12-01-2006

Shift Trick for Selecting a Range of Text

I recently learned a new trick in OS X for selecting text. Apple Matters had a post on 20 Useful OS X Tips that included the following:

To select a block of text, click the start position, then Shift-click the end position. Significantly, this doesn’t just work in editing applications like Word where you might be already doing it anyway, but it also works with non-editable text, such as a webpage in Safari.

As an added bonus, the same technique works in Windows applications as well.

I should have known that one, since the same trick is used to select a range of items in a list. Still, it was news to me that you could use it to select text. You learn something new every day.

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Posted by Matt in tech | RSS 2.0

One Response to “Shift Trick for Selecting a Range of Text”
  1. Ron Says:

    Yup, a nice trick indeed.

    You probably already know this, but you can option click on noncontinguous files in the finder to select those independently.

    In most any OS X program, once you have selected text you can click and hold the mouse button down and then drag your selection anywhere you want, including out of the window and on to the desktop where it becomes a text clipping.

    Awesome stuff.

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