I’m posting this article for two reasons. First, I wanted to update the post I wrote last September on shortcuts, because Studio 2014 has been released since then. Second, I wrote a brief summary about the Ribbon for beginners and I wanted to expand on it from an advanced user’s point of view.

KeyTips and the Alt key

In Studio 2014, the shortcuts are almost all the same as before, except where the ribbon is concerned. To make the most of the ribbon, and following Microsoft best practices, SDL has implemented KeyTips. Press the Alt key (or F10) to display the tips.

So, for example, if you’re in the Editor view, Alt,R takes you to the Review tab and Alt,V takes you to the View tab. Don’t hold down the keys together; press them one after the other.

Shortcuts: old versus new

Some of these new shortcuts are actually more long-winded than the old ones. It doesn’t make sense to click through Alt,H,C,2 when you can  just use Ctrl+C. And I don’t recommend learning Alt,R,Y to run a QA check when you can simply click F8.

Instead, use the ribbon shortcuts to get somewhere fast. Here are some practical examples:

• Access general options: Alt,F,T
• Clear all draft segments: Alt,A,D
• Filter by segment type: Alt,R,L
• Preview target: Alt,4 (this is the best workaround for those of us who’ve been left without a preview window because we’ve moved to a click-to-run Office version)

To cancel the action and hide the KeyTips, just press Alt again.

Switch to other views

Thanks to the ribbon, you can now switch to a different view with a shortcut. Before, you had to select click a view in the bottom left-hand corner of the window. Now, you can press Alt,V and the corresponding letter. For example, if you’re in the Welcome View, switch to the Projects View by pressing Alt,V,P.

These shortcuts work regardless of the view you’re in. But be careful: the final KeyTip changes, depending which current view you’re in.

Shortcut clashes

Unfortunately, now that the Alt key is used for the ribbon shortcuts, it can’t be used in the context of inserting TM matches. Before the days of Studio 2014, the shortcut to insert matches was Alt+1, Alt+2, etc. In Studio 2014, it’s been changed to Ctrl+1, Ctrl+2, etc. You can still customise this if you like. Just click Alt,F,T,K !

Beyond the Alt key

Studio 2014 also has some neat shortcuts that aren’t KeyTip related.

• Ctrl+F1: hide/unhide the ribbon
• Crtl+F6: jump to the display filter box (this works even when the ribbon is hidden)
• Ctrl+Alt+F6: reset the filter (this also works with the ribbon hidden)

Hiding the ribbon

As you can see from the Ctrl+F1 shortcut above, you can minimise the ribbon. All the shortcuts will still work. This is cool. In fact, that’s where the beauty of the ribbon lies for advanced users. Once you know your way around Studio 2014, you can minimise the ribbon and gain more space. For anyone working on a small-screen laptop, that extra space is vital.

All in all, I’m sold on the ribbon. It’s great for beginners and advanced users alike. Do you agree?