[comp.sys.mac.apps] Control key commands in MS Word 4 ...

johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu (Bill Johnston) (02/16/91)

In article <44501@nigel.ee.udel.edu>, johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu 
(Bill Johnston) writes...
>I can't find a way to use the control key on my
>(regular Mac) keyboard as part of a "Command-key".  
>I can't be the only Word user that would like to make Word keystroke
>bindings match up with a "primitive" (but memorized) text editor ...

Thanks to those who wrote with suggestions for making MS Word
key bindings emulate emacs, vi, edt, etc.  The short answer is
that Word commands cannot be explicitly mapped to ctrl-<key>
key combinations.  The reason, pointed out by David McKinnis of
Microsoft, is that ctrl-<letter> combinations are defined in 
the Apple "extended" ascii character set.  Cmd-ctrl-<key> is a
workable option, but it doesn't really help those of us trying 
to overcome the problem of "finger muscle memory".

Related work-arounds:

-- use Quickeys, Quickeys Lite, or MacroMaker to send whatever
   "command-option-shift-ampersand" Word uses for the command
   one wishes to execute with the ctrl-key
-- try word-processing in a text editor that supports customized
   key-bindings, eg. Alpha
-- for those specifically interested in emacs, a customized 
   Settings file that maps cmd == ctrl, and cmd-opt == meta 
   can be found on sumex (courtesy of Michael Travers)
   I'll send a copy to anyone who is interested.

-- Bill Johnston (johnston@oscar.ccm.udel.edu)
-- 38 Chambers St.; Newark, DE 19711; (302)368-1949 

(miraculously, "Try Nisus" wasn't one of the solutions ...)