How to 'select' exactly the words/text you want on a PC

Factual Questions
1

I’m a Mac person. But I have to use a PC at work. My work often requires me copy and pasting text from one document to another.

On a Mac, you put the curser where you want to start copying and drag it to where you want to stop. Easy and intuitive. But on the PC it’s always second guessing me an grabbing the word before or after assuming that’s what I meant. It’s a small thing but it’s infuriating as hell.

Is there a way to turn off the ‘smart’ select so it will just select what I’m asking it to select?

2

In what app? Word?

You can hold down ALT while selecting to do a “normal” select.

Or turn off that option:

That’s a Word peculiarity. It shouldn’t happen in other apps.

3

If you’re in an editable text box, ie the reply box here, you can use the shift
and arrow keys to select, or shift+ctrl and arrows to select whole words.
For non editable text, use the left click + cursor to select.

4

PS on both Mac and PC, in and out of Word, an easier way to select is:

  • Click the cursor where you want the selection to start or end
  • Hold SHIFT and click the other end

Done! No tedious dragging needed, and works even after scrolling through a multi-page document.

5

Ooh, that’s cool !

6

Thank you all I’ll give a try!

ETA: That worked, thanks again.

7

You betcha.

8

You can just double click on a word to highlight it. Or triple click to highlight the whole paragraph. Or use Ctrl A to highlight everything.

9

Thank you, yes I know those tricks but selections I need are usually random bits of documents.

10

Back when I did a lot of text editing I would often use the keyboard shortcuts for selecting words, lines, etc.

You can find them here: Keyboard shortcuts in Word - Microsoft Support

Way easier than trying to highlight with a mouse.

11

I’ve learned that about 30 times. Let’s see how long it will take until 31.

12

Practice makes perfect with all this stuff. Use it; you’ll remember it. Don’t; you won’t.

13

No kidding. I started a PowerPoint today, the first since, oh, about 2019. My fingers remembered nothing and my mind even less.

14

Text handling is text handling. Thorughout all Windows apps it works the same or nearly so.

For darn sure PP is its own dog and thankfully I never achieved anything close to proficiency in it. Every menu is a mystery, every keystroke fraught with unexpected side effects.

Thar be dragons for sure!

15

I’ve loathed this feature ever since it came out. Thank you for showing me how to turn it off!

16

Thank the blessed wise soul at Microsoft who made it an option instead of forcing it. But curse whoever made it on by default!