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soloohara

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2023
15
85
Why i'm not able to select non contiguous text like i was used to? Why apple ruins the operating system every time? How can i do it now? i Have a lot of notes to tidy up and i can't select them by holding down cmd, anybody solved this apple problem?

How to Select Non-Contiguous Text in Mac​

 

soloohara

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2023
15
85
You can select different part of text just by pressing command key down? what mac are you using? macos version?
 

chabig

macrumors G4
Sep 6, 2002
11,460
9,326
I think you're confusing the standard behavior of macOS with the customized text selection behavior in Microsoft Word, which has always supported non-continuous text selection using the command key. There may be other apps you've used in the past that also had customized text selection features like this. But it would be app specific.

I've been using Macs since 1984. The basic Mac operating system has never had the ability to select non-contiguous text.
 
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Fishrrman

macrumors Penryn
Feb 20, 2009
29,279
13,378
Chabig has it right.

While a few apps (like MS Word) allow "non-contiguous text" selection, I don't think that has EVER been a feature of the Mac OS itself.
 

soloohara

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2023
15
85
Chabig has it right.

While a few apps (like MS Word) allow "non-contiguous text" selection, I don't think that has EVER been a feature of the Mac OS itself.
What do you guys mean? i've been using my previous macbook pro and this macbook pro m1 pro 2021 since 8 years and i have been always been able to select multiple non cintigous part of next like in notes, since 8 months or last macos version this feature has been deleted for no reasons whatsover and i'm not the only one online with this problem, everybody has it, now its 20 times more difficult to tidy up my notes because i have to select one by one and can't select them all at once because they are not close
 

zevrix

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2012
411
234
What do you guys mean? i've been using my previous macbook pro and this macbook pro m1 pro 2021 since 8 years and i have been always been able to select multiple non cintigous part of next like in notes

Ok so it looks like you're using Notes.

I just tried Notes (which I didn't use for many years) and I can confirm the problem you report: on Ventura, you indeed can select non-contiguous text by holding the Command key. On Sonoma this doesn't work anymore (you can't select non-contiguous text using the Command key).

So your outrage is well justified. The only thing you can do is submit this bug to Apple and hope they pay any attention to this.
 

zevrix

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2012
411
234
The only thing you can do is submit this bug to Apple

P.S. Alternatively, you can switch to Microsoft OneNote where non-contiguous text selection does work on all systems. OneNote, of course, has its own set of annoying bugs and shortcomings.
 
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soloohara

macrumors newbie
Original poster
Sep 8, 2023
15
85
P.S. Alternatively, you can switch to Microsoft OneNote where non-contiguous text selection does work on all systems. OneNote, of course, has its own set of annoying bugs and shortcomingsTah
Tahnk you, any idea how can i submit? via chat?
 

NoBoMac

Moderator
Staff member
Jul 1, 2014
6,302
5,022
I just tried Notes (which I didn't use for many years) and I can confirm the problem you report: on Ventura, you indeed can select non-contiguous text by holding the Command key.

Not always. Just tested on Ventura and yes, can select text in a "simple" note.

If the text is in a table, no joy.

Seems to work in checklists, but wonky in that drag to select keeps wanting to move the item to a new location. If I double click the entry + command-key, will select the line(s).
 
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zevrix

macrumors 6502
Oct 10, 2012
411
234
P.S. Alternatively, you can switch to Microsoft OneNote where non-contiguous text selection does work on all systems. OneNote, of course, has its own set of annoying bugs and shortcomingsTah
Tahnk you, any idea how can i submit? via chat?

You can get OneNote in the App Store:

Just keep in mind that it has some bugs and shortcomings in its search function on both desktop and mobile versions. Notably, on the mobile app there's no "Find Next" option (that is, you can't iterate through search results). Hard to believe that Microsoft neglected to implement this basic function, but it's the sad shameful truth. This option is available if you access OneNote via a browser, of course, but this has its own set of inconveniences.

The "Find Next" option does exist, of course, in the desktop version, but the app has another problem: the search field doesn't become focused when you press Cmd-F. You have to manually place the cursor there (or you end up typing your search terms in the note itself). I have a custom AppleScript script that fixes this.

Oh and its paradigm of Notebooks-Sections-Pages may at first require large quantities of alcohol and/or drugs to understand. After that it feels quite intuitive.

Other than that, OneNote is a great tool.
 
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