The cursor (the blinking vertical line) appears in data entry fields. If the field has drop down options you can deal with it with the mouse alone. And with the mouse you can reposition the cursor by clicking at the desired site and you can highlight a block of text by holding down the left mouse button and moving the mouse pointer but there the capability of the mouse ends. Here, died-in-the-wool mouse users, you have no option but to use the keyboard – and it helps to know the whole range of keyboard controls:
Cursor Movement:
Home | Moves the cursor to the beginning of a line. |
End | Moves the cursor to the end of a line. |
Ctrl+End | Moves the cursor to the end of a field. |
Ctrl+Home | Moves the cursor to the beginning of a field. |
Tab or Enter | Moves the cursor to the next field |
Shift + Tab | Moves the cursor to the previous field. |
To delete:
Del | Deletes a single character to the right of the cursor. |
Backspace | Deletes a single character to the left of the cursor. |
Ctrl-Del | Deletes from the cursor to the end of the line. |
To cut (delete) a block of text:
Highlight the block and press Ctrl + X.
To highlight a block of text:
Hold down the Shift key and use the cursor movement keys (eg: Left arrow, Right arrow, Home, End, Ctrl Home, Ctrl End) or hold the left mouse key down while you drag the pointer over the block to be highlighted.
To paste a block of text (previously cut or copied):
Position cursor and press Ctrl + V
To copy a block of text:
Highlight the block and press Ctrl + C. Move the cursor to the destination site and paste.