Learn Any Computer Program in 5 Easy Steps -- Step 3 pt 5

So, now we have spent a considerable amount of time looking at the key common menu and toolbar items found in most programs, it is time to take a look at how we use that information to learn our new program.

Navigating the Toolbar -- Pulling it all together

When we are looking at a new program, what are we looking for as we navigate the menu?

First, we want to see what common features are in the menus. Sometimes these things are not in the place where we thought they would be, so this is the time to try to find that out. Also look for the common toolbar buttons to make sure you have an idea of what this program works with.

Next, we want to look through the menus and toolbars for things that we may not be familiar with. If you are not sure what a feature does, go ahead and click on the link. Menu options with an ellipsis (...) will open a dialog box. Menu items with a triangle pointing to the right are sub menus that lead to other options. Be sure and look through all of these as well.

Then, we want to click on a few of the ones that open a dialog box to see what options that dialog box has to offer. At this point, we are not trying to use the dialog boxes, but merely seeing what things can be set as well as try to guess what a feature does. Usually by looking at the name of the feature and the options it controls, we can get a good idea of what that feature is supposed to do.

Finally, as we look through the menu, we are looking for the shortcut keys. These are the things on the right of a command in the menu that says something like CTRL-P or ALT-O. These shortcut keys are keystrokes that we can use from within the document window without having to open a menu. The shortcut keys can save a lot of time navigating the menu when you are working on a project. Note that the common menu items discussed earlier will usually have the same shortcut key combinations as other programs, but as we are looking through the menu, we want to see if any of these common items have a different key combination than we might be used to. Some of the other shortcut keys may be for a feature that you have used in other programs, such as the spell check, but it might have a different shortcut key combination than in the other program you are familiar with.

Now that we know what to look for on the box, how to use the quickstart guide, and have familiarized ourselves with the menu and toolbars, the next step in learning any computer program is to browse the help files. We'll look at doing this next time.