As you may know, I’m a bit of a keyboard kinda guy. If I can find a way to type a command, instead of mousing it, I’ll do it. Well, with the advent of the 104 key keyboard back in Sept of 1994, when Microsoft upgraded the standard 101 key keyboard, a few new keys were added…but no one pointed them out: two Windows keys and a single Menu key. We’re going to cover the Menu key in this post, but don’t worry, we’ll cover the Windows key in a later one.
Usually found a bit to the right of the space bar, there is a new key that is rather useful—the Context Menu key. It’s supposed to look like a little drop-down menu, a box with horizontal lines on it. Sometimes it has an arrow on it (like the picture), but some keyboards have a different version with no arrow.
When you type that key, you get the same thing as if you right-click* the mouse—a menu that changes every time depending on where the focus is. I haven’t found much use for it when I’m writing (in Word), because mostly I’m just typing copy, but when I’m analysing data (in Excel), it gets used quite a bit. Just a quick ‘shift-space menu-i’ will insert a whole row, and ‘ctrl-space menu-d’ will delete a column. Quick and easy.
It may be a bit awkward at first…having to reach down past the “?” key…but you’ll probably find that the more you use it, the more you’ll find other ways to make it work better for you. If you’re curious, just tap it whenever you might be reaching for the mouse. The command you want might be right there waiting for you.
*When I say “right-click” I’m showing a prejudice. I’ve had to support many engineers who were left handed, so for them a “right-click” involves clicking on the left button of the mouse. Unfortunately, they’ve gotten used to everything being backwards, but I just want to acknowledge the difference. Thanks!