Short keystrokes

Just out of curiosity, try ALT+fr both ways in Internet Explorer. For me, both ways pop up the Properties box. What happens on your machine?

FWIW I can enter Hold-ALT+erhf and get all the way to the Select File Attachment window under Transaction Attachments. However Tap-ALT+erhf doesn't work - I have to enter Tap-ALT+erh then Hold-ALT+f. This seems to indicate that the issue is in Quicken, not the keyboard driver. But then I'm completely clueless as to why your Quicken and mine should function differently.

It takes me about 4 seconds to click the Add Attachment button then reposition my hands on the keyboard. It takes me about 1 second to enter ALT+erh and be ready to continue typing. You must be a huntin'-pecker :-)

It's the same here.

Ken,

Forgive me if you already know these things, but here's what I've discovered. The following seem to be the current key conventions, but all application programs may not follow them. I'm not an expert in this area, so if you or anyone else find any mistakes or have any additional insights please correct or enlighten me.

There's a Q11 bug discussed herein that any Intuit agents who are eavesdropping on this thread may or may not want to fix. If it really isn't a bug I expect John Pollard to jump all over me, and I encourage him to do so :-)

e [i.e. press and release then "e"] denotes a two-keystroke sequence. The "e" is called an "access key".

opens the main menu for the current window, if any, selects the first menu item, and underlines a letter in some or all items in that menu. If the menu is normally hidden, as in IE8, it is added as a new line of items near the top of the window; the menu disappears as soon as it is deactivated.

The underlined letter in a menu item, if any, is the access key for that item. You can select the item by navigating to it using the arrow keys or by typing its access key.

Typing the access key also *executes* the selected menu item, but only if its access key is unique in that menu. This can result in a command being executed, or a new window or submenu being opened. Submenu items may have their own access keys, so that can be used to navigate thru the main menu and a sequence of submenus.

If multiple items in the current menu or submenu have the same access key, the first or next menu item with that key is selected, but not executed. You can see the difference in a Q11 Quicken Banking transaction window: e opens the Edit submenu and underlines the access keys for that submenu ; tttttt... simply toggles between the Tools and the Tips & Tutorials menu items.

This is one problem with access keys - if a software developer adds a menu item with an access key that duplicates that of an existing item, or if they change an item's access key in a new release, it "breaks" access key sequences you previously used to access and execute the original item. This happens more often than you might expect. In fact, from Q10 to Q11 the access key for the Tools menu changed from "s" to "t" which then became duplicated when "t" was also assigned to the newly added Tips & Tutorials item. s opened the Tools menu in Q10 but in Q11 neither s nor t opens it. Why did they change the Tools access key from "s" to "t"? Because they wanted to use "s" for the newly added Spending item! Two different developers were almost certainly involved, each unaware of the other's change. Neither developer made a mistake, but sometimes two rights do make a wrong :-)

I've found another serious problem with using access keys in Quicken. If and when the letters you type after stop being interpreted as access keys, focus may return to a field in a currently selected register transaction. It's easy to change or mutilate that field without realizing it.

+e [i.e. press and hold while typing "e"] denotes a single "shortcut key" (aka "accelerator" or "shortcut"),

Menus often have two columns, with underlined letters in some left-column items. The underlined letters are access keys while the right-column items are shortcut keys. Unlike access keys, shortcut keys may use keys other than . Also, they work even if the menu isn't open. In fact, the same shortcut key may appear in multiple menus or in no menus at all.

Shortcut keys execute the command associated with that shortcut. Some shortcut keys may be in effect for all application programs: + [close window]. Others may be specific to Quicken or to a single Quicken window: +f [open Select Attachment File window] in the Transaction Attachments window. In the Transaction Attachments window the initial letters in the File, Scanner and Clipboard buttons are underlined, making them look like access keys. But in fact they are shortcut keys. That's why

The above discussion leaves one mystery. The mystery isn't why +erh doesn't work for you, but rather why it *does* work for me, and why +fr works for both of us in IE.

My guess is that the shortcut key +e is reinterpreted as the access key sequence e if and only if that is the only meaningful interpretation in the current context. The menu item isn't executed if the access key is not unique in the current menu, if the associated command is deactivated in the current context, or if an +e shortcut key is defined in the current context [regardless of whether on not it's associate command is activated]. I think you may have a source of ambiguity in your Quicken that I don't have in mine. I have no idea how to look for this source but if you ever find it I be interested to know what it is.

No need to reply to this post unless you have additional information, questions or corrections.

Jerry

Conflict(s) with another program's shortcut(s)?

I have Quicken 2011, Release 7 running under 64-bit Windows Home Premium on a Dell Studio D540.

The keystroke sequence you mention works for me whether I hold the ALT key down during subsequent keypresses OR press the ALT key once, release it and then enter the subsequent keypresses.

"Uncal Bob" > not

Thanks for responding Uncal Bob. It's nice to know my essay had at least one reader other than me :-)

I'm not a Windows programmer. But based on my knowledge of a programming methodology called Object Oriented Programming (OOP) that is used by many program systems here's what I'd expect to happen in Windows.

I'd expect shortcut key definitions defined by the Windows OS itself to be passed down from the Windows OS to any application programs it opens and from an application program or window to any new child windows it opens. If a window defines or redefines a shortcut, I'd expect the new definition to be used in it and its own child windows but not in its parent window or in the windows of any other application programs.

So I'd don't think different programs share shortcut definitions unless they both inherit them from the Windows OS. If I type a shortcut in a window I think the associated command has to be defined in that window, one of its parent windows, or in the Windows OS.

I currently think Ken's conflict exists within Quicken itself. To test this hypothesis he or you or anyone else can try +e in both Internet Explorer and in any Quicken window that has an Edit command in its main menu. If the +e shortcut key [not the e access key sequence!] brings up the Edit menu in IE but not in Quicken then the conflict is in Quicken. If it fails in both then the conflict is probably inherited by both programs from the Windows OS environment. It's possible that it may work in some Quicken windows but not in others, in which case the conflict is within that particular Quicken window.

The fact that the +e shortcut key or any other + shortcut doesn't function as an access key isn't really a bug because it isn't supposed to work. The correct thing to do is to use a real access key sequence, i.e. e or . It's just convenient that when you type a shortcut key, the system can sometimes figure out what you really mean. I especially like that I can type +erhf, +erhs or +erhc for transactions attachments on my computer whereas Ken has to use the correct but less convenient erh +f etc.

Not surprising. I also have 64-bit Windows Home Premium whereas Ken has Ultimate. If he tries Hold-+e in Internet Explorer and it doesn't bring up the IE Edit menu then the problem may be his OS or Premium vs. Ultimate; if the IE Edit menu does come up both ways I'd tend to doubt that the OS is the culprit.

I've tried both ways successfully in both Q10 on my Dell XPS410/Vista desktop and in Q11 on my HP dm4-1063cl/W7 64-bitP notebook.

I'm almost positive it isn't the keyboard driver. I didn't realize at the time I made that accusation how much control the OS and the application program have over how key presses are interpreted.

I have Q11H&B. Ken didn't specify his Q11 version. What version do you and Ken have?

I think different Quicken versions, different Quicken Preferences, or the fact that one of us uses features that the other doesn't may be an issue. For example, although I have Q11H&B I haven't created any Business accounts.

Also, what type of account(s) did you try? I tried checking, savings, credit card and asset accounts and they all worked. Investing accounts don't because they didn't put an Attachments... item in the Edit -> Transactions menu for Investment accounts [this isn't a bug but it's a possibly useful enhancement].

Jerry

I couldn't resist noting that the newly added Spending item then proceeded to break the +s functionality that previously brought up the Split Transaction window. That was the original problem reported in this thread.

I once met a guy with a 185 IQ who managed a coffee house. He said he used to be a computer programmer but it was too difficult for him. I wonder if he was a Quicken programmer?

Call me stubborn, but I'm not giving up quite yet.

Are you using a Windows OS that allows a booting into Safe Mode?

If so, try that, as it might get rid of program conflicts, although it probably won't don't anything for Windows conflicts.

I have Quicken Deluxe. Nice marketing term there - as you all know, it's the least expensive Quicken available.

Kinda like Windows 7 Home Premium. ;)

I only tried it in a checking account register. I don't even use the attachment feature so I didn't do any extensive testing. Just figured I'd add my feedback to be helpful.

That's an excellent suggestion for Ken.

I can't run this test because I don't have the +e conflict on either of my computers or with either Q10 or Q11. I'm just trying to help Ken diagnose his problem. But by now he's probably lost interest or is beginning to wish he hadn't even brought up the issue :-)

However I'll keep your suggestion in mind if I run into anomalies with other shortcut keys or access key sequences.

Jerry

I forgot I had asked for volunteers. My apologies for assuming you had a personal interest in this issue and also for not thanking you for responding.

The fact that Ken's problem doesn't occur in your Deluxe nor in my H&B adds another possibly useful clue to the mystery. Thanks!

Jerry

Would somebody please go wake-up Ken, and tell him we're working on the problem, whether he likes it or not! :-)

LOL! You took the words out of my mouth.

This is a *very* minor issue, as far as I'm concerned, and not something I'm worried about. So I'll just let it die.

Q11 Premier R7, running under 64-bit Windows 7 Ultimate.

And large olives.