Make your own AppleWorks Shortcuts!

If you find yourself clicking and dragging down the same menus over and over while you work in AppleWorks, you may want to investigate ways to increase your productivity using keyboard shortcuts!

AppleWorks has many built-in shortcuts indicated by the "Command + key" combinations listed in the pull-down menus (to the right of the command). For instance, Command + Z will "undo" the last step (found under the Edit menu); Command + S will save your document, and Command + P will bring up the print window (both found under the File menu). Many of these tasks can also be performed by clicking the appropriate buttons located on the button bar.

= Undo
= Save
= Print

AppleWorks also allows you to create your own shortcuts by recording the steps you use to perform a task as a Macro.

Use these steps create a shortcut (record a Macro) to bring up the "Scale by Percent" command in the Arrange menu used for resizing graphics.

  1. Click on a graphic you wish to resize.
  2. Choose Macros from the File menu, then choose Record Macro (Notice the Shift + Command + J keyboard shortcut which we will use to end our recording).
  3. Give the Macro a name (weíll call this one Scale by Percent)
  4. Assign a key combination to the Macro (Option + Command + s) and select "Play In" options for Word Processing, Drawing, Painting, Database, and Spreadsheet documents.
  5. Click Record.
  6. From the Arrange menu, select Scale by Percent
  7. Stop the recording at this point with the Shift + Command + J keyboard shortcut.
  8. Click Cancel to close the Scale by Percent window and try your shortcut! The
    Scale by Percent window will appear be ready for you to type your desired height and width percentages! Remember: The values you enter will scale the graphic based on its ìcurrentî size, so if you want a graphic twice as big, you must enter 200%. And, don't forget to use the Tab key to move between the height and width percentage fields, typing "over" the value there.


This is really cool, but what if you forget the shortcut key you created? Once the Macro is set up, we can make a shortcut button for our button bar. Here's how:

  1. Choose New Button from the "drop down arrow" at the left of the button bar
  2. Name the button Scale by Percent
  3. Type a description (for the button bar identification window)
  4. Choose "Play Macro" for the action to happen when the button is pressed.
  5. Choose the "scale by percent" macro you created
  6. Click the Edit Icon square
  7. Choose a color and draw through the squares on the grid to create an image.

  8. Click OK, and OK again to finish creating your button.
  9. Your custom button should appear on your button bar!


Charlene Chausis, Technology Trainer
Adlai E. Stevenson High School
Lincolnshire, IL (9/99)
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