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Repeat Function Key (F4 in Excel)

Is there a repeat function shortcut in Numbers?

For instance, if I insert a row and then want to move down a couple of rows and insert another, is there a shortcut key? Or do you have to use the mouse and table menu?

In Excel the shortcut is F4. It repeats the last function. It is incredibly useful if you are doing a lot of spreadsheet manipulation.

It seems that Numbers is not designed for heavy spreadsheet use, unless I am missing something. I have been trying to adopt for my accounting work for six months. Everything just seems to take longer than in Excel. I am being patient since I have been an Excel guy for 20 years.

Thanks for your help!

Macintosh, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Mar 25, 2011 11:30 AM

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12 replies

Mar 25, 2011 12:22 PM in response to Michael2599

I've been away from MS products for so long, I don't recall if there's anything particularly charming about Repeat Last Function. Maybe you can jog my memory. The one thing that comes to mind would be to repeat a command for which there is no keyboard shortcut. For the vast majority of such cases you can designate a custom Keyboard Shortcut in System Preferences.

The simple example is if the last thing you did was COMMAND-B to bold something, just COMMAND-B again to repeat it.

Jerry

Mar 25, 2011 12:34 PM in response to Michael2599

I wouldn't say there is anything charming about repeating last function, but as someone who works with spreadsheets all day long I would say it is very useful.

For example, if you delete a row. Want to move down a couple rows and delete this row move down and delete that row....etc. I don't see how to do that quickly. I can't even find a shortcut for doing this much less just repeating what I did a second ago.

I am sure I will eventually figure out Numbers, but all my employees are having none of it for productivity issues.

Thanks again for your help!
Mike

Mar 25, 2011 2:03 PM in response to Michael2599

Mike,

In this particular case, I would go to System Preferences and set an Application Shortcut for Numbers and assign a shortcut for Delete Row.

I just did this and assigned COMMAND-1 to Delete Row and it's a pretty easy combination.

Go to System Preference > Hardware > Keyboard > Keyboard Shortcuts. Select Application Shortcuts from the list on the left. Click the plus sign to add a shortcut, in the right pane, select the Numbers Application, type "Delete Row" in the Menu Title field and type your shortcut into the Keyboard Shortcut field.

Jerry

Mar 26, 2011 10:51 PM in response to Michael2599

Michael2599 wrote:
Is there a repeat function shortcut in Numbers?

For instance, if I insert a row and then want to move down a couple of rows and insert another, is there a shortcut key? Or do you have to use the mouse and table menu?


Hi Michael,

Although I can see where 'repeat action' might be a useful addition in some cases, 'Insert row' is not one of them. Insert row may already be accomplished with a simple key combination—option-down arrow (to insert below the selected row) or option-up arrow (to insert above the selected row). Not much would be gained by substituting a 'repeat last action' keyboard command.

For your second example, Delete Row, Jerry's suggestion is an example of creating a personal application specific keyboard shortcut. Such a shortcut can be created for any top level menu item for which a shortcut does not already exist, using the method outlined in Jerry's post. Restriction: you can't use a keypress combination that has already been defined.

Regards,
Barry

Repeat Function Key (F4 in Excel)

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