This lesson is sleep inducing hard work. But do your best, and your efforts will be rewarded every time you type!
Getting started: Moving the cursor up and down, using the Cursor keys.
You can move around within editable text using the up / down / left / right cursor keys (bottom right of the keyboard).
![](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Keyboard-cursors.png)
Moving the cursor from the beginning, to the end of a line of text
To try this out before putting it into practice: Place your cursor at the beginning of a line of text.
![The cursor is positioned at the very beginning of the paragraph.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/paragraph-of-text-cursor.png)
Now, hold down the Command key, and press the right arrow / cursor key.
![Hold Command, press the Right cursor key.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Keyboard-cursor-command.png)
The cursor jumps to the end of the line.
![Move the cursor to the end of a line by holding the Command key, and pressing the Right cursor key.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/paragraph-cursor-end-of-line.png)
Move the cursor one word at a time
Again, to try this out, place the cursor at the beginning of a line of text.
![The cursor is positioned at the very beginning of the paragraph.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/paragraph-of-text-cursor.png)
Hold the Option (sometimes labeled, Alt) key, and press the Right cursor key once. The cursor jumps to the beginning of the next word in the line. Repeat as necessary.
![Press Option + Right cursor key. The cursor jumps one word.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/paragraph-of-text-cursor-option.png)
Keeping the Option key help down, repeatedly press the Right-cursor key until you arrive at the desired location within the text.
![To move the cursor one word at a time, hold down the Alt key, and press the Left or Right cursor key. Repeat as necessary.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/paragraph-of-text-cursor-option-repeat.png)
![The Option key on the keyboard. Sometimes referred to as the Alt key.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/04/Keyboard-option-alt.png)
Selecting text using the Shift key
We can always double-click on a word to select it, or triple-click to select an entire paragraph.
But also, by holding down the Shift key, and using the cursor keys, we can select the individual letters.
To try this out: Place your cursor at the beginning of a line of text.
![](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/paragraph-of-text-cursor.png)
Hold down the Shift key on the keyboard, and then press the Right cursor key repeatedly.
![The Shift keys, located on either side of the keyboard.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/06/shift-keys.png)
![](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/selected-text-1.png)
Once selected, we can overwrite the text by simply typing.
Selecting words using the Shift + Option keys
If you need to select multiple words, just add the Shift key to the above described shortcuts:
Option + Shift + (repeatedly press) Right cursor key
![Option + Shift + (repeatedly press) Right cursor key to select one word at a time.](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/option-shift-cusor.png)
![](http://howtouseamac.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/one-word-at-a-time.png)
And, if you want to instead select the entire line, use Command instead of Option.
Command + Shift + Right cursor key
Up / Down Cursor keys, combined with the Option & Command keys.
If you want to move the cursor to either the top or bottom of a paragraph of text, hold down the Alt key, and press the Up or Down arrow accordingly. Repeat as necessary.
If you want to move the cursor to either the top or bottom of an entire document, hold down the Command key and press the Up or Down arrow accordingly.
If you want to select the text as you go, just add the Shift key to either of the above.
Summary
You can use the Cursor keys to move the cursor either…:
- one letter, or (up or down) one line at a time
- (when used with the Option / Alt key) one word, or paragraph, at a time
- (when used with the Command key) to the beginning or end of a line, or the beginning or end of document
- you can also select the text as you move the cursor by adding the Shift key to the above techniques.
When it comes to selecting text, mice and trackpads do have their strengths and useful tricks, as well as weaknesses. With the Cursor keys, in conjunction with modifier keys (Shift, Command, Option…), and a bit of practice, you can move around within editable text, while making selections, and edits, with speed. In time they become second nature.
What’s more is, these methods can be used universally, and are not only applicable to text. There’s undoubtedly numerous variations on the above so, once you’re used to them, see if you can further extend their usage.
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