Sep

13

Keyboard Shortcuts

Filed Under Bento Tips 

Although Bento offers quite a few keyboard shortcuts you can actually customise them and add your own. A recent post in the Bento Forums asked if it were possible to switch between table and form views and this is a perfect example of where this customisation comes in handy.The first step is to open System Preferences. You may have it in your Dock but it is also always available from the  menu:

keyboard_shortcuts_01-1.png

Then choose Keyboard & Mouse and then the Keyboard Shortcuts tab. Towards the bottom you will see plus and minus buttons which allow you to add and delete shortcuts.

Click on the plus button:


Adding a new menu shortcut

Click for a Larger View

In the panel which appears you should select Bento as the application which you will apply the shortcut to, enter the name of the menu command you want to create the shortcut for and then enter the key combination you want to use.

In the example below the shortcut ⇧⌥1 is used to select the Table View menu item:

System Preferences.png

The result is shown below:


The Table View shortcut defined

Click for a Larger View

If the menu command is a sub-menu item simply type the menu item name and ignore the parent item. For example, referring to the screenshot above, to switch to the form called ‘Summary’ the following settings would be defined:

System Preferences-1.png

Note: This tip applies to all OS X application, not just Bento.

Comments

13 Responses to “Keyboard Shortcuts”

  1. Fred Amundsen on September 13th, 2008 9:02 pm

    Many thanks for the tip on setting keyboard shortcuts.

    I usually display both source and records, and I found that the table shortcut always worked nicely, but the selected overview or details forms didn’t always work for me.

    I found that  setting up a keyboard shortcut for the View/Form menu category. then I could always get the shortcut for the overview or details page to display by  first pressing the keyboard shortcut to the Form category.

    Or is another way to resolve this issue?

  2. Simon on September 13th, 2008 9:23 pm

    I’ve just tried setting up a shortcut key for the View -> Form menu item rather than setting one up for a particular form view and didn’t get anywhere so I think that it will only work properly if a particular named view has a shortcut. Obviously this means a bit of extra maintenance unless you name all of your forms the same in all of your libraries. However you can at least assign the same shortcut key combination more than once so if you have one library whose first form view is called Overview you can create a shortcut of, say, ⇧⌥2 for that and use the same combination for a form view called, for example, Detail, in another library.

  3. Fred Amundsen on September 13th, 2008 9:40 pm

    Yes, that’s what I’ve done. For the few libraries that I need shortcuts, I have assigned the same shortcut keys and have named the forms the same way, and I use the View/Form shortcut only when needed.

  4. Jason Ropp on October 16th, 2008 6:21 pm

    cool.. this tip will actually help me create shortcuts for all my apps!!! I did not know one could do this as part of Mac’s system… I have always loved Mac… now I have one more reason to love it!
    Thanks… and BTW…I love using Bento as well… maybe upgrade discounts for existing users would be nice.
    ~Jason

  5. Simon on October 16th, 2008 7:17 pm

    Hi Jason and thank you for your kind comments.

    I don’t think you’re alone wishing for a discounted upgrade price!

  6. Jose on October 16th, 2008 8:08 pm

    I would have love to receive upgrade discounts for existing users. It would have been a nice thanks from Bento

  7. Nancy Olson on October 17th, 2008 12:12 am

    I just purchased the original Bento in August and now with Bento 2, I feel a bit disappointed that in order to upgrade I have to pay (again!). I think Apple can do a bit better than that.

  8. Leo on October 17th, 2008 7:26 am

    I agree that a discounted upgrade wold have made more sense especially since Bento 1 is not that old and so we had to spend double the money to get to Bento 2 from those that just bought BEnto 2 and not Bento 1.

    I too love Bento 2 it is so much eaiser to use than bento1 and I am using much more often already.

  9. Jim Shortell on October 19th, 2008 6:31 pm

    C’mon, I’ve just bought Bento 1 and now they want full price again?? I don’t think that is fair or good business sense.

  10. Norma N. on November 1st, 2008 4:47 am

    I agree. Upgrade to Bento 2 should be discounted for Bento 1 users.

    I am using the trial version of Bento 2. Can we get the Libraries (and Fields) panel to disappear and reappear? When working in a particular Library, it is nice to have a wider view of the library.

  11. Simon on November 1st, 2008 3:32 pm

    Sure, from the View menu select ‘Hide Libraries & Fields Pane’

  12. Tom on November 18th, 2008 8:45 pm

    I have used FileMaker Pro for a long time (FileMaker Pro 2). And I have FP9 now. My question is would Bento2 give me any advantages. Since I’m retired and money is getting short. I am planning to cut down on upgrading many of my applications. But if you think Bento2 is worthwhile I might get it.

    Thanks for your info. Tom

  13. Simon on November 18th, 2008 10:22 pm

    Hi Tom. I think I’d suggest you stick with FileMaker Pro. Bento is very good but I imagine that as a FMP user you will find it limiting in silly areas and it will just frustrate you. However, it is probably worth downloading the trial version and having a play if you haven’t done so already.

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