Applescript Keynote Selection Range

You're trying to set a range to a string. Can't do that.

				set selection range to "A5:D5"

Instead you need to be more explicit and coerce your string to a range first:

				set selection range to range "A5:D5"

Digging in a little deeper:

> A command to merge a range of cells directly without UI scripting fails, so I tried this

This is still doomed to failure as is, because these cells cannot be merged - either manually or via scripting.

That's because the default table style includes one header row and one header column. Header cells cannot be merged with 'regular' cells.

To merge these cells you have to nix the header column so that all the cells are of the same class. Try:

			tell auction
				set header column count to 0
				merge range "A5:D5"