Holding the Delete Button

[shredpea]

Dear Mac-Forum World,

As many of you have had the fun of using Windows computers, you'll know that when you press and hold the "backspace" button, the cursors moves to the left deleting all of the characters until you release the button. On the mac, or at least, on my mac, I have to press the delete button over and over again. Is there an easy fix for this?

Cheers,

Sofia

THANKS!

 

[chscag]

Without telling us which Mac you have, I can't answer your question directly. However, on the full size Mac external wired aluminum keyboard, the backspace key works exactly as you stated.

 

[shredpea]

Thanks for your quick reply!

Sorry about that. I have a MacBook Pro 10.6.8

 

[chscag]

OK, thanks for posting back. Did you hold down the Fn key at the same time you were pressing delete?

 

[shredpea]

When I had tried in the past to accomplish this "continuous" delete, I just pressed the delete button, and it didn't work. I've also tried holding the function key at the same time, as you have suggested, and that doesn't resolve the issue either.

 

[shredpea]

Resolved

I ended up figuring it out!

For anyone who wants to know in the future...

System Preferences > Keyboard > Delay Until Repeat

* I had selected "OFF" for "Delay Until Repeat" which is why it never happened. You can also adjust the amount of time that elapses before the key will repeat itself.