The Prepared Home

Using a computer with one hand

This is a very topical article for our household at the moment because 36 hours before I started writing this article, I had a nasty tumble at home. The knee I banged recovered quite quickly but the arm I landed on got worse during the day until I gave up and went to hospital. They think I have cracked it rather than broken it but I certainly managed to injure the soft tissue, as for the first day or so, the areas well away from the crack were very painful. My right arm is now resting in a sling.

I can't use a pen at the moment yet I can type with my left hand. But, did you know that there are ways of using the keys to do what you would normally do with a mouse.

Using Windows

One useful combination of keys is ctrl and enter. This opens the start menu. Once this is open you can the use the arrow keys to move around the menu. Up and down move the highlighted area up and down. The right hand arrow key will open a sub menu. So, if you have Microsoft Office on your main menu and you have a triangle next to it showing that there is a sub menu click on the right hand arrow and the sub menu will open showing a list of programs.

Another useful pair of keys are alt and tab. These used together open a list of programs that are being used. Hold the alt key down and keep pressing the tab key and the selector will move between the programs. Release it and you will go to that program.

Using applications

One useful thing to remember is that alt and the underlined key in the menu will open that menu. In MS Word for example alt and f will open the file menu and alt and o the format menu. Use the arrow keys to move around the menu. Once in the menu just type the underlined letter in a command e.g. s for spelling and the spelling command will be activated. Newer Microsoft programs show the button for a command on the left and the key strokes for it on the right so while looking at the menu take note of any key combinations for commands that you use a lot. Some use one key such as F7 for spellcheck and some two keys such as ctrl +p for print. These keys will help you start that procedure rather than having to open the menu.

If a dialog box comes up to make choices, use the tab key to move around it in a clockwise direction, but hold the shift key down as you press the tab key if you want to go anti-clockwise. Remember, when the choice is made using a choice of radio buttons (black dots) that you go to the section using the tab key and chose between them using the arrow keys. When finished press enter (also known as return and has the elbow shaped arrow on it) and it does what clicking OK would do.

Using the cursor keys

These keys can do more than many people realise. Firstly, you can move to the beginning of a line using home in many programs and to the end of a line by pressing end. Secondly, you can use the cursor keys to select text. Go to the top left or bottom right of the piece of text you want to select, hold down the shift key and use the arrow keys until the area of text you want to select is selected and let go of the keys.

Sticky keys and filter keys

These are part of the accessibility features on Microsoft products. The sticky key helps you when you can only press one key at once but you really need to use two keys. When sticky keys are set up right you can press shift and then f to get a capital F. Filter keys are useful for anyone with shaky hands or who misses keys easily. Information on how to set these up can be found in the Windows help menu, that is the one listed on the start menu.

Finding out more

There are lots more things that you can do with keys rather than the mouse. These are just examples of things I have found useful. There is a lot more information in the help menus of most programs. Have a look because you may find some things that you can use even if are not having problems today. You will also be ready if you do have a problem.

download this article as a pdf file

To read this file you will need a copy of Acrobat reader. If you have not got a copy you can download by clicking on the image below.