering credit card charges, writing checks and reconciling bank accounts.
• Ctrl+6 – The Online Sales page walks users through the process of selling online. Presently Office Accounting makes it simple to sell items through eBay, and other marketplaces may be available in the future.
• Ctrl+7 – The Reports Home page has a different format than the other home pages, which offer a flow-chart approach. Instead, the Reports Home enables you to select and see preview versions of reports.
• Ctrl+8 – The Resource Center is new to Office Accounting 2008, and provides instant access to an array of resources. As shown in Figure 1, the Resource Center offers video demonstrations, as well as links to an online forum, free training, and knowledge base articles. The Community Pulse section is a frequently updated list of articles regarding other Office applications, such as Excel, Word, and PowerPoint.

Figure 1: The Resource Center acts as an online portal for information on Office Accounting and related applications.

Ctrl+Letter Shortcuts

There are also several letter-based shortcuts that you can use in Office Accounting. Some are context specific, which means they only work in certain instances, such as within a list. Others can be used anywhere in Office Accounting:

• Ctrl-A – This shortcut selects all items visible within a list. For instance, you might choose to display only inactive vendors, and then press Ctrl-A to select all of the vendors at once. You could then press Ctrl-D to delete all of the vendors in one fell swoop, as shown in Figure 2.

Figure 2: Ctrl-A enables you to select all items at once, while Ctrl-D enables you to delete one or more items.

• Ctrl-C – This universal shortcut places text that you’ve selected on the clipboard.

Alternate Selections: Although you can select text with your mouse, you can also hold the shift key down and use the arrow keys to highlight a few letters. Or, if your cursor is at the start of a field, press Shift-End to select the entire field (or from your current cursor position through the end of the field). Conversely, press Shift-Home if you’re at the end or in the middle of a field, and want to select text through the beginning.

• Ctrl-D – As shown in Figure 2, this short cut deletes items or transactions. For instance, you might press Ctrl-Shift-V to access the vendor list. You could then use the arrow keys to navigate down to a specific vendor’s record, access the vendor list by pressing Ctrl-Shift-V. Use the arrow keys to navigate up and down, and then press Ctrl-D to delete a specific vendor record.
• Ctrl-F – The Find command enables you to search a list. For instance, you might press Ctrl-Shift-I to display the Invoice list. You can then press Ctrl-F to display the Find feature at the top of the list, and then filter the list for a specific customer, as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3: The Find feature enables you to filter a list based on specific criteria.

• Ctrl-H – As shown in Figure 4, this shortcut displays the check from within anywhere in Office Accounting.

Figure 4: Press Ctrl-H to display this form at any time.

• Ctrl-N – This context-sensitive shortcut enables you to create new transactions or records from within any list or open form, such as the Customer or Invoice forms. If you press Ctrl-Shift-C to display the customer list, you could then press Ctrl-N to create a new customer record. Or let’s say you have a paid invoice displayed on the screen. Ctrl-N would close the existing invoice, and present you with a new blank invoice form for creating a new invoice.
• Ctrl-P – This shortcut allows you to print from many places within Office Accounting. If you’re within a list, then Ctrl-P will print the list. Or, if you’re within a transaction window, then Ctrl-P will print that transaction.
• Ctrl-O – This shortcut enables you to open one or more records. For instance, if you press Ctrl-Shift-E to display the employee list, you could hold down the shift key to select two or more records, and then press Ctrl-O to open them. However, keep in mind that you can also simply press the Enter key instead.
• Ctrl-R – This shortcut enables you to open the Register window from anywhere within Office Accounting.
• Ctrl-V- This universal shortcut allows you to paste data from the clipboard into an Office Accounting field, or from Office Accounting into any other Windows program.
• Ctrl-Z – This universal shortcut will often undo your last action in many programs, including Office Accounting.

Ctrl+Shift+Letter shortcuts

Twenty-two lists in Office Accounting can be accessed via shortcut keys that involve pressing Ctrl-Shift-and a letter:

• Ctrl-Shift-A –Chart of Accounts list
• Ctrl-Shift-B –Bill/Item Receipt list
• Ctrl-Shift-C – Customer List
• Ctrl-Shift-D – Vendor Payments List
• Ctrl-Shift-E – Employee List
• Ctrl-Shift-F – Customer Refunds List
• Ctrl-Shift-G – Budget list
• Ctrl-Shift-I – Invoice list
• Ctrl-Shift-J – Journal Entry List
• Ctrl-Shift-L – Online Orders List
• Ctrl-Shift-M – Received Payment List
• Ctrl-Shift-N – Employee Payments List
• Ctrl-Shift-O – Job List (job preference must be enabled)
• Ctrl-Shift-P – Purchase Order list
• Ctrl-Shift-Q – Quote List
• Ctrl-Shift-R – Online Sales Receipt List
• Ctrl-Shift-S – Sales order List
• Ctrl-Shift-T – Time Entry List
• Ctrl-Shift-U – Item List
• Ctrl-Shift-V – Vendor List
• Ctrl-Shift-Y – Payment List
• Ctrl-Shift-Z – Recurring Documents list

Standalone Keys

Although many shortcuts in Office Accounting require you to simultaneously hold down the Ctrl key or the Ctrl and Shift keys together, some shortcuts only require one key:

• Del – Clears text that you’ve selected from a field.
• Enter – The Enter key allows you to navigate between fields within a form, such as a customer record or credit card charge, but also allows you to open one or more records selected within a list.

 

• Tab – The Tab key enables you to move from field to field within a form. Press Shift-Tab to move in reverse.

 

• Esc – It’s easy to end up with several open windows in Office Accounting as you work with various transactions and reports, so press the Esc key repeatedly to close all open windows.

Function Key shortcuts

Practically every keyboard has a row of function keys across the top, usually F1 through F12. Office Accounting only utilizes a few of these keys:

• F1 – Displays online help for Office Accounting.
• F2 – Displays the Office Accounting 2008 Quick Start Guide.
• Ctrl-F2 – The one function key shortcut that requires the Ctrl key displays a print preview window. This works in for transaction forms, within lists, and for reports.
• F5 – Refreshes the Company Home page to show the effect of transactional changes you may have made during the current session. You can also use F5 within lists to refresh open balances.
• F6 – This keyboard shortcut enables you to toggle a home page view between the typical flow-chart view and the list view shown in Figure 5.

Figure 5: Use the F6 key to toggle between flow-chart and list views within the Home pages.

• F7 – This keyboard shortcut enables you to add or remove content from the Company Home page, or add or remove fields from within a transaction form. You can also use it within a list to add or remove columns.

The views and opinions expressed in this column are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Microsoft.