Overtype mode, i.e. the way Microsoft Office apps, in particular Word, will overwrite text in front of the cursor as you type, without so much as a beep, if you happen to have pressed your Insert key, has long been the scourge of typists the world over, and for a good long time there's been real no reason for its existence at all. Finally Microsoft seems to have realized this, as according to Jan Miksovsky at
flow|state, Office 2007 will have overtype mode, no matter how many times you press the Insert key, disabled by default. Of course, there's still a preference to re-enable the "feature" since, as Miksovsky says, "with a user base the size of Microsoft's, it's virtually guaranteed that a large corporate customer has a vocal department that swears they need Overtype mode, so dropping the mode was probably out of the question." Now, can we get rid of the CAPS LOCK key, next?
Tags: commercial, microsoft, office, office2007, overtype, word
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Comments
14
Subscribe to commentsThe JoshlerJul 14th 2006 6:32PM
Finally! I remember my first encounter with that key while still being a virgin to computers (back in like 7th grade probably). It took me forever to figure out what I had done to make Word act like that. Stupid Insert key...
(btw, that first sentence took my mind for a spin.. :D )
Atanas BoevJul 14th 2006 7:06PM
Finally!! Now could they please also remove freaking shift-insert ctrl-insert copy/paste combinations??
RedSevenJul 14th 2006 7:29PM
Its sad, though true, that I know someone who actually reinstalled Windows when they couldn't figure this out.
Mike L.Jul 15th 2006 1:16AM
Well, there is something even more important IMHO: when will somebody remove the Num Lock key at last? It is so unnecessary (and confusing/error-inducing) on keyboards that have a separate cursor block.
Also, as we just removed one (relatively expensive) LED with the above, I think the Caps Lock LED should be on the Caps Lock key itself, not separate from it (counter-intuitive). Microsoft, are you listening? Why don't you start to work on the usability of your keyboards, rather than just add more and more keys and features?
l0neJul 15th 2006 2:08AM
Disabling Caps Lock? Piece o' cake on a Mac: System Preferences > Keyboard & Mouse > Modifier Keys and remap it to e.g. Control. That's it, no more caps lock.
humanzooJul 15th 2006 1:47PM
I used a MS keyboard that had removed the Insert key from above the delete key. It was sheer hell. I'm a huge fan of shift-insert and ctrl-insert. Removing that would make MS Office just that much more unbareable (to me anyway).
ArmaanJul 15th 2006 2:09PM
What's wrong with Caps Lock?
Jordan RunningJul 15th 2006 2:15PM
Armaan: It's 100% useless to 99.5% of users and serves mainly to make tech support people pull out their hair. ("My password won't work!" "Sir, is your caps lock light on?")
TristanJul 15th 2006 9:12PM
the company i work for uses caps lock all the time. for some reason the custom bilt software we use to manage our database does not recognize lowercase letters. go figure.
RandyJul 16th 2006 12:29AM
If you have a Microsoft keyboard and are using their driver software you can turn off Caps Lock via Control Panel.
If you using Windows you can always remap the keys themselves using something like SharpKeys (http://www.randyrants.com/sharpkeys) - I remapped the Caps Lock key to Left Shift so I have a huge shift key that spans two keys... it seems that I only every hit Caps Lock when reaching for shift anyway.
JoshuaJul 16th 2006 9:04AM
Insert? Should have been gone years ago.
Caps Lock? Way too many corporate environments and typists use it.
Num Lock? Should be on by default and controlled by the OS, not the BIOS. (Hopefully EFI will change that.)
JammyJul 17th 2006 2:13AM
What about the scroll lock key that's the most useful one ever.
FabuloJul 20th 2006 3:17PM
The scroll lock is especially useful in Excel, when you have to move around around a big spreadsheet and use the keyboard to navigate. Try it sometimes.
Face it, with such a huge installed base, there will always be someone whining you took their insert key/sysrequest/print screen key away.
Microsoft is not responsible for the design of the AT keyboard. If some fancy keyboards now can sport an "internet browser" key, I can keep my insert and pause key which I find useful.
MichaelJul 24th 2006 9:25AM
REMOVE THE CAPLOCK BUTTON???
WHAT ABOUT ALL THE TEENS AND OTHER MORONS THAT FEEL THEY HAVE TO TYPE IN CAPS ALL THE TIME??
oR tHE rEAL wINNERS tHAT iNVERT tHE cAPS... tHEY'D fEEL lOST wITHOUT iT!! *L*
Sorry... I couldn't resist! It's a Monday! *S*