Insert/Overwrite Mode in MacOS/NSTextField

Question

sidharth_m OP

Created Oct ’23

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Hi,

Does MacOS support the "Insert" key (Overwrite mode) in general and in an NSTextField? There are Articles that say this can be done using "Fn + Enter", "Fn + i" or "Shift + 0" but I'm unable to trigger the same

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/8457698

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/5469511

Plugging in a Keyboard with a physical 'Insert' key also does nothing.

Answered by DTS Engineer in 767451022

NSTextView (and UITextView, for that matter) don't provide this "overwrite" functionality. However, it's likely that apps that have a Windows counterpart may provide this ability, by overriding and customizing NSTextView behavior, in order to maintain feature parity with their Windows versions.

Those alternate keystrokes (Fn etc) that you mentioned are ways of "pressing" the Insert key, but the Insert key does not have a system-level behavior on macOS. It's up to apps to detect such keystrokes and handle them in a suitable way.

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Answer 1

DTS Engineer OP

Apple

Oct ’23

Accepted Answer

NSTextView (and UITextView, for that matter) don't provide this "overwrite" functionality. However, it's likely that apps that have a Windows counterpart may provide this ability, by overriding and customizing NSTextView behavior, in order to maintain feature parity with their Windows versions.

Those alternate keystrokes (Fn etc) that you mentioned are ways of "pressing" the Insert key, but the Insert key does not have a system-level behavior on macOS. It's up to apps to detect such keystrokes and handle them in a suitable way.

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