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Selecting text in Word
Thread poster: Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 20:32
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
Oct 21, 2011

After installing Word XP on a new machine I find it difficult to achieve the same working habits as before. So when I put the cursor somewhere inside a word and drag to the right, the whole word is selected as soon as the cursor exceeds the word-limit. I was used to the behavior, where it would only highlight the actual amount of characters I chose. I can nowhere find the setting where I could change this.

Please help
Heinrich

[Bearbeitet am 2011-10-21 06:50 GMT]
 
Tony M
Tony M
France
Local time: 19:32
Member
French to English
+ ...
SITE LOCALIZER
try this Oct 21, 2011

Have just had exactly the same problem!

Either copy across your old familiar normal.dot from your old computer, or else go into Tools > Options > Editing and deselect the option 'select whole word when selecting' (or something like that, mine's in FR)
 
Heinrich Pesch
Heinrich Pesch  Identity Verified
Finland
Local time: 20:32
Member (2003)
Finnish to German
+ ...
TOPIC STARTER
Thanks Tony, Oct 21, 2011

I hadn't seen this option, must be blind.
Regards
Heinrich
 
Edith Goebel
Edith Goebel  Identity Verified
Local time: 19:32
German to Danish
+ ...
Shortcuts Oct 21, 2011

Some useful shortcuts to speed up your work:

Delete word to the right of the cursor:
Ctrl + Del

Delete word to the left of the cursor:
Ctrl + Backspace

Go to next word:
Ctrl + right arrow

Go to previous word:
Ctrl + left arrow

Select word to the right of the cursor:
Ctrl + Shift + right arrow

Select word to the left of the cursor:
Ctrl + Shift + left arrow

Try holdin... See more
Some useful shortcuts to speed up your work:

Delete word to the right of the cursor:
Ctrl + Del

Delete word to the left of the cursor:
Ctrl + Backspace

Go to next word:
Ctrl + right arrow

Go to previous word:
Ctrl + left arrow

Select word to the right of the cursor:
Ctrl + Shift + right arrow

Select word to the left of the cursor:
Ctrl + Shift + left arrow

Try holding down the Ctrl key and press the right arrow key several times; the cursor will jump word for word through the sentence. ▲ Collapse
 
Philippe Etienne
Philippe Etienne  Identity Verified
Spain
Local time: 19:32
Member
English to French
mouse vs. keyboard Oct 21, 2011

Edith Goebel wrote:

Some useful shortcuts to speed up your work:

Delete word to the right of the cursor:
Ctrl + Del

Delete word to the left of the cursor:
Ctrl + Backspace

Go to next word:
Ctrl + right arrow

Go to previous word:
Ctrl + left arrow

Select word to the right of the cursor:
Ctrl + Shift + right arrow

Select word to the left of the cursor:
Ctrl + Shift + left arrow

Try holding down the Ctrl key and press the right arrow key several times; the cursor will jump word for word through the sentence.

As a mouse user from 20 years ago, using shortcuts is not as easy as it seems, and bad mouse habits die hard.
For a long time, I couldn't be bothered learning shortcuts to get things done. It's only after several years of translating and self-taught (i.e. bad) typing that I thought that using Ctrl and Shift key combinations like Edith's may bring more productivity.
It felt very difficult at the beginning to get rid of the mouse, but after a lot of discipline and effort, I now find that these shortcuts and others actually save time, especially in some CAT tools.
So I can say that it is definitely worth keeping hands on the keyboard to get large parts of work done with less tiredness compared to grabbing the mouse every 20 secs. With Dragon to type and shortcuts to iron things out, I focus less on my moves.
The next step will be to learn End and Home in key combinations, and the Alt key to browse menus to get really quick, but I am not there yet...

Have a good weekend,
Philippe
 


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Selecting text in Word






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