SAP Basics Lesson 1: Navigation — Easy Access, Menus and Favourites

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⏱ 2 min read

📘 SAP Basics Course · Lesson 1 of 8

In this article
  1. The screen
  2. Favourites and technical names
  3. Sessions
  4. Where beginners go wrong
  5. Practice

SAP looks intimidating because it shows everything at once. A few habits make it manageable from day one.

The screen

  • Command field (top left): type transaction codes here.
  • Standard toolbar: Save (Ctrl+S), Back (F3), Exit (Shift+F3), Cancel (F12).
  • SAP Easy Access menu: a tree of everything you’re authorised for.
  • Status bar (bottom): messages in green (success), yellow (warning) and red (error). Always read it.

Favourites and technical names

Right-click Favourites › Insert transaction to build your own short menu. Extras › Settings › Display technical names shows the T-code next to every menu item, the fastest way to learn codes.

Sessions

You can have several windows (sessions) open: type /o plus a T-code (e.g. /oFBL1N) to open it in a new session, so one report runs while you work in another.

💡 /n before a T-code (e.g. /nVA03) leaves the current transaction and starts the new one; plain T-codes only work from the main menu.

Where beginners go wrong

Habit Better
Clicking through the menu tree every time Favourites or T-codes
Ignoring status bar messages Read them; they explain most problems

Transaction codes and menus are standard SAP ECC/S4HANA examples; your company may have custom codes, restricted authorisations or a different layout. Practise in a training or quality system.

Practice

Do the five steps in the checklist.

📎 Practice files for this article

Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.

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