Why does delete/backspace go so slow?

Tannerozzy · Jun 30, 2008

I'm fairly new to macs. I got my first a few months ago (the Air) and I LOVE it! But something has been bugging me since I got it.

When you delete text on windows you hold backspace and it deletes the characters one at a time for about half a second, then it speeds up a lot and deletes them quickly. I can't figure out how to do that on a mac though. When you backspace on a mac you hold delete but it never speeds up.

I've looked through forums and stuff and can't find anything else on this problem. I don't know if that means there's a really simple solution, or if it's just something that nobody really cares enough about to mention.

Has anybody else noticed this, or have a solution?

Tallest Skil · Jun 30, 2008

Selecting the text is faster than holding Delete. That's Apple's reasoning.

Oh, and if it goes too fast, you have a tendency to delete more than you wanted to. I do, at least.

Tannerozzy · Jun 30, 2008

Man, that's horrible reasoning

I don't really think it's faster to move from the keyboard to the mouse, selecting it with the mouse then pressing delete. I'd rather just hold delete til I got where I needed.

And yea, I guess I could see how deleting too much could be an issue. But I've used windows for 15 years before my mac... I've pretty much gotten down exactly how long to hold it.

So there isn't any kind of application out there that will do this?

Tallest Skil · Jun 30, 2008

Part of switching to OS X is to not make it be Windows. Let it do its thing; it knows what's best.

Granted, change settings so you're happy, but Delete is Delete. You can't really change that, and there's no market for apps that do.

Tannerozzy · Jun 30, 2008

Understandable.

Thanks for the help

CANONinDevin · Apr 15, 2009

Click on the :apple:

Button in the Top Left Corner of the Screen

Go to System Preferences

Click on Keyboard & Mouse

In the Keyboard Tab, switch Key Repeat Rate to fastest. This increases the speed of holding down the backspace.

(Note: Make sure that Delay Until Repeat setting IS NOT at OFF)

Hope this helps,

Devin

Pomeroy · Apr 15, 2009

Tannerozzy said:
Man, that's horrible reasoning
I don't really think it's faster to move from the keyboard to the mouse, selecting it with the mouse then pressing delete. ?

You can make your selection from the keyboard without using the mouse, Click where you want to start or end, then "Shift Click" the other end of what you want selected and hit delete.

Lee Kelso · Jan 22, 2013

CANONinDevin - thank you

(Note: Make sure that Delay Until Repeat setting IS NOT at OFF)

Because for years I have had this problem too. I don't want to use the mouse. I don't want to highlight and delete. I do not want to hit the delete key ten times to go back one space at a time.

I never paid attention to see that the 'Delay Until Repeat' slider has the (Off)Long-Short. Move the slider all the way to short and then the delete key will act just like you are using backspace on a windows pc.

Thank you again.

Pom Pom Purin · Mar 6, 2015

How to delete texts quickly on the mac

1. Go to system preferences.

2. Click on keyboard. It is located in the second row.

3. Adjust "delay to repeat" to the highest.

tomvos · Mar 7, 2015

Tannerozzy said:
, or have a solution?

Perhaps I may propose a different approach. Why not using keychords? Every cocoa based text field (i.e. most text fields) support a small set of keychords.

ALT-Backspace => delete by word
APPLE-Backspace => delete line
CTRL-k => delete text right of cursor

I think ALT-Backspace usually is much faster than waiting for the backspace to ramp up the delete speed.

CatieCollins · Jan 8, 2017

CANONinDevin said:
Click on the Button in the Top Left Corner of the Screen

Go to System Preferences

Click on Keyboard & Mouse

In the Keyboard Tab, switch Key Repeat Rate to fastest. This increases the speed of holding down the backspace.

(Note: Make sure that Delay Until Repeat setting IS NOT at OFF)

Hope this helps,

Devin

[doublepost=1483935385][/doublepost]THIS WORKED!! thanks so much

Han L · Dec 11, 2017

CANONinDevin said:
Click on the Button in the Top Left Corner of the Screen

Go to System Preferences

Click on Keyboard & Mouse

In the Keyboard Tab, switch Key Repeat Rate to fastest. This increases the speed of holding down the backspace.

(Note: Make sure that Delay Until Repeat setting IS NOT at OFF)

Hope this helps,

Devin

I have tried this as well as numerous other methods, but nothing seems to work for me. I am currently running 10.12.6 on the 2015 macbook. Perhaps it is my software version preventing me from doing so?

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Why does delete/backspace go so slow?

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