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peterubuntu

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Nov 8, 2008
3
0
I just get my new macbook,it's my first mac,very nice.
My question is how to select long text by trackpad? Thanks
 
in trackpad preferences you can select dragging I very rarely physically click my trackpad (just tap/tocuh) by selecting this you can double tap the pad at the beginning of your selection just make sure you tap once and then leave your finger down on the second tap and move around to make your selection. if you select drag lock then you must tap in order to stop the selection
 
I find it quite annoying; it somehow deselects by itself.

Hmm mine works perfectly so your trackpad may have a defect if this is the case.

The way I select things is with two fingers. Just pretend there is a button at the bottom of the trackpad and everything works as you would expect. In other words click on the bottom left or so of your trackpad with your left hand pointer finger, then you can use your right hand pointer finger to move around. As long as you hold your left finger down you can keep lifting your right finger and put it back down again and the selection will continue.
 
Hmm mine works perfectly so your trackpad may have a defect if this is the case.

I think possibly they're referring to how sensitive the trackpad is - a simple brush of your finger and it'll deselect what you're doing.

And yeah - I use the two finger technique too. Unless I'm selecting just a word, or a whole line, at which point I bust out the old double-click to select technique.
 
Hmm mine works perfectly so your trackpad may have a defect if this is the case.

The way I select things is with two fingers. Just pretend there is a button at the bottom of the trackpad and everything works as you would expect. In other words click on the bottom left or so of your trackpad with your left hand pointer finger, then you can use your right hand pointer finger to move around. As long as you hold your left finger down you can keep lifting your right finger and put it back down again and the selection will continue.

Nice,thank you so much! it's working now by your way.

BTW,thanks everyone! But I just wonder can we just use one/two finger and one hand to finish this job(select long text)?
 
Nice,thank you so much! it's working now by your way.

BTW,thanks everyone! But I just wonder can we just use one/two finger and one hand to finish this job(select long text)?

Yeap, one hand works too. I'm gonna assume you're right handed, but switch hands if necessary. The one handed method goes like so:

Using your right pointer finger, select the text and while keeping the finger down, drag to select all the words. If the text is very long, stop moving the pointer finger but keep it held down while you add another finger to the trackpad. Use the second finger to drag over more words.
 
Yeap, one hand works too. I'm gonna assume you're right handed, but switch hands if necessary. The one handed method goes like so:

Using your right pointer finger, select the text and while keeping the finger down, drag to select all the words. If the text is very long, stop moving the pointer finger but keep it held down while you add another finger to the trackpad. Use the second finger to drag over more words.

:D, so funny, it's not work,so difficult to add another finger.
anyway,thanks.
 
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