whenever i leave my cursor on something it keeps popping up and highlights stuff in yellow and stupid box with the meaning will pop up i have googled but i still have no idea what the heck it is and how to stop it... there do not seem to be settings I can change in dictionary app WHAT IS IT ????
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VERY IRRITATING dictionary thing keeps popping up
- Thread starter jdaniel
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Sounds like maybe you have installed some adware/malware that is doing that.
Try running the app MalWareBytes to remove the malware.
Try running the app MalWareBytes to remove the malware.
It sound like Dictionary. On my machine it pops up, if I double tap with three fingers on a word.
Im not tapping **** lol I am using an external mouse which is not apple and whe the cursor hovers over anything .. pop ups come on NON STOP.. sometimes I cannot even type in peace.. and then it goes away..
I tried looking for malware and theres nothing... I even deleted dictionary app and it still happening.. I cannot find any add ons in chrome or firefox to explain this...
Maybe you have better touch tool or similar which trigger it.
Trackpad activation can be disabled by unchecking point & click->look up in trackpad settings.
There is also a cmd+ctrl+d keyboard shortcut, which can activate it. It can be disabled by this terminal command:
defaults write com.apple.symbolichotkeys AppleSymbolicHotKeys -dict-add 70 '<dict><key>enabled</key><false/></dict>'
Yes, this is a VERY irritating problem. I recently got a trackpad for my Mac, and found it nearly impossible to select sections of text - it kept bringing a dictionary instead of selecting the text! This would be enough to rule out using an otherwise wonderful trackpad for normal computer use, if there were not a solution. Seriously, what was Apple thinking?
Significant1's response gives clues to help solve the problem. The trackpad settings are different now so the suggestion does not work directly, but of course 6 years have passed so that's understandable. With a modern MacOS and trackpad, the most relevant setting you can select is called "Look up & data detectors." By default it is set to "force click with one finger." Apparently that is the problem: when you are selecting text you have to hold one finger on a corner of the trackpad while moving another finger to select the text, and it is very hard to avoid pushing too hard. Note - setting the click strength to medium or firm does not help. But you CAN set the "Look up & data detectors" to "Tap with three fingers." That appears to be sufficient to avoid undesired triggering of this (rather useless) feature when you are just trying to select text using two fingers.
I have not yet tried Significant1's terminal comment to disable the dictionary. I will keep that in mind in case the problem reappears.
Thank you!
Significant1's response gives clues to help solve the problem. The trackpad settings are different now so the suggestion does not work directly, but of course 6 years have passed so that's understandable. With a modern MacOS and trackpad, the most relevant setting you can select is called "Look up & data detectors." By default it is set to "force click with one finger." Apparently that is the problem: when you are selecting text you have to hold one finger on a corner of the trackpad while moving another finger to select the text, and it is very hard to avoid pushing too hard. Note - setting the click strength to medium or firm does not help. But you CAN set the "Look up & data detectors" to "Tap with three fingers." That appears to be sufficient to avoid undesired triggering of this (rather useless) feature when you are just trying to select text using two fingers.
I have not yet tried Significant1's terminal comment to disable the dictionary. I will keep that in mind in case the problem reappears.
Thank you!