Hi Jenn, Yes, the Think Outside Stowaway Keyboard is a good keyboard for doing editing with select, copy, and paste. I'll cc this reply to the macvisionaries list, since the same actions used to select, copy, and paste text with a Bluetooth keyboard on an iOS device will work on the Mac. Since you select text by holding down the Shift key and using combinations of the arrow keys along with the three keys at the bottom left of the keyboard (in order: Control, Command or "Windows" key when used with a PC, and Option or "Alt" key when used with a PC), you should not be in QuickNav mode for the editing. In fact, when you press VO-Space, meaning Control+Option+Space, to do the equivalent of double tap to start editing the text, you should hear VoiceOver say "QuickNav off" if you had it turned on.
If you're in the text file, you can navigate with your arrow keys and shortcut sequences. Adding a press of the Shift key to these movement shortcut combinations will let you add these characters, words, lines, etc. that you move through to your selected text, which VoiceOver will announce as "selected". Left or right arrow keys move you by character Option+Left or right arrow keys move you by word Up or down arrow keys move you by line Either Control or Command+Left arrow moves you to the beginning of a line, and Control or Command+Right arrow moves to the end of a line Either Control or Command+Up arrow moves you to the beginning of the text, and Control or Command+Down arrow moves to the end of the text You can also select all with Command-A, copy with Command-C, cut with Command-X, and paste with Command-V To undo use Command-Z and to redo use Command-Shift-Z In earlier versions of iOS4, only the Command key in combination with the arrow keys would get announced by VoiceOver as "selected". In later versions, including the current one, you can use either the Control key or the Command key together with the arrow keys to move or select to the beginning or end of a line, or to the beginning or end of the text. This now works this way for Mac computers, too, and presumably is because iOS device users may be using keyboards without a Command key. The Think Outside Stowaway keyboard has both a Control key (bottom row, left-most key) and a Command key (bottom row, key to the right of the Control key), so you can use either. You can press the "Shift" key with the pinkie of your left hand, and then press the "Command" key with the ring finger your left hand, and the arrow keys with your right hand. Alternatively, you could press the "Shift" and "Control" keys together with the pinkie of your left hand laid flat across both keys (tip on the "Shift" key and next join on the "Control" key), and then press the arrow keys with your right hand. I find it easiest to slide the ring finger of my left hand to the "Shift" key, and then use the middle finger to press "Command" and the index finger to press the "Option" key in combination with arrow keys pressed with my right hand when I am selecting and copying text. You may want to experiment with what works best for you. An exception to the statement that you can simply select by adding a key press on the Shift key to the movement key shortcut on the Sonoma model of the Think Outside Stowaway keyboard (the one with 4 rows of keys that you have), is that you cannot select backwards to the top of the text with Command or Control+Shift+Up arrow. This combination works on both the Apple Wireless Keyboard, and the Sierra model of the Think Outside Stowaway keyboard (the one with 5 rows of keys, including a dedicated row of number keys at the top). You can select forwards from a point in the middle of your text to the end of the text with Control or Command+Shift+Down arrow, but the same command substituting Up arrow to select from current position to the beginning of the text apparently conflicts. Similarly, on the 4-row Stowaway keyboard, you cannot select by lines in the backwards direction with Shift+Up arrow. This sequence generates a question mark. However, again, the combination works for both the Apple Wireless keyboard and the 5-row Sierra model of the Think Outside Stowaway keyboard. Most people get confused about selecting and copying text in the backwards direction anyway, so this probably won't be an issue for you. There are no difficulties moving your selection backwards by words or characters. As long as you continue to hold down the shift key, you can change to any of the other key combinations to continue your selection. So for example, if I want to move a section of text from the end of a mail message to the beginning of the note, I could use the cursor movement keys to arrow down to the start of the section I wanted to select, press Shift+Command+Down arrow to select from that point to the end of the text. Then, if I want to back up from the selection from the signature I can keep the Shift key pressed and change from holding down the Command key to holding down the Option key. The first tap with the left arrow key moves the end of the selected region back one word. I'll hear my name announced from the signature and VoiceOver will follow that by saying "unselected". Each successive tap of the left arrow key deselects another word from the signature lines. When I have moved back past the signature, I can release my hands from the shift key and the keyboard, and then press Command-C to copy or Command-X to cut. Then I can navigate with my arrow keys to the beginning of the file (e.g., with Control or Command+Up Arrow) and paste the section in with Command+V. While you're experimenting, remember that you can undo with Command-Z and redo with Command-Shift-Z. To get out of selection mode at any time, simply move your cursor without holding down the Shift key. All previous selections will disappear. HTH and that I haven't confused you with all the details! There's also an older post that I wrote about using the Apple Wireless keyboard with a simple notes app called Simplenote. It was written before we had the ability to navigate the screen with VoiceOver and Bluetooth keyboards, and only editing worked. It is a bit lengthy, because I was tired when I typed it. But it goes through an example of some actions and what VoiceOver says. Here's the title and link: • Selecting and Navigating in Note texts on iDevices with the Apple Keyboards and Simplenote App [was SimpleNote BlueTooth Keyboard] http://www.mail-archive.com/macvisionaries%40googlegroups.com/msg27394.html Cheers, Esther On Oct 9, 2011, at 12:33, Jennie Facer wrote: > Is there a way to select, copy, or paste with the think outside stow away > keyboard? > > Thanks, > > Jenn > > To the world you are someone but to someone you are the world! > -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en.
