Objectives of this Tutorial
Generally: To select commands from menus and use dialogue boxes.
Specifically: On completion of this section, you will be able to:
- Pull-down menus using both the mouse and keyboard
- Understand the different symbols on a menu
- Cancel out of menus
- Use SpeedKeys
- Understand the elements of a dialogue box
- Move around a dialogue box
- Display toolbars
When you use Windows you work extensively with menus and dialogue boxes. All windows have a Menu bar with a list of available menus. Each menu title contains a list of commands. Where a menu command requires more information before it can be executed, a dialogue box is completed.
Menus
To access commands within a menu, you need to open or pull-down the menu.
Menu bar
To pull-down a menu using the mouse
- Move the mouse pointer to the menu title and click once with the left mouse button
The pull-down menu will be displayed.
Some menu items will display a symbol along side. A tick 
indicates the item can be toggled on or off. For example, the following option 
is turned on. A dot 
indicates a chosen selection. For example, in the screenshot below, the Large Icons option is activated as opposed to Small Icons, List or Details.
An arrow head 
shown following a command indicates a further selection or submenu will be displayed.
To pull-down a menu using the keyboard
You can also use keys to pull-down menus. When you press the Alt key, the first menu (File) on the Menu bar is activated. Notice that one character in each menu is now underlined. This indicates which key is used to access the menu.
- Press the Alt key then press the underlined letter of the desired menu title
For example:
- Press Alt then V to pull-down the View menu
- Select the command required by pressing the appropriate letter on the keyboard
Continued...
