Keyboard shortcuts in input forms#

The grid in a contribution input form follows Excel's keyboard habits, so most of what you already know works. This page lists every shortcut the grid responds to. To fill in and submit a form, see Fill in and submit a form.

Mac keys. On a Mac, use Cmd wherever this page says Ctrl, and Option wherever it says Alt. Where the keys are the same on both systems, the Mac column says so.

Where the shortcuts apply. Select a cell in the grid first. Shortcuts act on the selected cell or range. They do not apply while the focus is in another text field, such as the cell comment box or a box in the Adjust, Spread, or Paste special pop-ups. While you are typing into a cell (edit mode), only the keys in While you are editing a cell apply.

Move and select#

Mouse selection works alongside these keys: click a cell, drag across a range, or Shift-click to extend the selection to the clicked cell.

Edit a cell#

Only input cells that you are allowed to edit respond to these keys. On a locked cell, a calculated cell, a label, or a form that has been submitted, they do nothing.

Other characters, such as a comma, a currency symbol, a percent sign, a slash, or a plus sign, do not start an edit. Press F2 or Enter first, then type them.

Selecting a different cell with the mouse while you are editing also keeps what you typed, the same as pressing Enter.

While you are editing a cell#

Copy, cut, and paste#

On a read-only form, such as one you have already submitted, Ctrl+C still copies, Ctrl+X works as a plain copy, and Ctrl+V does nothing.

How paste works#

• If you copied several cells, the paste starts at the selected cell and fills down and to the right in the same shape.
• If you copied a single value and have a range selected, the value fills every editable cell in the range.
• Locked, calculated, and label cells are skipped silently, so check that every value you wanted landed.
• A paste is one change, so one Undo reverses all of it.
• Paste reads your clipboard through the browser. If the browser blocks clipboard access, nothing is pasted.

How cut works#

Cut works as it does in Excel. It marks the cells with a solid orange outline but does not clear them. The cells keep their values until you paste.

1. Select the cells and press Ctrl+X (Cmd+X on a Mac).
2. Select where the block should go and press Ctrl+V. Reportworq writes the block at the new place and clears the original cells that moved. This is one change, so one Undo puts everything back.
3. A cut can be pasted once. A second paste is an ordinary paste of the same values, and it leaves the originals alone.

A cut never loses a value. If any filled cell in the cut block would land on a cell that cannot take it (a locked, calculated, label, or hidden cell, or past the edge of the sheet), the paste writes nothing and the cut stays pending, so you can pick a better place. Locked and calculated cells in the cut block are copied but never cleared.

Escape cancels a pending cut and the outline disappears. A cut is also canceled when you:

• copy or cut something else, or copy text in another application,
• start typing into a cell, or make any other change (Delete, fill, paste, or a toolbar operator),
• use Undo or Redo,
• switch to another sheet, or expand or collapse a group,
• reload the form, or the form becomes read-only.

Undo and redo#

These keys use the same history as the Undo and Redo buttons on the toolbar, and that history is kept when you close and reopen the form. They do nothing in these cases:

• You are editing a cell. The edit box keeps its own text undo until you save or cancel.
• The form is read-only.
• The form is in manual calculation mode and holds edits you have not applied yet. The toolbar buttons are disabled in the same situation, so select Recalculate first.

Dropdowns and checkboxes#

Row and column groups#

When a form has Excel row or column groups, you can collapse and expand them from the keyboard. The group buttons in the gutter are not Tab stops, because Tab moves between cells.

• Collapse works from any cell inside the group, or from the summary line beside it (the row or column where the group's + button sits).
• Expand works from the summary line. It is the first visible row or column after the group, or the one before it when the group runs to the edge of the sheet. When a collapse hides your selected cell, the selection moves to that line, so you can expand again straight away.
• When groups are nested, the shortcut acts on the innermost group. If a row group and a column group tie, the row group wins.
• If the selected cell is not in or beside a group, nothing happens. On a form with no groups at all, Shift+Up and Shift+Down keep their usual meaning and extend the selection.

The cell comment box#

When the cell comment box is open, these keys apply inside it. The grid shortcuts above do not.

Related pages#

• Fill in and submit a form covers the toolbar, operators, validation, and submitting.
• Contribution (write-back) overview explains how contribution campaigns work.