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[SOLVED] Option+Shift+Left/Right won't select text

947 views 5 replies 2 participants last post by  sinclair_tm 
#1 ·
Ordinarily Option+Shift+Left/Right will allow you to select text a word at a time, but this no longer functions. I can select text a letter at a time (Shift+Left/Right), skip forward or backward in text a word at a time (Option+Left/Right), and use other text selection combinations (e.g., Cmd+Shift+Left/Right; Shift+Up/Down). All of the keys work fine in every other context, but this one combination doesn't work. It doesn't matter which Option or Shift keys are used; I've tried every combination to no avail. The cursor doesn't respond at all. This is persistent across all applications.

I've searched high and low and can't find a solution for this, and none of my own tinkering with keyboard or accessibility settings has made a difference. Given that I work with text and code all day, this slows my workflow down considerably and is incredibly annoying. Please help!

I'm on a Mac Book Pro Retina (Mid 2012) running OS X 10.8.4, in case it matters.
 
#3 ·
Re: Option+Shift+Left/Right won't select text

I use it frequently, every day. It stopped working in the middle of the day recently, though I don't remember exactly when. I'm fairly certain that it didn't coincide with the installation of any new software, though it wouldn't be a bad idea to try uninstalling a few things nonessential things and seeing what happens.
 
#4 ·
Re: Option+Shift+Left/Right won't select text

I ended up uninstalling everything I'd installed that wasn't essential for doing my job, and that did the trick. I wish I'd kept a list of programs in case anyone else runs into this in the future. Oh well. Hindsight and all. Thanks!
 
#5 ·
Re: Option+Shift+Left/Right won't select text

Update:
I used App Cleaner to uninstall the various programs, and I just realized that it put everything in the trash bin instead of completely erasing it. Here are the programs I uninstalled:
- ArtRage 4 Demo
- PivotalBooster
- Skim (PDF Reader)
- Spotify
- Spotify Menubar
- TextWrangler
My money is on the Spotify Menubar being the culprit. It was shoddy all around.
 
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