We are all, I’m sure, familiar with Command-X for Cut, Command-C for Copy, and Command-V for Paste.

But for me it’s the pasting that’s annoying and particularly so when I’m using my writing software, the excellent Scrivener.

Obviously Scrivener uses the system-wide shortcut of Command-V, but 95% of the time, all I want to do is copy the actual text into Scrivener; I’m not interested in fancy styles – I just want the bloody TEXT!

This can be done by using the much lesser known shortcut of ‘Paste and Match Style’ (Shift-Option-Command-V) which will paste the text into your document and but crucially match the style of the document you are in, ignoring all the originally used styles in the text.

Great, but how on earth do I remember Shift-Option-Command-V?

Or was it Function-Command-Shift-V.

Ermmmmmmm, Shift-Control?

Well, naturally I can’t.

The odd thing is, the much simpler shortcut of Shift-Command-V doesn’t appear to be used at all, at least in text programs, so I devised a plan – then I just went the whole hog and sorted my problem out once and for all.

And now, since most of the time I’m pasting and matching the style, I type Command-V; and when on the odd occasion I do need to copy the styles too, I type Shift-Command-V.

Simple.

Want to know how?

Easy.

Apple>System Preferences…>Keyboard & Mouse>Keyboard Short Cuts.

Scroll down and select Application Keyboard Shortcuts at the bottom under the dividing line, then click the + below to add a new shortcut.

In the drop-down box that drops down (lol), leave All Applications or, if you are at all concerned about the effect of these changes on your other software, select the applications you wish to make use of these new pasting shortcuts.

Now type “Paste and Match Style” as the Menu Title making sure it is typed exactly as this, and then type the keyboard shortcut, Command-V, in the next box.

We’ve now assigned Command-V to the original menu item ‘Paste and Match Style’, effectively removing ‘Paste’ from the menu, so next just repeat the process using “Paste” and the shortcut Shift-Command-V to return it to the menu with the new keyboard shortcut.

Voilà, as they say in France.

I hope you find this as useful in you writing exploits as I have in mine.

I just downloaded some demo invoicing software from Apple so I can do invoices on my lovely Mac.

Sadly, the software, although brilliant, isn’t quite right for me since I need to bill by the day when invoicing my hospitality management work, and not by the hour.

I emailed the developer on the other side of the world via the contact form on their website to say why I couldn’t make use the software – having mastered it in just a couple of minutes because it is well written and designed with excellent video tutorials on how to use it.

I had an email back less than 5 minutes later thanking me for my comments and saying my requests had been added to the to-do list.

Definitely going to be buying that piece of software when it’s upgraded!

Well here I am, bloging for real!

I’m sat in the Goldsworth Park Surgery as Rich visits his GP. There is a little three year old boy sat next to me reading his Richard Scarry book and I’m typing away in my WordPressDash Widget.

I should be working since I was in the middle of my Nuffield homework, but as soon as I sat down here and woke up my Mac it asked if I wanted to join a local wireless network called SpeedtouchC68C80.

Assuming it would ask for a password, I clicked ‘join’ just for the fun of it. And now I’m online wirelessly in my Doctors Surgery. No password needed!

So there you go. My MacBook’s first outing and my first blog post from the Doctor’s!

Oh well, back to the homework!

Well, Ive just installed a new widget on my dashboard. No, not in my car – on my MacBook!

This little widget called WordPressDash allows me to post to my blog direct from my dashboard.

Bloody brilliant!

Yippeeee!! I have a MacBook! Ordered it online and UPS delivered it at lunch time.

Now with my 10Mb broadband (well about 9.5 actually but what’s half a meg between friends!) I can do things like watch Erasure videos on YouTube!

Finally, at long last, having saved up my pennies for well over a year, if not more, I’ve caught up with the real world! So Steve, if your reading this out in Amsterdam, thanks mate! Should have bought one years ago! (Fancy an iChat then?)

I knew my Mac would be good, but had no idea how good! It’s just brilliant! I’ve only been playing for a couple of hours, and it’s great. I’m sat on the roof terrace in the sunshine wirelessly blogging and I’m doing just fine. I’ve even worked out how to get my searches in Safari using Google.co.uk and not the default .com (For anyone interested, download and install Inquistor, select Safari>Preferences>Search and then set your preferred search engine from the rather extensive list – Google UK is right at the bottom.)

Sorry to sound so excited, but I really am! My 10 year old Dell Laptop (no battery) was only being used to print with, and my RISC OS desktop is not up to much anymore though I’m sure I’ll still use it – if only occasionally.

Well, I can’t sit here blogging, I’m half way through my Nuffield homework (we’ve been doing the senses) and it’s due tomorrow!