Cursor will no longer move when I hold down an arrow key -- just upgraded to Ventura 13.5

Question

Level 1

13 points

Cursor will no longer move when I hold down an arrow key -- just upgraded to Ventura 13.5

MacBook Pro 2018 running Ventura 13.5

I think it has only been since I upgraded to Ventura 13.5 a week ago that my arrow keys no longer move the cursor when I hold them down. All four arrow keys move the cursor one space in that direction each time I press them, which is normal behavior. But when I hold any arrow key down, the cursor doesn't start moving in that direction. This is true for Word, Notes, Pages, Chrome, Safari, and the Finder, so I assume it's the OS rather than any particular app.

Is this a Ventura problem? Is there any kind of fix?

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 13.5

Posted on Aug 24, 2023 10:37 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Aug 26, 2023 2:57 AM in response to loomr

Do other keys repeat, eg if you keep pressing t do you get ttttttttttt?

You may check the settings under Keyboard and also under Accessibility. I am not at my mac now but there should be settings for auto repeat that you may want to check out.

Reply

Answer 2

steve626

Level 6

13,791 points

Aug 26, 2023 9:09 AM in response to loomr

There was another post where a user reported arrow keys not functioning properly and it was "fixed" by booting into Safe Mode, followed by normal boot. Might be worth trying ...

Reply

Answer 3

Owl-53

Level 10

102,577 points

Aug 26, 2023 2:20 AM in response to loomr

If this issue is presented while using the Builtin Keyboard - suggest connecting any USB External Keyboard

The Test if this behaviour is presented.

If no, the could be something malfunctioning with the Internal Keyboard

Then have a few suggestions ;

1 - Have the computer evaluated by the Professionals who have the Special Hardware Software and Expertise to diagnose the issue and offer possible solutions

2 - Make an Appointment at the Apple Genius Bar and have them evaluate the computer

Reply

Answer 4

loomr Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 25, 2023 11:43 PM in response to Rudegar

Thank you for replying! That's not quite what I'm looking for. I don't want to control the mouse pointer with the arrow keys. Just the blinking cursor when I'm typing something. Normally when I'm typing in some text field or word processor page I can move the cursor with the arrow keys. For instance, I can press the left arrow key and go backwards one letter. What I've lost the ability to do is press and hold the left arrow key and have the cursor (not the mouse pointer but the spot at which I can enter letters) go backwards continuously until I release the arrow key. This is a standard function on any modern computer and it was working fine until I upgraded to Ventura.

Reply

Answer 5

loomr Author

Level 1

13 points

Aug 26, 2023 3:26 PM in response to steve626

That actually gave me partial success! Now the space bar and the arrow keys repeat, and I'm able to set the repeat speed in the System Settings so that they function the way i want them to. Punctuation keys and the Delete key repeat. But letters and numbers still do not repeat. I wonder if I have something set wrong in the Keyboard Setup, because when I hold down certain letters a little bubble now pops up giving me different accent options.

Reply