My delete key only deletes in forward direction!

Had same problem, went in to System pref to Keyboard. The wireless keyboard has several drop down menus and the last one says "Dictation". When I went in that one, the Dictation shortcut was "tap Fn key twice". I changed it to "tap Command key" instead and when I disconnected and reconnected keyboard it worked fine!

Try doing a SMC reset, it may take 2-3 attempts.

SMC RESET

• Shut down the computer.
• Unplug the computer's power cord and all peripherals.
• Press and hold the power button for 5 seconds.
• Release the power button.
• Attach the computers power cable.
• Press the power button to turn on the computer.

PRAM RESET

• Shut down the computer.
• Locate the following keys on the keyboard: Command, Option, P, and R. You will need to hold these keys down simultaneously in step 4.
• Turn on the computer.
• Press and hold the Command-Option-P-R keys. You must press this key combination before the gray screen appears.
• Hold the keys down until the computer restarts and you hear the startup sound for the second time.
• Release the keys.

Read the instructions carefully and you may need to repeat the whole cycle 2-3 times. In other words SMC reset, restart and test, SMC reset, restart and test etc..

SnowBeavers wrote:

Please help. All of a sudden, I my delete key only works in the forward direction

Under normal conditions, this will happen if the Fn key is pressed. If it is always forward-deleting, one possible cause is a Fn key stuck in the down position. What happens currently if you press Fn+Delete? Does it change anything, or does it reverse the behavior? This might give you a clue about if it has to do with a defect with the Fn key.

SnowBeavers wrote:

I should add my left and right arrow keys are not working either. I use the apple wireless keyboard.

If the Fn key is stuck down, then the left and right arrow keys would behave as Home and End keys. Have you observed if this is happening? Like on a long web page?

I have exactly the same problem. With my Imac 27 the "backspace" button works like "delete" (forward) and the arrows aren't working for moving among the written text. So it's very difficult to work since i cannot access the text i've just written...

The wireless keyboard should be ok since with other computer works properly... After making SMC and PRAM reset everything seems to work properly for about a minute and then the problem is back again... Any ideas?

i think the problem came after updating to "wireless keyboard software 2.0"... Thanks

You may simply have a sticky Fn key try deleting with the FN key down and see if it fixes it. As per Network 23's comment.

Cheers

Same problem here with a couple twists. Issues: after I cleaned key board thinking I was out of range of iMac but wasn't, delete key deletes to the right, arrows keys jump full page or sentences, sound-up key pulls up dashboard, mute key doesn't work and using left shift key to capitalize "T" doesn't work. I can fix sound-up key issue by changing system preferences - keyboard "use all F1, F2 etc..." selection (either way!). SMT reset fixes delete and arrow key issues but only until something sets it back, such as if I use the left shift key to try and capitalize "T" Frankly, at this point I'd be happy just to buy a new keyboard but am concerned that will not solve problem. Help?

In addition, when I use Show Keyboard Viewer, the FN key doesn’t shade when pressed and certain keys, such as the shift keys and caps lock, cause the FN key to become shaded and it stays that way. When that happens, the delete key changes direction and the arrow keys change to the problematic setting in the Viewer.

Ok so where is an update on this?

Recently my keyboard has been experiencing exactly the same problem.

Delete button only goes forward or works when highlighting, left and right arrow keys aren't working, FN does not change anything and volume up button brings up the dashboard while mute doesnt work.

This seems to be a bug that a lot of users are experiencing so where's the patch apple?

They should be better than this!

Also having the same problems as others with the fixing attempts.

Just to add to the statistics, I had the fn key always affecting things issue too, but only on one keyboard. Another keyboard worked fine, which made be skeptical about whether reseting the power manager would help. But I gave it a go anyway, only using the normal key sequence, not the ones given here. The steps are:

shut down

press the control, option, shift, and power keys for a few seconds.

let go

press the power button to start up

That fixed things, but unfortunately only for a couple of minutes. I'm going to try starting up in safe mode, see if maybe something iI have installed is causing the issue.

Just to add to the statistics, I had the fn key always affecting things issue too.

Recently I have made a clean install of Yosemite and it fixed to problem for a few minutes only.

I will try another keyboard and let you know the results.

I am experiencing the same "delete and arrows" issue as everyone here with my bluetooth keyboard.

It's intermittent and started after a battery change. Batteries @ 100% and have tried multiple batteries.

Same issue on multiple computers.

Disconnecting and reconnecting restores it for a few seconds. I suspect corrupted firmware, but can't reinstall Keyboard Firmware 2.0 as it's outdated.

A ton of people have this problem, only possible fix I have seen is to hold down function key for 20+ seconds but does not work for me.

Buy a new keyboard. Apple taking a very weak stance on this. Disappointing.

I pressed the fn key and it's working again. Yay!!! 🙂 :*

Crap...fixed it for about a minute and now back to deleting in forward instead of backward. ***???