Why does selecting text ALWAYS NEVER pick the letters you want!!!
I very accurately place the ‘line’ exactly where I want to start selecting, then start dragging. So Windows (it’s not app-specific) decided to select a bit more!
Oh, how nice of you windows, selecting that little extra bit for me…
[size-10]I DIDN’T FUCKING WANT IT![/SIZE]
[size-10]IF I HAD FUCKING WANTED IT I WOULD HAVE FUCKING SELECTED IT![/SIZE]
I end up having to edit the little bit of text in order to select it properly.
examples…
I have to select US area codes from phone numbers. I select the first 3 numbers, windows selects the whole number.
Sometimes I want to select whatever I have put into a vbscript without the ‘[’ Windows happily (and death-wishilly) selects the ‘[’
[size-10]STOP ASSUMING I WANT THINGS THAT I DON’T WANT[/SIZE]
(it happened a few times while composing this thread - thus adding to the rage)
If any mod chances upon this thread and feels so inclined - could you fix my tags. I won’t go to the trouble of e-mailing a mod (the proper procedure) as a mod might find it annoying to be asked to fix someone’s stupid op, and I am not that bothered that it’s broken.
On a similar note, when I try to select text that causes the page to scroll down in Word, it scrolls down so FREAKIN’ FAST that a hummingbird on speed couldn’t keep up with it and select text accurately. What a great feature - scroll so fast that humans can’t use it! Two thumbs up, there, Micro$oft!
Sometimes it seems a bit arbitrary as to how much extra text it “back selects” or “scroll selects” as well. Of course, when I want to select 3/4 of the page to cut ‘n’ paste, I’ve got to wiggle the cursor at the bottom of the window to keep it scrolling at any kind of decent speed, but when I just want a paragraph or two, it zooms right to the end of the document. There are times I’m mildly surprised that it doesn’t open some other txt file, just to give me more erroneous shit I didn’t want to highlight in the first place.
I sometimes find that counting out loud at the PC helps to keep my head from exploding.
[sub]Well, that or making with the direct threats involving an axe and a central memory bank.[/sub]
Weird, I was running a IIsi (circa 1991) until last year and never had that problem (“it’s a feature, not a bug”)… what are you using? (Just curious, is all.)
And Amen to the OP. Fucknay, I know how to use a goddamn mouse. Leave me alone, dammit.
Mine does that too, here at home and at work. If, as soon as it highlights more than you picked, you move the mouse back to your starting point without letting go of the button, it should “unselect”. Mine does anyway–that’s in MS FWIW.
And as for the scroll select–AAAAGHHH! I hate that so much. My computer at work is the worst for this. As soon as I try to scroll below the bottom of the screen onto the next page, the goddamned thing automatically scrolls to the end of the document. In some of my programs that’s like ten bazillion pages! So I’m left banging on the mouse keys, furiously hitting enter, trying to get the scroll to stop. Sometimes it works, sometimes I’m just left sitting there, fuming, watching page after page of blue and white flash down the screen, and reflecting on my deep-seated hatred of my job and all it entails.
You will be much happier if you stop fighting the Microsoft gods. Microsoft knows what you want and need better than you do. Bill Gates is a genius. Are you a genius? I didn’t think so. So shut up and let Microsoft select the text that you really need. It’s all so simple if you will just stop struggling.
I agree ! MS thinks it knows how we want things selected/formatted/spelled, and the damn thing never learns when we try to tell it otherwise …
This may not be appropriate for the Pit, but I’d like to offer a hint re: scrolling.
The ‘Shift’ and ‘Control’ keys are your friends. Use them with the arrow keys. ‘Shift’ selects, and ‘Control’ jumps across words (with left-right arrows) and paragraphs (with up-down). In Excel ‘Control’ will jump to the first empty cell, on that line or column. So, to select exactly six paragraphs, start at the top of the top one, hold down Shift+Ctrl and press the down arrow six times. You can do this as quickly or as slowly as you like.
Try it! I use them almost exclusively for navigating, but even if you like the mouse, the keys are particularly useful in avoiding the fast-scrolling hell.
cowgirl pegged it - even in the same words I was about to use: “shift key is your friend”!
To add to what cowgirl said: It is likely that the main cause of your trouble is, the function “select whole word” was turned on as a default:
In Word, go to Tools menu, /Options/, select “Edit” tab, then uncheck the “Select entire word” box.
Even if you turn that off, double-clicking a word will still select the whole word. So with careful clicking, you can have it both ways.
Using the shift key also works with Page Up/Page Down buttons (verrrry useful if working in large excel documents).
**My big beef ** with this function (aside from all the aforementioned MS/Bill Gates gripes which I heartily agree with), is that if you have extraneous characters ‘attached’ to a word (comma, parenthesis, etc.), it always seems to select that stuff in the exact wayI DIDN’T WANT IT SELECTED… So I’ll add my Fuck you Bill Gates comment to the rest.
