There are lots of things that can only be done effectively with a mouse.  But I started using computers before they came with a mouse so naturally I do as much as possible without taking my fingers off the keys.  That is why I love shortcut keys and mnemonics.  Just about everyone knows Ctrl-C for copy and Ctrl-V for paste, but there are plenty of others.  There are even some that are unique to Crystal Reports, although they aren’t always easy to find.  Here are three ways to find the available shortcut keys in Crystal Reports:

1) Click a word like “Edit” on the main menu. The menu drop-down will show you any available key shortcuts on the right of each menu option.  Not all menu items have a shortcut.

2) The buttons on the main toolbars have tool-tips to explain which feature is tied to each button.  The tool-tips appear when your mouse is over each button.  Starting in v11 and v12 the tool tips will also show you the keystroke shortcut for that feature, if one exists.

3) Within the formula editor you also get tool tips when you “mouse over” a toolbar button, like the binoculars.  A tool tip will appear with a shortcut key combination (if one exists).  For instance hitting Alt-S will save the formula without exiting the editor, and Alt-C will check the current formula for syntax errors.

Similar to shortcuts are things called mnemonics.  These are the underlined letters in each menu item.  To use these you click the ALT key to activate the menu and then hit the underlined letters in the correct sequence.  For instance if you select a row of objects on the report you can click  Alt / A / L / B .  This takes you to Format / Align / Bottoms which will align the bottom of all of the objects to the one that has the focus.  Unfortunately one of my favorite mnemonics,  the one for same size (Alt/A/I ) hasn’t worked since version 10 due to a bug.