Writing text on a device, especially long text, implies that we need to delete, edit, reorder and make changes so that the final product is exactly what we want. We all know which key to press to delete a word, but what about deleting forward?
Erase forward, more than just a detail
Whether we want to delete an entire paragraph or the last letters we have written, we will use the same key, the delete key, which is on the right side of the keyboard. By pressing the key we erase the text always written backwards , that is, to the left starting from the cursor position.
It is very useful that, when we need it, we know how to erase forward, that is, erase to the right of the cursor position. This is something that we can do on both the Mac and the iPad , as long as we use a mechanical keyboard in the latter.
How to erase forward on our Mac
Erase forward on the Mac is very simple, we will simply use the following key combination :
fn + Delete
Remember that the fn key is the one at the bottom left of the keyboard. We can keep the fn key pressed and press the delete key as many times as we want or even keep both pressed to erase at a faster speed .
How to erase forward on our iPad
On the iPad, to be able to erase forward we need to use a mechanical keyboard. If we are using a computer keyboard, such as the Magic Keyboard of our iMac or similar or any other keyboard that has an fn key , we will simply use the same combination of keys that we have just seen.
The most common, on the other hand, is that on the iPad we are using the new Magic Keyboard for iPad or the Smart Keyboard Folio case. The keyboards of these covers replace the fn key with the world ball key to change the keyboard, so we will use another combination of keys :
Control (⌃) + D
We can, as before, press it only once or press D several times while keeping the Control key pressed, or even keep both pressed to erase faster. It should be said that we can press the world ball key and the delete key, just as we would on the Mac, but in this case as soon as we release the world ball key we will see the keyboard change selector if we have more than one.
It might seem that the ability to erase forward is of little use, that we can use the mouse to position ourselves exactly where we want and then erase backward. True, we can do it and it’s all a matter of taste, but from experience I have seen that once you get used to being able to delete content in both directions and integrate it into the workflow, having to click on it seems slow and inefficient.
A small note about the iPhone: we can use the same key combinations that we have just seen, but, as with the iPad, we need a physical keyboard, something that, in general, is much less common.
IN APPLESFERA
iA Writer, back to the essence of writing
Do you want more? We can also erase, either forward or backward, while pressing the Option key (⌥) or the Command key (⌘) to erase words or entire lines (respectively). A trick that also works when we use the arrows to scroll (or select, using Shift (⇧)).
