Keyboard shortcuts

I probably am missing it, but how to I use shortcuts vs having to click icons?

Someone made this list from shortcuts listed in the Command pallet:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/rootsmagic8preview/posts/1944019659098442/

Add Individual Shift+Ctrl+I
Add Parents Shift+Ctrl+P
Add Spouse Shift+Ctrl+S
Add Child Shift+Ctrl_C
Back Shift+Ctrl+Left
Copy Control+C
Couple List Shift+Ctrl+F
Forward Shift+Ctrl+Right
Go to Root Person Control+H
Help F1
Move to Primary Position Shift+Ctrl+H
Paste Control+V
Person Search Control+S
Person List Control+F
Print Report/Chart Control+P
Reset Program Shift+Ctrl+U

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Thanks for the list:
Really gonna miss the ALT A to add a fact, ALT M to memorize, ALT V to save. RM7 had shortcuts for almost every command and the icon even underlined what the shortcut was. RM8 is new and I’ll give it a chance but…

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The above list is incomplete.
Alt+A in person edit window brings up the Fact List window (for me on Windows) from which you can add a fact.

Odd, ALT+A brings up add a fact, just like RM7 :clap: :clap: :clap:

command pallette icon shows many more commands than the short list above. Simply take screenshots and use Finder Quick Actions to combine them all into one PDF file and save it.

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Rooty, what is “Finder Quick Actions”? Thank you. (I am on a Mac, so maybe it is a Windows thing??)

I just Googled “Finder Quick Actions” because I didn’t know what it was either and it appears to be a Mac thing

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Finder is the basic file level program that lets you see your documents.
In Finder right click one or more selected items and Quick Actions will be listed.

Suggest you get a basic guide to the mac like teach yourself visually macbook

Thank you, Terry, for admitting you didn’t know what it is either. I hate it when people act like a question was stupid.
Rooty, I do know what Finder is. But because you made it sound like “Finder Quick Actions” was a single entity, that’s where the confusion came in.

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Here are all the Command Pallette keyboard shortcuts that work for me on a Mac, running Big Sur 11.6. (None of the f-# function keys worked for me.)

RootsMagic 8 Keyboard Shortcuts

⇧ = shift
⌃ = control
⌥ = option/alt
⌘ = command

Copy ⌃-C (or ⌘-C)
Paste ⌃-V (or ⌘-V)
Add Child ⌃-⇧-C
Add Individual ⌃-⇧-I
Add Parents ⌃-⇧-P
Add Spouse ⌃-⇧-S
Go Back (history list) ⌃-⇧-←
Go Forward (history list) ⌃-⇧-→
Go to Root Person ⌃-H
Move to Primary Position ⌃-⇧-H
Hide other programs ⌥-⌘-H
Hide RM ⌘-H
Couple List ⌃-⇧-F
People List ⌃-F
Person Search ⌃-S
Print Report/Chart ⌃-P
Reset Program Settings / Clear Registration ⌃-⇧-U (not going to test this one)

It’s a lot more complex using Windows. On Windows 10, I have to use the Snipping Tool for screenshots, copy to MS Word, save the file as PDF, then use the “Find” feature of File Explorer to locate it (see image below). Makes me wish I had a Mac.

Capture

Vincent; I know the feeling and that is why my personal computers are always macs despite making my living using windows pcs.

So many things just work simply and reliably across mac os that are hard, unreliable, expensive or impossible on a pc. The only thing pcs are better at is a universal DPI command and catch malware.

I wish they hadn’t co-opted some Windows standard keystrokes. My fingers are used to Ctrl+Shift+arrow selecting a block of text, so when I’m editing a note I keep accidentally going forward and back in the history in the background. I guess I’ll just have to live with it, like Ctrl-S opening a save-file-as window in notes in RM7.

I’m also missing Ctrl+Tab to switch between open files. So far, I can’t find a way to switch between databases if they’re both maximized, since Shift+Tab just takes me to other programs. Has anyone found that trick?

Overall, the lack of keyboard options just makes everything slow, having to go to the mouse for so many things that didn’t used to require the mouse. That’s not something that will improve with muscle memory :-(.

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F5 will move you between the databases.

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On a mac Command ~ (tilde) switches among open windows in the same app. Or just swipe up on the trackpad to show all open windows in that app (ie RM8).

Perhaps a check of the command shortcuts would help if on windows. top right palette icon.

Doug - your original inquiry is bang on and I really miss those shortcuts too. It is REALLY REALLY going to slow me down doing data entry and I would place repairing this very high on the RM8 To Do list.

What all previous versions of RM did (and I think Family Origins did too before that) was to use everyday normal Windows capability. When you write a Windows program every single user interface element has the option to have a shortcut key combination. This allows you to completely operate the User Interface without ever using a mouse. I believe it was designed originally to allow people who could not use a mouse to still use Windows. If all you have is a pencil between your teeth you could still select menu entries and click buttons. When you get to doing a lot of data entry this means you never have to take your hands off the keyboard to find and position the mouse to click something. This is HUGE for data entry speed.

It worked all the way up to RM7 and it still works in Windows 10 and on every app running in Windows 10 IF the app is “well behaved”. RM8 is NOT well behaved.

Does anyone know how to submit this as a change request / enhancement request / bug fix to the RM8 developers?

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You verbalized it the best of anyone to date: Use the everyday normal windows capability. In windows and previously RM7, shortcuts had the letter underlined requiring only an ALT+
Now I am not getting into the PC/Mac thing. A windows program should behave like a windows program and therefore I would say the same should apply to a Mac. Is it possible Bruce tried too hard to make both camps happy?

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Hey, I found a keyboard shortcut!
Open the dialog to Add a person and look at the OK button in the bottom right.
The O has a line under it and Alt-O performs the OK function, as expected.
But it is not a complete standard Windows keyboard shortcut because: if you have that dialog open and you press and release the Alt key then all of the shortcuts in that dialog should get a little black square beside them with a letter or number in it that identifies the shortcut key stroke. But that doesn’t happen so I don’t know what kind of pseudo-Windows behaviour they are trying to emulate.

I agree with you - a Windows app should behave like a Windows app and a Mac app should behave like a Mac app. It has always been thus, and it has always challenged developers trying to maintain a single source. I fear they have punted the ball and decided to satisfy none of the above. Is it enough to make me switch from RM8 to a better application? Probably not, but it is enough to send me back to RM7.

Still looking for the right way to submit requests to the Developers.

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Yup, I’m not having fun with RM8, I’m torn as I have added about a weeks worth of new data. And if I do go back, what happens down the road with 7? I truly feel that I jumped the gun, but that I would have been ultimately forced there anyway.

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