MegaDots 2.3 Command Summary

MegaDots Documentation

The Start Menu has a Group called Duxbury. Press Control-Esc P then enough D's until the highlight is on Duxbury. Click on MegaDots Documentation.

MegaDots documentation is also available through the MegaDots installation CD-ROM.

The Most Important Keys in MegaDots

• F1 - help (use anywhere).
• F1 F1 - help on how the prompts work in the current type of screen.
• Alt-X - exit MegaDots (use anywhere).
• Alt-W - switch between WYSIWYG and Show format markup in the Editor.
• Alt-Scroll Lock - switch between regular keyboard and braille SDF-JKL keyboard (use anywhere).
• F10 - from the Editor go to the top menu bar; from anywhere else keep the changes and step back toward the top menu bar.
• F11 - read the MegaDots User Manual, selecting from a list of chapters (from anywhere).
• F12 - read from the MegaDots Reference Manual, selecting from a list of topics (from anywhere). Allows quick incremental search (just start typing the name of the topic to get to the right part of the list).
• Control-E - go back to the Editor from any screen.
• Escape - from anywhere, step back toward the Editor cancelling any changes.
• Control-F10 - go back to the Editor from anywhere, keeping any settings that have been changed.
• Alt-I - Interpret Format Screen
• Control-Z - Zippy Menu, change setting for kind of access, Braille view mode, Markup view mode, margins, etc.
• F2 - in a form, get the list of choices for the current prompt.
• F9 - in a form, get an alphabetized single-column list of the prompts (suggested for use with access technology, allows quick incremental search).
• F7 - print the current help or information screen(s) in inkprint or braille (use for help screens, paragraphs list, styles list, etc.).
• Alt-F10 - temporarily leave MegaDots from anywhere to go to the DOS prompt (type EXIT <Enter> to return to MegaDots).

File Commands in the Editor

• F2 - start a new (empty) document.
• F3 - open or import a document (open means to load into memory a previously saved MegaDots document file; "import" means to take a file in a non-MegaDots format (such as Word or ASCII) into MegaDots.
• Control-F3 - insert doc; open or import another file to be inserted at the cursor position in the current document (use this to combine many files into one larger file).
• F4 - save the current document as a MegaDots file.
• Control-F4 - export the current document into a file for a different software program.
• F5 - translate (if the current document is inkprint, change to braille; if the current document is braille, change to inkprint).
• F6 - close the current document. Close means to purge the document from memory (usually one saves a document using the F4 command before closing it).
• F7 - print a document. Use this option to create braille or inkprint; numerous options are available.
• Control-F7 - print an inkprint document showing markup. This option is useful for sighted proofreaders.
• F8 - switch to next document (when you have more than one document in memory).
• Control-F8 - switch to previous document (when you have more than one document in memory).

Specifying Styles

• Alt-A - all styles
• Alt-B - body styles
• Alt-H - heading styles
• Alt-N - notes styles
• Alt-P - poetry and play styles
• Alt-R - running text styles
• Alt-S - supplemental and preliminary styles
• Alt-T - table and technical styles
• Alt-U - unstyled styles
• Alt-V - start a new paragraph with a variant style

Hierarchy Commands

MegaDots uses the term hierarchy to define paragraphs of the same style but at different levels. For example, a table of contents may have a hierarchy of three levels: the main level, the sub level, and the sub-sub level.

• Alt-left arrow - make the level higher by one (this key combination may not work on some laptops). For example, use this command to turn a Heading level 3 to a Heading level 2.
• Alt-right arrow - make the level lower by one (this key combination may not work on some laptops). For example, use this command to turn a Heading level 2 to a Heading level 3.
• Alt-Home - change to the top level
• Alt-End - change to the bottom level
• Alt-1 - change to the top level (level number 1)
• Alt-2 - change to the sub level (level number 2)
• Alt-3 - change to the sub-sub level (level number 3)
• Alt-# - change to level number #; where # represents a digit

Screen and Keyboard Modes

• Insert - switch between insert and overstrike modes.
• Alt-W - switch between WYSIWYG and Show Format Markup.
• Alt-E - switch on and off Cursor Go Everywhere capability.
• Alt-L - switch on and off Long Lines Wrap.
• Alt-Q - switch on and off Math shortcut data entry
• Control-Z A - set access mode.
• Control-Z D - set the braille display mode.
• Control-Z M - set the amount of markup shown.
• Control-Z P - toggle the proofreading bar.
• Control-Z C - set screen color palette.
• Alt-Scroll Lock - switch between regular keyboard and braille 6-key SDF-JKL keyboard (also known as Perkins keyboard).

Cursor Movement

• Control-Home - go to the top of the document; reset the document in the event of minor software glitches.
• Control-End - go to the end of the document.
• Home - go to the beginning of the line.
• End - go to the end of the line.
• Control-Delete - delete to the end of the word.
• Control-Backspace - delete to the beginning of the word.
• Control-Left Arrow - go back one word.
• Control-Right Arrow - go forward one word.
• Control-Up Arrow - go back one sentence.
• Control-Down Arrow - go forward one sentence.
• Alt-Up Arrow - go back one paragraph.
• Alt-Down Arrow - go forward one paragraph.
• Page Up (PgUp) - move back one screen's worth.
• Page Down (PgDn) - move forward one screen's worth.
• Control-PgUp - move back one output (WYSIWYG only).
• Control-PgDn - move forward one output page (WYSIWYG only).
• Control-J - jump to (go to other parts of the document or to another document).
• Control-J G - jump to a different paragraph (select from a list).
• Control-J D - jump to a different document (select from a list).
• Control-J P - jump to a different page (WYSIWYG only).
• Alt-Z - move by inkprint page indicators and manipulate inkprint page indicators.
• Alt-J - create or use named bookmark.

Find and Replace

• F9 - simple find or simple find and replace.
• Control-F9 - complex find or complex find and replace.
• Alt-F9 - run a existing rules file on the current document.
• Shift-F9 - start a backwards simple find or simple find and replace.
• Control-Shift-F9 - start a backwards complex find or complex find and replace.
• Control-G - global replace; requires F9 (Control and Shift optional) to define find and replace strings.
• Control-L - find Last (previous); requires F9 (Control and Shift optional) to define the find string.
• Control-N - find Next; requires F9 (Control and Shift optional) to define the find string.
• Control-Y - yes, execute the replacement; requires F9 (Control and Shift optional) to define the find and replace strings.

Clipboard and Editing

• Control-X - start marking a block (start highlighting text); if you press Control-X to mark a block, a second Control-X cancels the block marking. Blocks can also be marked with the mouse.
• Shift-Control-X - start marking and holding a block (like Control-X except that performing a command on the held block does not cancel the block marking); press Shift-Control-X again to cancel.
• Control-C - copy the marked block to the clipboard.
• Control-D - delete the marked block.
• Control-K - "kut" the marked block (copy into the clipboard and delete from the Editor).
• Control-P - paste clipboard (insert the contents of the clipboard at the cursor location).
• Alt-C - append copy; append the marked block to the clipboard.
• Alt-K - append "kut"; append the marked block to the clipboard and then delete from the Editor.
• Control-Z - Zippy Menu, change setting for kind of access, Braille view mode, Markup view mode, margins, etc.
• Enter - start a new paragraph.
• Alt-Enter - start a forced new line within a paragraph. If your Windows system does not allow you to use the Alt-Enter command, an alternative is Control-Ins L F.
• Control-Insert - Insertion menu; a list of various special objects or items to add to the document (special symbols, special lines, new pages, etc.)

Edit Menu

• Control-C - copy text to the clipboard
• Control-D - delete text
• Control-E - go back to the Editor.
• Control-F - format (italics, etc.)
• Control-J - jump to
• Control-K - "Kut" to clipboard
• Control-P - paste clipboard
• Control-R - require (force the use of) a contraction, letter sign, or special symbol
• Control-S - suppress a contraction, letter sign, or special symbol
• Control-T - set translation mode
• Control-V - voice (speak)
• Control-W - where am I?
• Control-Insert - Insert Special Item

Special Characters

• Alt-backslash (\) - accent grave
• Alt-slash (/) - accent acute
• Alt-comma (,) - cedilla
• Alt-period (.) - circle accent
• Alt-caret (^) - circumflex
• Alt-quote (") - diaeresis (umlaut)
• Alt-hyphen (-) - line through letter
• Alt-tilde (~) - tilde accent
• Alt-plus (+) - punctuation symbol
• Alt-dollar sign ($) - currency symbol
• Alt-ampersand (&) - diphthong
• Alt-Star - diacritics menu
• Alt-G - Greek letter
• Control-Insert - insertion menu; a list of various special objects or items to add to the document (special symbols, special lines, new pages, etc.)
• Control-Insert G - guide dots to the end of the line
• Control-Enter - insert inkprint page indicator (use a style sheet which handles textbook braille)
• Control-A - apostrophe (as opposed to single quote mark)
• Control-B - blank character (sticky space, or hard space)
• Control-Q - single quote character (as opposed to an apostrophe)
• Control-U - unbreakable dash (hyphen that does not break lines)
• Control-Hyphen - optional hyphen (i.e. make it legal to divide a word at this point)

File Import Command Line Options

These commands are documented in the File Import chapter of the User Manual

• Source: Each word processor has a code number associated with it. Some of the most common are: ASCII -0101, WordPerfect 5.1 -0701, Microsoft Word 6.0 -0503. Check your Command Summary, or run MEGA /w from the DOS prompt for the entire list of these codes.
• Style selection: -nor (normal), -com (computer program), -ema (email), -let (letter), -mem (memo), -ori (original styles), -poe (poetry), -qui (quiz or exam), -res (restaurant menu), -spa or -same (spacing same), -unsty (unstyled).
• Automatic style sheet selection: -autoss/-noautoss.
• Optical scanner cleanup: -noscan (no scanner cleanup), -scanf (format cleanup), -scant (text cleanup), -scanm (max cleanup).
• Tabs, Print page indicators, Visual boxes and lines, Running headers & footers, Garbled text: -tab/-notab, -pri/-nopri, -vis/-novis, -run/-norun, -gar/-nogar.
• Emphasis: -exc/-noexc (excess), -bol/-nobol (bold), -ita/-noita (italics), -und/-nound (underline), -str/-nostr (strike thru), -rai/-norai (raised or superscript), -low/-nolow (lowered or subscript).
• Courier to Computer Braille Code: -cou (convert text in Courier typeface to CBC) or -nocou (ignore Courier font - this is the default). If you use this option, MegaDots will assume that text in the document is computer-related if and only if it is in Courier font.
• Headings: -h0 (no headings), -h1 (1 level of heading), -h2 (2 levels of heading), etc. Automatic heading setup: -autohead/-noautohead.
• Styles: -bod/-nobod, -cen/-nocen, -dir/-nodir, etc. Just use the first three letters of the style name.
• View Word style names in MegaDots: -seesty/-noseesty.
• Braille/Inkprint: -braille, -inkprint.

File Conversions

The following file conversions are possible built into MegaDots.

• Adobe Acrobat PDF (import only) (9806)
• Ami Professional 1-1, 1-2 (3300)
• Ami Professional 2.0-3.1 (3301)
• ASCII document (0101)
• ASCII line (0100)
• BEX files (import only) (9909)
• Braille 'n Speak file (0108)
• DCA Revisable Form Text (1500)
• DCA/RFT for DisplayWrite 5 (1501)
• DisplayWrite Version 5 (1503)
• DisplayWrite Versions 2-4 (1502)
• Duxbury ASCII file (import only) (9803)
• Duxbury WordPerfect file (import only) (9804)
• Excel 2.1 (2100)
• Excel 3.0 (2101)
• Excel 4.0 (import only) (2102)
• Excel 5.0 (import only) (2104)
• Hot Dots files (import only) (9909)
• HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language) (9906)
• ICADD desktop publisher format (9901)
• ITS RNIB file (import only) (9801)
• LBF linear braille format (export only) (9904)
• Macintosh text file (9903)
• MegaDots 1.4-1.6 file (8900)
• Microbraille (import only) (9908)
• Microsoft Word 3.0, 3.1 (0500)
• Microsoft Word 4.0 (0501)
• Microsoft Word 5.0, 5.5 (0502)
• Microsoft Word 6.0 (0503)
• Microsoft Word For Windows 1.x (4400)
• Microsoft Word For Windows 2.x (4401)
• Microsoft Word For Windows/Mac 6.0-7.0 (4900)
• Microsoft Word Mac 3.0 (Mac) (5400)
• Microsoft Word Mac 4.0 (Mac) (5401)
• Microsoft Word Mac 5.0-5.1 (Mac) (5402)
• Microsoft Works 2.0 DOS (import only) (3900)
• Microsoft Works 3.0 Windows (import only) (3901)
• Multimate 3.3 (1000)
• Multimate 4 (1003)
• Multimate Advantage 3.6 (1001)
• Multimate Advantage II 3.7 (1002)
• PageMaker (import only) (9807)
• PokaDot file format (9905)
• Professional Write Plus (3300)
• Q&A Write 1.0, Q&A 3.0, 4.0 (2300)
• Retain blank lines (9903)
• RFB&D e-text version 1.7 (9802)
• Signature (1702)
• TranscriBEX files (import only) (9902)
• UNIX/XENIX ASCII file (010X)
• Unknown file with text (import only) (9807)
• Windows help file (import only) (9808)
• Windows ASCII file (010A)
• Word For Word intermediate file (0000)
• WordPerfect 4.1 (0600)
• WordPerfect 4.2 (0601)
• WordPerfect 5.0 (0700)
• WordPerfect 5.1 (0701)
• WordPerfect for Windows 5.1-5.2 (0701)
• WordPerfect 6.0 (4800)
• WordPerfect 6.1 DOS & Win (4801)
• WordPerfect 7 DOS & Win (4802)
• WordStar 2000, Release 3.0 (0900)
• WordStar 2000, Release 3.5 (0901)
• WordStar 3.3, 3.31 (0400)
• WordStar 3.45 (0401)
• WordStar 4.0 (0402)
• WordStar 5.0 (0403)
• WordStar 5.5 (0404)
• WordStar 6.0 (0405)
• WordStar 7.0 (0406)
• XyWrite III (1700)
• XyWrite III Plus (1701)
• XyWrite IV Plus (1703)
• XyWrite for Windows 1.0 (1703)

Help in MegaDots

This section is designed to help you locate appropriate instructions about MegaDots. Remember that the Reference Manual is available from anywhere in MegaDots by pressing F12. The Interface Guide is located in the Help Menu (F10 H I). The Start Menu has a Group called Duxbury. Press Control-Esc P then enough D's until the highlight is on Duxbury. Click on MegaDots Documentation.

Q: What features are in MegaDots? A: The best list is in Chapter 1 of the User Manual. Look up individual items (i.e., "Spanish", "Box Lines", etc.) in the Reference Manual.

Q: How do I make MegaDots work with my access technology (voice, braille, or large print)? A: Look at the Chapter 13 of the User Manual, or look at the Interface Guide.

Q: How do I find the definition of a word or phrase? A: Look at the Reference Manual.

Q: I do not understand the meaning of a prompt in MegaDots. A: Press F1 for help.

Q: My brailler does not work. A: Look at the beginning of the Interface Guide for general help about troubleshooting. Also look up your specific embosser in the Interface Guide. Look at Chapter 6 of the User Manual for help setting up MegaDots. If you continue to experience problems with your embosser, please feel free to contact our technical support line at 978-692-3000 and/or the technical support department for your embosser manufacturer.

Q: I cannot get MegaDots to launch or work at all. A: Look at Chapter 2 of the User Manual. If that is no help, please call our technical help line at 978-692-3000.

Q: I need help printing. A: See Chapter 10.

Q: I need help doing things at the DOS command line. A: See Chapter 19 and Supplement 1.

Q: I need help with File importing or file exporting. A: See Chapter 7.

Q: I need information about recent changes and new features in MegaDots. A: See the file bugfixes.meg. This is listed in the documentation menu as Whats New in MegaDots 2.3.

Q: Can I get any help on the web? A: Updates to MegaDots and other resources are listed at http://www.duxburysystems.com

Q: This list is not helping me with my problem. A: If none of these information resources assists you with your MegaDots problem, call our technical help line at 978-692-3000.