Lack of a forward delete key

While I can understand why the iPad's touch keyboard does not have a forward delete key (reduced utility given that arrow keys are also an integral part of making efficient use of forward delete, plus limited on-screen space), what I can't understand is why using a Bluetooth keyboard still doesn't add forward delete support.

e.g. with the Logitech K760 and my Mac, fn + Delete performs a forward delete.

On the iPad, this doesn't do anything (it performs a standard delete).

So the experience is not consistent between platforms, in addition to arbitrarily reducing the usability of the iPad for no apparent gain...

Separarte to that, forward Delete is a much more popular feature among Windows users, as PC keyboards have had a dedicated key for that forever. Mac's used to, but Apple removed it long ago. (I say this having been a Mac user for 20 years.) Those of you who don't understand why forward Delete is important have either never worked on a PC or have never worked with massive text documents or spreadsheets (or if you have, not as efficiently as you might otherwise have been able to when making edits 😉).

My frustration at no forward delete key - many apps use text boxes to input text. How do you delete (or edit) text which is beyond the end of the physical box on the ipad/iphone.

I usually end up deleting characters to the left of the cursor that i do want to keep, to bring in the characters i don't want into the text box, reposition cursor, delete characters left, then go back and insert previously deleted characters - wonderful!

That sports car reference is actually a case for why a forward delete key would be so handy on an iPad. iPads are not meant for extensive typing but they are meant for limited typing. Remember not.... oops, Remember now ;), it only takes a single wrongly typed word to see the need for the key.

It comes down to this: iPads are not great for accurate typing which leads to a greater need to correct mistakes. Add in the difficulty of placing the cursor to perform a backspace and you have a legitimate need for the forward delete key.

I totally agree with you, whyisitsodifficult. Many times I'm typing and not really looking at every single letter I type (as any normal person does) and add to that the keyboard on ipad is ridiculous. You think you're hitting one letter but it's another, when it doesn't just skip a letter even though you hit it (even copy/paste on google where you can't see the end of it but you need to delete that end part and you tried copying and pasting a million times without that end part and finally gave up bc the thing won't cut where you want it to) so now you're done writing but you have to rewrite that whole word and/or do something creative like copy/paste on notes and delete from the end there (that's very convenient and a lot of fun!) it's ludicrous.

More ludicrous is what someone said up here, that in the many years he/she has working as a programmer or what have you, no one has ever asked him/ her for that. Are you kidding? What kind of people did you work for, the ones that like whyisitsodifficult mentioned, who only make mistakes in one direction? Wow.

I am equally mystified after having recently bought a mac laptop and having been a PC user for many years. That was one of the first questions I had--how do I forward delete (akin to the delete key on a PC). Why is there no key for this on a mac or ipad? I used this all the time on my PC, even in word processing and emails--particularly when editing something after you have typed it...for example, when you want to insert/change some text and then want to delete what was in front of it--particularly if editing on the fly and not knowing in advance exactly what words you want to delete.

I did learn that on the mac laptop I can use FN-delete to do this (thank goodness, but it is more cumbersome); I cannot understand why apple does not include that key on all of its products. Using the magnifying glass takes considerably more time to peform.

If you need it, you bought the wrong product.

Apple has never had a forward delete key.

I personally have never used one, not in windows,Linux or on my Mac.

Totally pointless to have one.

Just hold down the function key (fn) and then press the delete key...and volà farword delete!

Hope this Helps

Iamedge wrote:

Just hold down the function key (fn) and then press the delete key...and volà farword delete!

Where on the iPad keyboard do you see a function key?

My apologies when I read the question I assumed you were using a laptop…I didn’t see the iPad discussion header.

Meg St._Clair

Hi Meg,

I'm sorry but I think your response is really nuts. Just because (even if true) only a small number of users actually use the forward delete functionality, isn't it kind of absurd to just remove that functionality after its been in place so long?

I get the idea of streamling an application. That does not mean finding (hard) to find all the functions that 51% of the users actually use. Its a trade off clearly. No one wants a version of PAGES that turns in to an MS WORD monster. But I also don't want to end up with a version of PAGES that is like using a chalk board.

I am definitely with the folks who would like to see the forward delete back in place in PAGES.

Thanks,

---jon---

JonSticklen wrote:

I'm sorry but I think your response is really nuts. Just because (even if true) only a small number of users actually use the forward delete functionality, isn't it kind of absurd to just remove that functionality after its been in place so long?

Remove a functionality? iOS has never had such a feature.

I've spent 30 years with experience on OS's most people have never heard of. Apple is the only product I have ever used that does not have a forward delete key. The inherent arrogance in your reply is what has caused me to avoid apple products until recently, and only supports my belief.

Couldn't have said it better myself, but I'm going to try anyway! 😝 I realise this thread is in the iPad section of the forum but a Google search for "macbook air forward delete" brought it up as the second result, so here goes.

Anyone that thinks this key is not useful is, IMHO, an arrogant Macophile that blindly refuses to look outside the little Apple-created box that they live their entire lives within. Which is 99% of Mac/iPhone/iPad users in my experience. Plus as the OP said, I can't understand why on Earth these people have never, ever felt the need to forward delete instead of using the right arrow key and Backspace...this just absolutely boggles my mind!! I guess you don't miss what you've never had, but still, I'm sure these people can see the sense in making x key presses instead of 2x key presses, especially when x is 10 or more! Sure, you can use the mouse to reposition the insertion point and then Backspace, but I find this to be just as tedious.

So I've been happily using Windows only on my Macbook Air for the past 2 years (installed it natively via UEFI and completely wiped OS X) and haven't had a single problem. Now I'm in my 3rd year of a B. Comp. Sci. degree and my tutors have told me that they refuse to mark my work in Windows. They are obviously part of that group of Macophiles that I mentioned earlier. So I went through 3 days of **** to backup my data, reinstall Mac OS X via Internet Recovery (I must admit that is one Apple feature that I absolutely love!) and attempt to install Windows via Boot Camp. I couldn't get the Windows install to work for god-only-knows what reason, and eventually gave up.

So now I'm really trying my hardest to get used to OS X and make it my one-and-only OS of use. But things like this forward delete business, automatically sleeping when I close the lid and many other little annoyances are making it extremely difficult. Yes, they are all trivial little things on their own, but add them all together and you get the user experience from ****!

The icing on the cake is the fact that I could set up workarounds for all of these things in Windows, if it didn't already provide built-in solutions. E.g. setting it to stay awake when I close the lid is as simple as configuring the built-in Power Management settings via Control Panel. Rectifying this forward delete problem was doable via a third-party key remapping utility. And so on...

But on OS X, I need a third-party utility to keep my Macbook awake, and I can't find any way to remap any keys that actually works! KeyRemap4Macbook is touted as the bees knees all across the Internet, but I think it is an absolute useless piece of crap! Just like the OS that it's installed on...

Come on Apple, if you really want to win the PC/Mac war, you're gonna have to try a little harder...when a different vendor's OS works better on your hardware than your own OS does, surely you have to ask yourselves why...

Wow, that wasn't at all patronizing, was it? So someone who doesn't find use in the key is an arrogant Macophile who lives their entire lives within an Apple-created box?!?! It really boggles your mind that "these people" never felt the need to forward delete? Yet someone who does use forward delete is somehow enlightened and entitled to an opinion on it's usefulness? Come on now.

BTW, all of those questions are rhetorical to make a point.

But seriously, not only was your post misplaced (i.e. iPad vs. Mac), but it is misinformed - or at least I thought it was until I saw your other post here. As you seem to already know based on that post, using the forward arrow and backspace are not necessary as you claim here. Neither is a dedicated forward-delete key when a key combination will serve the same purpose. I can only guess that you needed this post to have a bit more punch after that strong lead-in.

For those that don't already know, on Mac OS X, fn-del serves the same function as the forward-delete key, and cmd-fn-del will forward delete a full word (a key combination exists for that on Windows too I believe). I use them both often on my Mac, but I don't see the necessity of cluttering my keyboard with two extra keys to make them useful.

And although having to hold down fn may be hard to get used to for someone that's used to Windows and regular keyboards., it's still probably far less difficult than a Mac user getting accustomed to that more complex, finger-stretching exercise known as ctrl-alt-del. (intentional dig meant to be taken in the same light-hearted way it is meant Oz).

And now back to our regularly schedule debate on forward-delete's usefulness on iPad.

In short my opinion is this - I don't miss it since I never use my iPad as a full replacement for a full size computer or keyboard.

Turning this into some sort of sectarian struggle is just a little ridiculous. Making inferences that people who don't do things the way you do (i.e. use a forward delete key) are somehow clueless is rude.

I've used Windows computers exclusively at work for the last 25 years. And no, I don't use the forward delete key. It just seems weird and awkward to me. That doesn't make me or Macs somehow inferior or wrong. It's a preference. If Mac OS (or iOS) doesn't work for you, I won't judge you.

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