Define a character style as "Default Paragraph Font + Font Color: Red [or
whatever]" and assign a keyboard shortcut.

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Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
Word MVP FAQ site: http://word.mvps.org
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"egrolman" wrote in message
...
is there a way to assign a keyboard shortcut to change the text color from
black to red (or any other color I want)? I hate having to leave the
document
to get the cursor up to the toolbar each time I want to change the color.