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TICKET ARCHIVE -> accidental erasures on Mail 1.3.11

ashley wolff - Jan 6, 2006 - 11:03 am

I have a powerbook G4.
There is a very annoying trait in Mail 1.3.11 program that I am wondering if others experience or if there is a simple answer:
while typing an e-mail, my right pinky more than ocassionally hits some combination of keys near the shift, return or page buttons that causes several lines of type to simply disappear. I have yet to be able to recreate the problem, which seems to be unique to macs. I cannot figure out why it chooses to erase a portion, but not all, of the message i just typed. But it almost cripples the usefulness of the program. Does this ring a bell?

earthsaver - Jan 6, 2006 - 12:17 pm

Sounds like you're incidentally pressing Shift+Up. Shift in combination with arrow keys has been the means of selecting text since before the days of the computer mouse. On a PowerBook keyboard, that's the only combination you could conceivably press with your pinky.

Of course, you can undo in a flash with Command+Z if you happen to screw up. Really, though, I guess you just need to adapt to the keyboard better. Unless I flatten my fingers, I find it very awkward to bend my pinky so far that I reach the up arrow, without completely moving my hand off the home row.

- Ben

ashley wolff - Jan 6, 2006 - 12:55 pm

Thank you Ben. Pressing shift and the up button at once will highlight the text, and then, as soon as i hit the next letter, it erases what is highlighted. I have to say I've never noticed any highlighting just prior to losing text, but it certainly otherwise recreates the problem. The remaning puzzle is: why would it knock out only a portion of the text? I'll try to figure that out myself. and thanks for the command z tip-- that certainly repairs the damage.
Finally, since you know alot about basic keystroking on a Mac, can you tell me if there is any way to delete forward, sted of just backward?
You may tell from all this that i am primarily a windows user, but the fact is I like Macs better but for these few maddening quirks.
Thanks!

earthsaver - Jan 6, 2006 - 2:02 pm

How do you mean "only a portion of the text"? When you press Shift+Up, you select from the cursor position up one line of text (to the same horizontal cursor position). When typing quickly, if you incidentally do so, you're not likely to notice the selection take place, because you're immediately pressing another letter—probably the one you intended to capitalize by pressing shift—and replacing the selected text with that character.

Forward delete on the PowerBook keyboard is fn+Delete. However, since the keys are on complete opposite ends of the keyboard, I encourage you to learn the other text navigation and selection shortcuts, so you're not stuck with such a far reach:
- Option+arrows moves the cursor to next or previous world (right/left) or next or previous paragraph (down/up)
- Command+arrows moves the cursor to end or beginning of line (right/left) or end or beginning of document (down/up)
- Hold shift with any of these shortcuts to select the text in between.
- Option+Delete deletes the previous word. So, naturally, fn+Option+Delete deletes the next word. However, I find it easier to use Shift+Option+Right to select the next word(s) and then press Delete separately. I just find the distance of finger travel not as hard, and holding fn+Delete is not terribly convenient.

Most keyboard shortcuts are documented in Help for applications. Just search for shortcut and you're likely to find them. I usually browse the menus of any new application to see what the shortcuts are. If I want to use a shortcut I don't know, I check the menu, escape the menu, and immediately use the shortcut instead. Keeps my hands on the keyboard, which is faster and more convenient for me than using the mouse.

Let me know if you have other questions.