Big Sur keyboard shortcut to select text

keyboardshortcut

Before upgrading to Big Sur I was able to use Shift-Command-Left/Right arrow to highlight a single word while typing. This was in any app – email, browser, text, etc.

After upgrading to Big Sur, that command now changes the color profile.

For what it's worth, Shit-Left/Right arrow will still highlight a single character. Shift-Command-Left/Right arrow will still highlight the start/end of the line of text. And Option-Left/Right arrow still moves the cursor one word at a time.

I'm just missing the option to highlight one word at a time.

I know how to add keyboard shortcuts but not sure the best way to change this back?

Best Answer

Testing in macOS Big Sur and macOS Catalina, the shiftoptionleft/right arrow keyboard shortcut highlights one word at a time.

By default shiftcommandleft/right arrow highlights from the cursor to the end/beginning of the line.

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to easily select the word the cursor is currently inside

This has been covered in a screencast on the Ask Different Blog. I encourage you to watch the video, but I'll summarize here.

First, create a little AppleScript that presses the two keyboard shortcuts. Open AppleScript Editor (in /Applications/Utilities) and paste this in:

tell application "System Events"
    key code 123 using option down
    key code 124 using {shift down, option down}
end tell

Save that as a script in ~/Library/Scripts (create the folder if it doesn't already exist).

Now, install the app FastScripts. It's free for up to 10 scripts.
Open the FastScripts preferences, find your Select Word script, and assign a keyboard shortcut to it.

Now you can press your chosen shortcut in any app and the current word will be selected.

In Microsoft Word 2011, Shift seems to be acting as a Command – how to make it stop

It's possible you could try resetting the default shortcuts from the settings...

This is an excerpt from a Microsoft support article on the Office shortcut settings...

Reset all keyboard shortcuts

On the Tools menu, click Customize Keyboard.

To restore keyboard shortcuts to their original state, click Reset All, and then in the confirmation message, click Yes.

NOTE Keyboard shortcuts for tasks are reset.

Source

Best Answer

Related Solutions

MacOS – How to easily select the word the cursor is currently inside

In Microsoft Word 2011, Shift seems to be acting as a Command – how to make it stop

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