Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional in 10 Minutes

By Dorothy Burke and Jane Calabria

Using Text Boxes

Use text boxes to enter the information that Windows or a Windows application needs in order to complete a command. This information might be a file name, folder name, measurement, style or font name, or other information related to the original menu and command. Figure 5.4 shows a text box and list boxes in the Open dialog box (accessed from the Windows WordPad File menu).

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Figure 5.4 Use text boxes and list boxes to specify your preferences.

To activate a text box using the mouse, position the mouse over the text box (the mouse pointer changes to an I-beam) and click. The I-beam pointer shape indicates that the area you're pointing to will accept text. Look for the I-beam when you want to enter text in a dialog box. Notice that the insertion point (a flashing vertical line) appears in the active text box.

Tip

Save Time and Trouble If you want to replace text that's already in a text box, drag your mouse I-beam over the text (to highlight text) and start typing. When you type the first character, the original text is deleted. Often when you first open a dialog box containing a text box, there is already text present and highlighted; if you start typing, you automatically delete the current text.

To activate a text box using the keyboard, press Alt+selection letter. (The selection letter is the underlined letter in a menu, command, or option name. The combination of Alt and the selection letter is called a hotkey.) After you have activated a text box and typed text into it, you can use several keys to edit the text. Table 5.1 outlines these keys.

Table 5.1. Editing Keys for Text Boxes and Other Text

Key Description
Delete Deletes the character to the right of the insertion point
Backspace Erases the character to the left of the insertion point
End Moves the insertion point to the end of the line
Home Moves the insertion point to the beginning of the line
Arrow keys Moves the insertion point one character in the direction of the arrow
Shift+End Selects the text from the insertion point to the end of the line
Shift+Home Selects the text from the insertion point to the beginning of the line
Shift+Arrow key Selects the next character in the direction of the arrow
Ctrl+C Copies the selected text to the Clipboard
Ctrl+V Pastes the selected text from the Clipboard

Plain English

Clipboard The Clipboard is a tool provided by Windows that holds any cut or copied text for you so you can paste it to another location, document, or application. For more information, see Lesson 9, "Managing Files with My Computer."

To select an item from a drop-down list box, open the list box by clicking the down-arrow, and then click the appropriate item.

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