Being a regular developer and user of Microsoft Access (and other Office applications) for a long time now, I have seen various versions, incarnations and many changes to this powerful desktop application but one aspect to most of the Microsoft Office applications that has not really changed at all (well, in most cases) are the keyboard shortcuts!
Even with the newer ‘Fluent UI’ Ribbon Bar replacing the traditional Toolbars and Menu Bars, the keyboard shortcuts have remained unchanged which meant (for me anyway) no change here then as I’m a fan of the keyboard more so than the little rodent; the mouse!
In general, keyboard shortcuts are quicker than the mouse and I have listed some useful shortcuts that you may want to note and I will let you know if it applies to Microsoft Office and not just Access for good measure.
| Keyboard Shortcut | Description |
| CTRL + P | Print Document (Office) |
| CTRL + O | Open File (Office) |
| CTRL + N | New Document (Office) |
| CTRL + S | Save File (Office) |
| F12 | Save File As (Office) |
| ALT + F4 | Exit Application (Office) |
| CTRL + W | Close File (Office) |
| F2 | Edit a Value (Access / Excel) |
| ALT + F11 | Toggle View with VB Editor (Office) |
| F11 | Show/Hide Navigation Pane (Access) |
| CTRL + F1 | Show/Hide Ribbon Bar (Office) |
| CTRL + C / V/ X | Copy / Paste / Cut (Office) |
| F7 | Spell Check (Office) |
| CTRL + Z | Undo (Office) |
| ESC | Cancel a data value or record (Access) |
| CTRL + ; (semi-colon) | Insert Date (Access /Excel) |
| CTRL + ‘ (apostrophe) | Insert previous records value (Access) |
| CTRL + + (plus sign) | Add new record (Access) |
| CTRL + – (minus sign) | Delete a record (Access) |
| CTRL + F2 | Display Expression Builder (Access) |
| SHIFT + F2 | Display Zoom Window (Access) |
There are many more of course but the above is my personal choice which has always stood me in good stead.
For more information, click on Microsoft Keyboard Shortcuts.
Tags: access 2003 keyboard shortcuts, access 2007 keyboard shortcuts, Access Database Keyboard, Access database shortcut keys, keyboard shortcuts for access, keyboard shortcuts keys, quick keys in Access
In a Citrix Window running Access 2010, the Control + F1 opens up the Citrix Server Task Manager. Was looking for that and came across it here by accident.
Citrix is an excellent way to distribute Access 2010 so that it will work on any platform including Apple. It also provides a lower bandwidth than most Web Based applications, while providing a very rich client front-end experience.
The security advantages of shielding Access with the Citrix layer are numerous.
Thanks for this excellent posting of short-cut keys.
I think using Citrix is great solution for cross-platform ‘Microsoft’ Access as I’m a secret Mac fan an user when not working with or handling Microsoft applications. Any useful resources on Citrix and software would be good to know – thanks.