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Daryl Spitzer Daryl Spitzer 4, 11 11 gold badges 36 36 silver badges 37 37 bronze badges. I use a free program called Karabiner pqrs. Note 1: Not every application respects this, or behaves as expected. Madivad 8 8 bronze badges. Ken Ken 7, 1 1 gold badge 14 14 silver badges 11 11 bronze badges. These combinations allow you to jump to the beginning and end of the document. Matteo 6, 2 2 gold badges 33 33 silver badges 49 49 bronze badges. Lauri Oherd Lauri Oherd 4 4 silver badges 4 4 bronze badges.
I have a Macbook Air. Fn with the arrow-keys did not work for me. Duijf 4 4 silver badges 17 17 bronze badges. Dana Dana 61 1 1 silver badge 1 1 bronze badge. Same here with an Air. I concur. Simon Sheehan 7, 12 12 gold badges 45 45 silver badges 69 69 bronze badges. Bluejade: Normally I don't care for remapping keys; I'd prefer to use the system defaults whenever possible, hence my query on why Apple thought this was a good idea. Paul Russo said…. There is a reason for the behavior that you dislike: range selection. Range Selection - a primer in case some readers are not familiar with this.
Range selection allows you to select a block of data by selecting the first end of the block then shift clicking on the other end of data. Everything in between the start and the end is selected. For example, in a word processor, a sentence can be selected by clicking on the beginning of the sentence then shift clicking on the end of the sentence. This can be a bit easier than clicking and dragging to select the sentence. Range selection is generic, as are most things on a Mac.
Range selection extends to larger blocks of data. For example, in a word processor, click on the beginning of a chapter, then scroll down and click on the end of the chapter to select the entire chapter. This can be a lot easier and more efficient than clicking and dragging to select a large block of data like a chapter.
How to Page Up and Page Down on a Mac Keyboard the equivalent of paging up and paging down on any Mac keyboard with Mac OS X. If you are not using a full keyboard, function, labeled fn on your keyboard, plus the up and down arrow keys will give you a page up and down.
The Windows scrolling that you are familiar with, breaks range selection because it moves the cursor when it scrolls. The only way for range selection to extend generically to large blocks of data, is for scrolling to change the view, but not change the position of the cursor.
Because range selection is broken on Windows, selecting a block of data requires a click and drag down the window. For large blocks of data, it forces the user to click at the beginning of the data, then drag down to select the whole block of data. The Windows scrolling behavior causes the selection of large blocks of data to be both tiring and time consuming.
The behavior that you dislike is an example of how Microsoft copied obvious Mac functionality, but missed the subtlety of function that makes a Mac consistent and understandable. These little subtle details are what makes a Mac a Mac, what differentiates a Mac from Windows. These details are the soul of a Mac. Maybe a bit off topic: Microsoft's breaking of range selection for large blocks of data, is an example of how Microsoft copied the Mac but didn't understand the subtlety of a Mac, the thing that makes a Mac consistent, easier to use, and understandable.
I contend that Microsoft did not understand these things because Microsoft never cared at all. This may be the reason why Mac zealots hated Windows so much, even if most of those zealots could not specifically verbalize why they felt such hatred.
January 13, at PM. David: Sorry, my bad for suggesting it. Though I am using Tiger I don't thing it is different in Leopard :. Gryzor said…. In Mac, I cannot seem to replicate this functionality. Any tips? Ast A. Moore said…. In Safari and other non-editable documents, i. Preview hit the Space bar to scroll down a page. Hit Shift—Space bar to go up a page.
Actually, I hadn't considered buying a separate keyboard for my laptop that would be like a PC's. From up until mid I—and later my partners—managed the growth of WebSurveyor up until its sale. What combination of keys fn, control, option, command, arrow keys is the equivalent of the Home key on a MacBook Pro? Bill Martin says:. It strikes me as more of a stubborn need to not give in than any adherence to some "Mac Philosophy of Simplicity".
I've been using Mac for six months and still miss some of the useful shortcuts available in WIndows. Jeff said…. Paul Russo: Range selection works fine in Windows; if I move to the beginning of a block of text say the start of a document , then hold down the shift key to begin selecting text just like Mac , then my selection extends down with my screen changes. I do not have to grab the mouse in order to do that.
It is no different than the behavior I get on my Mac. This is purely an issue of what action actually moves the cursor position.
To use the example you cited, open Text Edit with a large block of text that extends several screens down on your Mac. Move the cursor to the very top of the document, hold down the shift key to begin selecting data and then Page Down a time or two. The cursor though not visible has moved to the end of that selection. If you release the Shift key and start navigating around in your document at that point the cursor is placed at the end of the selection.
This is actually a bit of a conflict in my opinion. The way Mac handle data selection actually reinforces my view. I understand the MS hatred thing but there are going to be times that MS gets things right and Apple does not. This, though ridiculously trivial, is one of them. It's adding the shift key that triggers the selection behavior.
Believe it or not. It's removing the option key that stops the whole word selection behavior.
David - That's something that I never figured out on Windows. Thanks for the correction. I'm a 17 year Mac veteran. In my mind the purpose of a modifier key is to modify a single action key press, click. Holding down a modifier while performing a drag-like action is completely foreign to me. On a Mac I do range selection this way: 1.