PDF - highlight text with keyboard

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This post shows how to highlight selected text in Adobe Acrobat using just the keyboard, after you select text with the keyboard.

In Adobe Acrobat 8 Professional and other versions of Acrobat, you can highlight text using the Highlight Text tool by selecting the tool, then dragging the cursor over the desired text using the mouse.

Not good enough for me. I don't want to highlight text with the mouse, I want to select text with the keyboard, then use a keyboard shortcut or hotkey to highlight the selected text.

I tried selecting text first with the keyboard (using the Select Tool and the usual Shift keyboard shortcuts), then clicking on the Highlight Text tool, but that didn't work to highlight the selected text.

The secret workaround? After selecting text with the keyboard (by holding down the Shift key then using the arrow keys, End, Home, PageUp, PageDown etc to navigate in the usual way):

• rightclick the selected text or
• use the Windows key for the rightclick context menu (usually to the immediate left of the right Ctrl key on the keyboard), or
• press Shift+F10 (ie while holding down the Shift key press and release the F10 key)

This brings up a context menu which, aha, allows you to  highlight the pre-selected text with the h key. In other words, to highlight text using only the keyboard in a PDF: select text with the keyboard, press the context menu key or Shift+F10, then press h, and voila!

Unfortunately sometimes (not always) the Select tool that lets you select text with the keyboard may vanish or turn into the Hand tool. To get the Select tool back again using the keyboard, try pressing the Esc key, or either press e (quickest, but sometimes inserts the letter e instead!) or press the context menu key or Shift+10 again and then press e. As usual, Ctrl+z is the "undo" hotkey combo, and tapping the Esc key after pressing the e helps if you find it's adding text rather then selecting them or moving the cursor when you try to use the keyboard.

This tip might seem obvious to some but it escaped me for ages, so I thought it was worth blogging this.

Stop Word from reducing all windows!

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Too many times, when I want to close the current window in Word, I accidentally hit Alt-F5 (instead of Alt-F4) which means it then 'restores', ie reduces the size of all my open Word documents. Every single one of them. I then have to maximise them one by one, individually going to each window first. This is a big annoyance as there is no single command to 'Maximize all windows' in Word, as far as I can find. What a pain.

My solution or workaround, short of finding a way to maximise all Word document windows together at once in one go, is this fix: simply disable the Alt F5 hotkey! Then it does nothing if you hit that combo inadvertently, instead of reducing all your Word windows to tiny unusable ones.

Here's how to disable that hotkey.

1. In Word, rightclick an empty spot in the toolbar and choose "Customize the Ribbon".
2. Towards the bottom against "Keyboard shortcuts", click the "Customize" button (outlined in red below):
3. Now on the left under Categories, scroll down to highlight "All commands":
4. Then click in "Commands" at the top right, and scroll down to find and highlight "App Restore".
5. Under "Current keys" (outlined in red above) it should now show "Alt+F5".
6. Click on the line that says "Alt+F5", then click the button (also outlined in red, above) saying "Remove".
7. Then click the "Close" button.
8. Then "OK".
9. That should be it, you should be rid of this nuisance!

Google Nexus 7 - how to use with Bluetooth keyboard (iGo Stowaway Ultra Slim Think Outside)

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The Google / Asus Nexus 7 tablet is far more than just an Amazon Kindle Fire competitor. It works well with a Bluetooth keyboard too, making it an ideal computing device for working on the move if you're a business user who finds a laptop or even iPad too heavy to be truly portable (eg if you have a bad back). See the end of this post for the weight comparisons.

How to pair the Nexus 7 with a Bluetooth keyboard

First here's a video demo of using Bluetooth keyboard with Google Drive on Nexus 7; instructions on pairing are below:

Below are step by step instructions on how to pair the Nexus 7 with a Bluetooth keyboard  - in my case, an ancient iGo Stowaway Ultra Slim Think Outside keyboard, sadly now discontinued - originally bought for use with the Nokia N95 smartphone, it's that old!

1. Make the keyboard discoverable - with the Stowaway, you hold down at the same time the Ctrl, left Fn (blue) and right Fn (green) keys. A green light will flash slowly above the T button to confirm it's working.
2. On the Nexus 7 go into the Settings (swipe down from the top and tap the Settings icon):
   
   
3. In the Settings screen, in the "Wireless and Networks" section, slide the Bluetooth switch from "OFF" to "ON".
   
   
4. You'll see a blue On button against "Bluetooth", as well as the Bluetooth icon showing at the top right of the screen. Now, tap on the word "Bluetooth" (in the list on the left under "Wireless and Networks"), and you'll get the following screen. Tap "Search for Devices" at the top right.
   
   
5. Under "Available devices", your keyboard's name should appear. Tap its name.
6. The Nexus 7 should pop up a message with a 4-digit numeric code to enter on your keyboard.
7. On your keyboard, enter the 4-digit code given, and hit the Enter key.
8. They should now be paired, and you should be able to use the keyboard with Nexus 7 apps. Type away!
   
   
9. Tip: get a Bluetooth widget like the free Bluetooth OnOff so you can turn Bluetooth on and off quickly from your Home screen with one tap. (Obviously turning it off will save power when you're not using Bluetooth).

Why buy a Nexus 7 for portable working?

Just compare these weights:

1. Nexus 7 (just 340 g) + iGo Stowaway Ultra Slim full-sized folding Bluetooth keyboard (160 g)
   = only 500 g.
2. iPad 2 = 590 g - ie heavier than the above two items combined. Unfortunately the new iPad is even heavier, at 652 g.
3. Microsoft's planned Surface tablet with built-in keyboard = 676 g for the lighter version (from the specifications).

So, it's the Nexus 7 for me, until someone produces a modern clamshell Psion 5mx with wi-fi and colour screen - my #1 wishlist item, it's still the best portable computer of all time, only 354 g including full touch-typable keyboard and batteries, and decent sized screen with zoom!

I strongly feel there's still a massive gap in the market for light, small form factor, full computers (my biggest gadget beef).

Weight, the first thing I check in specs, rarely gets mentioned in reviews, but it's an issue for some women, youngsters, and people with back problems who just can't physically carry around laptops, notebooks or even netbooks.

So it's heartening that it's not just me - the techie likes of certain Slashdot readers also consider size/weight first when buying a portable computer.