Mac tip: navigating and selecting text from the keyboard

Hey friends, I have Gary’s MacMost Mac Video Tutorials and Tips in my RSS feed and the other day I saved this video 10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Do With Just the Keyboard in Goodlinks to watch later. Well, I finally got around to watching it. By the way, if you love the Mac, MacMost is a great resource for tons of tutorials on how to use your Mac better.

This video highlights hidden macOS tricks for text navigation and selection using the keyboard. Here’s the gist:

• Use the arrow keys to move the text cursor back and forth.
• Hold the Shift key while using the arrow keys to select text:
• Shift + Right Arrow selects one character at a time.
• You can type, replace, or paste over the selected text.
• Use the Option key for word-based movement:
• Option + Right/Left Arrow jumps by word.
• Add Shift to select one word at a time (Shift + Option + Right/Left Arrow).
• Use the Up/Down Arrow keys to navigate vertically:
• Add Shift to select text while moving up or down.
• Option + Down Arrow jumps by paragraph.
• Add Shift to select paragraphs (Shift + Option + Down Arrow), and use Down Arrow repeatedly to select multiple paragraphs.

Check it out, you’ll probably pick up a few new tricks!

Back to Blog