Entering Dates Using Keyboard Shortcuts

Summary

The information in this article applies to LIMS 1.x and Access 2.0.

There are several keyboard shortcut techniques available when entering dates in LIMS. These include the standard Windows cut, copy, and paste commands and Access and LIMS shortcuts.

More Information

Use any of the following techniques to speed entry of dates in M\LIMS:

1. Use the Ctrl-D shortcut to insert the current date in a date field only. The Access Ctrl-; (semicolon) shortcut will insert the current date in any field that does not use an input mask. Since all LIMS date fields use a “Short Date” input mask you must use Ctrl-D to insert the current date in these fields.

2. When entering repetitive dates in consecutive records, use the Access Ctrl-‘ (single quote) or Ctrl-” (double quote) shortcut to insert the value from the previous record.

3. When entering a repetitive date in non-consecutive records, the Windows copy (Ctrl-C) and paste (Ctrl-V) commands can be used. To work properly in date fields, however, the date copied to the clipboard must be in 2-digit MM/DD/YY format using leading zeros where necessary. For example, copying “8/5/97” to the clipboard will fail when attempting to paste into a date field. To successfully paste, copy “08/05/97” to the clipboard.