Using the Tab key for keyboard shortcut
Thread poster: Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
Jan 6, 2016

I would like to use the Tab key to switch between source and target segments. Is this possible? So far I'm not having any luck hitting the Tab key in the shortcut editor because it tabs to the next field...

Regards
Dan


 
Emma Goldsmith
Emma Goldsmith  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 16:20
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
F6 Jan 6, 2016

Try F6 instead.

In Studio the tab key works as it does in Word, i.e., it inserts a tab space. That's why you can't assign it as a keyboard shortcut. I find the tab space very useful and miss it in other CAT tools.


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Thank you, but unfortunately... Jan 6, 2016

Emma Goldsmith wrote:
Try F6 instead.

...F6 still doesn't come naturally to me after a year of Studio use.

In every other application I use - Word, Emacs, Excel, Powerpoint etc. - the tab key either tabs or moves the cursor to a different field or control. So, when I want to flip-flop between source and segment that's what I automatically go for - not to mention that the tab key is easier to reach than the F6 key on my keyboard.

Obviously if I needed to insert tabs a lot I wouldn't remap the tab key but for my documents I don't seem to need tab insertion at all.

If SDL really doesn't allow remapping of tab then it's forcing users to accept some pretty idiosyncratic behavior, which would be disappointing. Maybe Paul or Steve can comment.

Regards
Dan


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Workaround Jan 6, 2016

Dan Lucas wrote:
I would like to use the Tab key to switch between source and target segments.

I used PowerPro to map the tab key to F6 only when a window with a caption containing "SDL Trados" is in the foreground.

A kludge, but needs must where the devil drives an' all that.

Dan


 
Emma Goldsmith
Emma Goldsmith  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 16:20
Member (2004)
Spanish to English
Idiosyncrasy? Jan 6, 2016

I find Studio tab behaviour logical not idiosyncratic: it adds a tab space, just as Word does.

Anyway, thanks for posting your workaround, Dan. I hadn't heard of PowerPro before. It looks very interesting.


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
True enough Jan 6, 2016

Emma Goldsmith wrote:
I find Studio tab behaviour logical not idiosyncratic: it adds a tab space, just as Word does.

Actually, that's a fair point. Maybe it's not idiosyncratic as I was perhaps fixating on the slightly different use-case of tabbing between controls using the tab key. But I would still like to change the default behavior.

I've been using PowerPro for nearly 20 years. It can do anything. Create buttons, menus, clocks, keyboard shortcuts, timers, even manage windows and do scripting. An amazing utility and completely free.

Dan


 
Walter Blaser
Walter Blaser  Identity Verified
Switzerland
Local time: 16:20
French to German
+ ...
You can map it to CTRL-Tab. Jan 7, 2016

Dan

Studio does not allow you to map this toggle to TAB for the obvious reasons stated in the other posts (this would prevent you from inserting a tab in the text of the segment), but you can map it to CTRL-TAB.

Walter


 
Dan Lucas
Dan Lucas  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:20
Member (2014)
Japanese to English
TOPIC STARTER
Yes and no Jan 7, 2016

Walter Blaser wrote:
but you can map it to CTRL-TAB.

Walter, thanks for the suggestion. I have taken a look and I can indeed do that. I'll stick with the PowerPro tab key remap for now and see how that works.

Dan


 
ckatsidonis
ckatsidonis  Identity Verified
Belgium
Local time: 16:20
English to French
+ ...
Through AutoHotKey Aug 23, 2016

Hi there,

This is an old thread but this tab/F6 thingy is an annoyance to me too so, with AutoHotKey, I remapped the tab key to switch from source to target and vice versa in SDL Trados Studio (I place it in an included SDL.ahk file for more control) with these simple lines of code.


#IfWinActive SDL Trados Studio
tab::
send {F6}
return


I hope it helps someone.

Cheers,

Charl
... See more
Hi there,

This is an old thread but this tab/F6 thingy is an annoyance to me too so, with AutoHotKey, I remapped the tab key to switch from source to target and vice versa in SDL Trados Studio (I place it in an included SDL.ahk file for more control) with these simple lines of code.


#IfWinActive SDL Trados Studio
tab::
send {F6}
return


I hope it helps someone.

Cheers,

Charles
Collapse


 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:20
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
woohoo! Aug 23, 2016

Polymathe Ltd. w it was annoying me too, yeahrote:

Hi there,

This is an old thread but this tab/F6 thingy is an annoyance to me too so, with AutoHotKey, I remapped the tab key to switch from source to target and vice versa in SDL Trados Studio (I place it in an included SDL.ahk file for more control) with these simple lines of code.


#IfWinActive SDL Trados Studio
tab::
send {F6}
return


I hope it helps someone.

Cheers,

Charles


Thanks for that. It was annoying me too (I never, ever need to insert tabs in my texts, but love the speed of tabbing between src and trgt), but I was too lazy to do anything about. I've added your little script to my general AHK script.

For keyboard warriors, tab is simply the best KBS for … tabbing between UI elements.

Michael

[Edited at 2016-08-23 19:50 GMT]


 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:20
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
PS: Aug 23, 2016

Another good one for quickly tabbing between src & trgt = Ctrl+Space, which is what I was using until switching back to my ol' favourite the tab key.

M


 
Michael Beijer
Michael Beijer  Identity Verified
United Kingdom
Local time: 15:20
Member (2009)
Dutch to English
+ ...
keyboard shortcut to insert the actual TAB character when translating Sep 23, 2018

If you remap the tab key to cycle between src + trgt, you may want to create a keyboard shortcut to insert the actual TAB character when translating. Here is mine:


#IfWinActive SDL Trados Studio ; so this script will only work if you are in Studio
tab:: ;click tab key on keyboard
send {F6} ;sendes F6, which is Studio's shortcut to cycle between src+trgt
return

; to insert actual TAB character after changing Tab in Studio t
... See more
If you remap the tab key to cycle between src + trgt, you may want to create a keyboard shortcut to insert the actual TAB character when translating. Here is mine:


#IfWinActive SDL Trados Studio ; so this script will only work if you are in Studio
tab:: ;click tab key on keyboard
send {F6} ;sendes F6, which is Studio's shortcut to cycle between src+trgt
return

; to insert actual TAB character after changing Tab in Studio to cycle between src + trgt
^t:: ;shortcut: Ctrl+t
Send, " " ;insert actual TAB character
Send, {BACKSPACE} ;backspace to delete extra " to the right
Send, {Left} ;click left to move to the left of TAB character
Send, {BACKSPACE} ;backspace to delete extra " to the left
Send, {Right} ;click right to move back to where you started
return
Collapse


 


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Using the Tab key for keyboard shortcut







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