Microsoft is considering adding a dedicated Office key to keyboards. The new key would provide additional keyboard shortcuts for Office apps, including the ability to quickly share documents and files. Microsoft has been conducting a survey with testers of the Office key, spotted by WalkingCat, and is getting feedback on how the dedicated key operates.
Microsoft appears to suggest the key will replace the secondary Windows key on the right-hand side of a keyboard, or the dedicated menu key. Microsoft’s survey, which requires a work or school Microsoft account to access, includes questions around Office key shortcuts, and asks whether testers would like to see this dedicated key on laptops. Microsoft appears to be testing the concept with its latest Windows 10 May 2019 Update.
How about we all collectively decide not to do this? The Windows key is an affront enough as it is, and I really don’t want OEMs to be strong-armed into adding another annoying, useless, user-hostile key that accidentally takes you out of games and other fullscreen applications and that is entirely useless on non-Windows operating systems.
Just, no.
I’d be willing to consider a replacement for the right win key, but not the menu key. That is one of the most useful non-character keys. I can imagine someone living 70 years without using F9 or pause/break, but someone who does not use the menu key is computer-illiterate in my book.
I disagree. My keyboard (Monterey K104) has neither a Windows nor a menu key and while I remapped caps lock to super/Windows, I never cared a bit about the menu key.
Okay, then i am a computer-illiterate in your book, i have absolutely no idea what to use it for. My only real usages for the win key is is win-l and sometimes win-m. Or maybe you generalize your own way of using computers a bit much
The menu-key is basically the same as right-clicking on the mouse. Really useful indeed.
And there are many WinKey usages that I love and that many people could benefit from. Here are my favorites:
Win+E (Explorer)
Win+X (“System” menu). Often used like Win+X,D for Device Manager, Win+X, C for a Command Prompt, Win+X, A for and Admin Command Prompt, etc
Win+Tab (tab/desktop switching)
Win+Arrow-Keys (split-window)
Win+P (multi-screen management)
Win+K (connecting to Miracast for presentations or movienight)
Win+1-0 (opens the matching pinned apps)
Win+I (Settings)
Win++- (Magnifier)
Forgot an important one: WinKey+Spacebar to change between keyboards. I normally have 3 keyboards, 1 for typing regular text so ‘e becomes é, one for programming, so ‘e becomes ‘e and a Japanese one
FYI,
SHIFT+F10
usually is equivalent to menu-key (the exception being where shift+menu key would be needed, or where “shift” changes behaviour for what you’re trying to bring up the menu for)
I use that more than menu key as I sometimes use 101 key keyboards
“The Windows key is an affront enough as it is, and I really don’t want OEMs to be strong-armed into adding another annoying, useless, user-hostile key that accidentally takes you out of games and other fullscreen applications and that is entirely useless on non-Windows operating systems.
Just, no.”
90% of the desktops and laptops in the world run Windows. You may not like that, but this is a fact. If you look at the people using computers to do actual work, this percentage probably goes up to 95%. If you want to play games, get a Nintendo switch and leave the adults alone so they can work.
If you are so hard on numbers and percents, can you tell, please, how many of those people actually use the Windows Key?
Doesn’t literally everyone use the Windows key to open the Start Menu and start programs?
To start Word: Winkey, type wo, Enter
To start Chrome: Winkey, type ch, Enter
Doesn’t literally every business user use Win+L to lock his computer?
Of course it is possible to avoid the Windows Key and use the mouse, but the Windows key is one of the most useful keys nowadays
Should MS be using that dominance in OSes to push further its office platform however? That’s pretty much what it got in a lot of trouble for several times with browsers after all.
I don’t care what it’s called, but another alt/ctrl/command/option/super/hyper/meta/etc key would be useful. I’m sure microsoft will push hard for “Office key” though
as long as it doesn’t automatically launch something. I use the windows key all the time, but everytime i hit it by accident, I curse MS to the depths of Heck, to be punished by Jeff, the Dim Lord Himself.
Why on earth would another key be useful? Or, you know if you need such functionality buy one of the gaming keyboards that have programmable macro keys. I have a Roccat RYOS MK Pro and it has 5 M1-5 keys on the left side that’d be perfect for any crazy thing you’d like to have a keyboard shortcut to.
Also, MOST keyboards these days don’t have a Right windows key anymore, they’ve all been replaced by Fn keys for laptops/the media keys. I know this because I was attempting to find a USB keyboard for my Amiga, which would use the Right Windows key for the Right Amiga key, so that screws up that idea, because so many no longer have the key.
Space cadet keyboard (Lisp machine).
Sun Microsystems keyboards.
Apollo Workstation keyboards.
Search for them, see the pattern, be enlightened.
or any machine which used APL
It would be mostly useful in making shortcuts less confusing, mostly for shortcuts which use multiple shifter keys (ctrl-alt, shift-win, shift-alt, ctrl-alt-shift, etc), but also for adding shortcuts to functions which don’t traditionally have shortcuts, because there aren’t enough keys on a keyboard for everything. and also, I use a heavily modified US International layout, and still find it constraining at times, forcing me to use babelmap (charmap on steroids) if I need something that should be simple. another layer of characters would be very nice.
also, i’m pretty sure left and right win-keys are mapped as the same key, whereas left and right ctrl are separate. don’t quote me on that, though.
Control-Option-Command
Just saying……………..special keys have been part of systems from the days of yore!
Pretty sure Ubuntu let me use the Windows key to bring up the application menu. I don’t think it’s useless, it’s probably just your OSes trying to take some sort of moral high ground instead of just mapping it to something.
They can use the Caps Lock key. It has been totally useless for many years, is oversized and always in the way and I constantly have to take care not to accidentally press it when aiming at Tab with the little finger.
And don’t get me started on the Num Lock key, which is there to switch the number block to cursor mode for those keyboards that don’t have cursor keys.
Disable that Caps Lock key man –> https://johnhaller.com/useful-stuff/disable-caps-lock
Don’t get me started, there is a whole generation of people out there that think all caps is the normal way to type everything. One person I deal with thinks COURIER ALL CAPS is the only font in existence, I’m sure they would work on a fluorescent tube display if they could, I like to reply to that persons email using a script font!
Can we put a vendor neutral symbol on it? A semi-3d square is not something I’m looking forward to see on my future keyboards.
Agreed. It should be called the “OS” key, not the Windows key.
> and that is entirely useless on non-Windows operating systems.
Um, no. The Windows key is _not_ in any way, shape, or form completely useless on other operating systems. Linux (and I think BSD too) maps it to Super in most keyboard layouts, and most DE’s have at least a few mappings these days that use it (and because it gets mapped to a standard modifier key, you can use it in whatever custom hot-key mappings you want). There are actually almost half a dozen other modifier keys that have no mapping on most keyboards too (blame MIT and their Space-Cadet Keyboard for this fact), so any new key will end up mapped to one of those (probably Hyper).
The bigger issue here isn’t the desire for a new modifier key (I would love to have an extra one to work with on Linux), it’s that MS thinks that adding a new modifier key is a better idea than letting people set up custom hot-keys. The only reason they need to even consider adding a new modifier so they can have hot-keys for certain functions is because the people who want hot-keys for those functions can’t just remap hot-keys they never use to cover those functions.
I don’t have a problem with the key but that it has the Windows logo on it.
Do as I did on my last laptop: buy a Iphone 4 metallic home button sticker and cover the Windows logo. For the laptop there may be some work on sanding it thin enough not to scratch the screen but for a desktop with flat-ish keytops it’s plug and play.
Why do you think Microsoft doesn’t allow you to set up custom hot-keys? https://support.office.com/en-us/article/customize-keyboard-shortcuts-9a92343e-a781-4d5a-92f1-0f32e3ba5b4d
for office, sure, but not windows
I was a bit surprised by that too, especially knowing that Thom’s a BeOS/Haiku and that OS made/makes heavy use of the meta (Windows) key for its keyboard shortcuts.