If you have recently upgraded to Windows Live Essentials 2011 version, you may be baffled by the new interface. Programs such as Windows Live mail and Windows Live Writer now feature the "ribbon" design menus, instead of the familiar pull-down style menus. If you use a screen reader such as Zoomtext, you may have already found the new design to be frustrating. Below is a list of hotkeys, taken directly from the WLW site, which will prove useful when you transition to the newest version.
I have already discovered a hotkey combination that directly conflicts with one of the Zoomtext hotkey combinations. It is the "set categories" shortcut, CTRL+SHFT+C. A half-dozen or so of my blog posts were published without appropriate categories, because I was unable to figure out how to add or set categories in the new Live Writer version. Each time I chose the hotkeys to do this, Zoomtext enabled the "color enhancements" feature. This conflict made it impossible to add categories to my posts, which disorganized my blog. To disable this particular hotkey group in Zoomtext, invoke the zoomtext user interface, select the settings menu, then select hotkeys. the default selection in the hotkeys menu is "all hotkeys." Simply scroll down to the color enhancements menu item and then tab to the "disable hotkey" button. If you wish to retain the color enhancements toggle, you can easily reassign a modifier key so as to avoid conflicts.
In the list that follows, I marked the hotkey conflict with an "*." If you find others, please submit a comment.
Windows Live Writer keyboard shortcuts:
Create a new post
Ctrl+N
Create new page
Ctrl+G
Open a post
Ctrl+O
Save a post
Ctrl+S
Publish a post
Ctrl+Shift+P
Post draft to blog
Ctrl+Shift+D
Insert hyperlink
Ctrl+K
Add picture from computer
Ctrl+J
Add picture from the web
Ctrl+Shift+J
See post properties
F2
Set categories*
Ctrl+Shift+C
Update blog theme
Ctrl+F11
Change to edit view
F11
Change to preview view
F12
Change to source view
Shift+F11
Text formatting shortcuts
Bold
Ctrl+B
Italicize
Ctrl+I
Strikethrough
Ctrl+H
Underline
Ctrl+U
Subscript
Ctrl+=
Superscript
Ctrl+Shift+=
Bullets
Ctrl+Shift+L
Clear formatting
Ctrl+Space
Center text
Ctrl+E
Align text left
Ctrl+L
Align text right
Ctrl+R
New paragraph
Ctrl+Shift+N
Heading 1
Ctrl+Left Alt+1
Heading 2
Ctrl+Left Alt+2
Heading 3
Ctrl+Left Alt+3
Heading 4
Ctrl+Left Alt+4
Heading 5
Ctrl+Left Alt+5
Heading 6
Ctrl+Left Alt+6
Set text direction from left to right
(Only available in RTL mode)
Ctrl+Left Shift
Set text direction from right to left
(Only available in RTL mode)
Ctrl+Right Shift
General shortcuts
Cut
Ctrl+X
Copy
Ctrl+C
Paste
Ctrl+V
Paste special
Ctrl+Left Alt+V
Select all
Ctrl+A
Find
Ctrl+F
Undo
Ctrl+Z
Redo
Ctrl+Y
Ctrl+P
Show or hide ribbon
Ctrl+F1
Get Help for Writer
F1
Happy blogging…
LL