Tip: Undocumented Keyboard Shortcut, Plus a Documentation Error in Apple iWork Numbers ‘08

August 22nd, 2007 | by Michael |

Hello everyone, just a quick post tonight, since I am up to my ears trying to deal with Numbers time formats. I’m working on a time sheet template, and the thing is giving me fits. I suppose I should be thankful for all the posting material this is giving me.

Anyway, I picked up tonight’s tip from the Apple Numbers Discussion Forums. There seems to be an undocumented keyboard shortcut: Option-Return. This allows you to quickly edit an existing formula in a cell. I find it to be roughly equivalent to the F2 shortcut in Excel.

You can also use Option-Return to insert a hard break when editing text in a cell (this is in the documentation).

I found this in posts from both Mathias Rempe and JaxJason, I’m not sure who found it first. Regardless, good job guys.

******

While we are on the subject of keyboard shortcuts, I found an error in the documentation that is accessible from Help > Keyboard Shortcuts.

The documentation reads:

Stop editing cell and select cell   –>  Command-Return

— then later —

Stop editing cells and select the table  –>  Command-Return

The second option is correct, the first option should read:

Stop editing cell and select cell –>  Escape

If you combine this with our undocumented shortcut, you will be able to move into and out of cells quickly.

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    1. 5 Responses to “Tip: Undocumented Keyboard Shortcut, Plus a Documentation Error in Apple iWork Numbers ‘08”

    2. By jaxjason on Aug 29, 2007 | Reply

      Thnks for the credit. Never thought I would see my ‘name’ on other websites. Cool.

      I suggest anyone wanting to learn more about any of apple’s programs or OSX itself, take a gander in the support discussions, even if you don’t have a specific question, you willalways learn something. I do every day I look.

      Thanks again,

      Jason

    3. By Michael on Aug 29, 2007 | Reply

      jaxjason,

      Thank you for sharing your time and experience on the Apple board!

      I find useful information there all the time, and try to give it a little wider audience through this site (of course giving credit where it is due).

      Keep up the good work!

      - Michael

    4. By Anthony on Sep 7, 2007 | Reply

      So how’s the time sheet template coming along? Is it project-based?

    5. By Michael on Sep 7, 2007 | Reply

      Anthony,

      How’s the time sheet coming? Slow!

      Numbers has some strange ways of dealing with time, that are just straight forward in Excel. I think I know how to fix it, but I was sidetracked by other projects. I hope to get a credit card math template out today, then a mortgage refinance calculator on Saturday. After those are finished, that time sheet is next in the cue.

      The time sheet, as it currently exists, is just a simple weekly table with a break for lunch. I don’t have a problem with doing multiple versions, so if you have something in Excel, or a link to what you are looking for, e-mail it to me at contact [at] numberstemplates.com

      - Michael

    6. By damonk258 on Jun 28, 2008 | Reply

      Thanks for the tip. I was going nuts trying to figure this out. I was F2 all the time in Excel at work and this ‘unpublished’ shortcut really helps.

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