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Level 1

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Pages randomly deleting Pilcrows

Sometimes when I'm tying I decide to delete some text I've just typed up, and the fastest way for me to do that is by using Option + Delete. Sometimes when I do this (and I have yet to identify the conditions in which it happens), Pages will delete not just the word to the left of the cursor but also the numerous pilcrows that I have to the right of the cursor along with part of the following word. Sometimes, it even appears to move the cursor into the middle of the first word of the next paragraph and start deleting from there. Now, I am on a macbook air, and so I thought it might have been my thumb erronously touching the touchpad and moving the cursor, but tap-to-click is off and I'm not applying enough pressure to the pad to cause it to click.

Is there some kind of weird condition or setting that applies to option + delete that I'm not aware of? (Although Pages' preferences is two very small menus)

BONUS POINTS:
I'm noticing that my cursor is actually randomly jumping around here while I'm typing in this textbox. Quite frequently, in fact. This may have something to do with the problem above; however, it is oddly suspicious that cursor would always just so happen to end up half way into the first word of the next paragraph that is separated from the current paragraph with numerous but a varying quantity of pilcrows.

Posted on Dec 5, 2013 8:05 PM

18 replies

Scrag10

Level 1

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Dec 7, 2013 4:01 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

Hi Peter,

I was not running Time Machine before Mavericks but am now. are Super Duper and Carbon Copy Cloner the same type of software? And yes I would like to revert back to Mountain Lion If that was what I had before Mavericks?

Dec 7, 2013 4:18 PM in response to Scrag10

They both make a complete or partial back up of your entire System. The backup can be a compressed mountable .dmg file if you want. This makes a file that is smaller than your Hard Drive and can be stored for opening later or recreating elsewhere, and is an essential part of a Mac admins toolkit.

The worry with changing any system is that you may need to switch back or get at something that you left behind.

A good idea is to step across to new systems using an alternative hard drive just for that version.

I am doing that at the moment with Maverick and did it both with Lion and Mountain Lion.

With Lion I rapidly determined how bad it was and simply dumped it.

Peter

Iron Dragons Author

Level 1

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Jan 12, 2014 8:47 PM in response to Iron Dragons

Well, I managed to figure out what causes this issue. Basically, Pages is attempting to autocorrect something as I type, but it also allows me to input a command before it applies the autocorrection. My command is usually opt+delete or cmd+delete to delete the typo. The situation unfolds as follows:

Pages finds a mistake as I type and engages autocorrect then stops to wait for "appropriate input" from the user ("appropriate input" being whatever input will invoke the remainder of the autocorrect script)
I opt+ or cmd+delete to remove the typo, which Pages considers as "appropriate input"
Pages runs my command and completes its autocorrect script which has logic similar to
1. Identify 'wrong' text (let's call it <wrong>)
2. Identify 'correct' text (let's call it <correct>)
3. Store location of <wrong>
4. Await user approval of autocorrection via some kind of input
5. Execute user's command
6. Find text at stored location
7. Replace said text with <correct>

The catch is that the command I told it to run has already deleted <wrong>, so there is now completely different text in <wrong>'s position. Pages ends up replacing whatever is in its place. This does not happen with Fn+delete or just plain delete, since these don't appear to count as "appropriate input". I don't know what all qualifies as "appropriate input" as I haven't really tested that. To note, if Pages has multiple options for replacement words, then using opt+ or cmd+delete will behave as expected. I presume this is because it doesn't know what exactly to replace <wrong> with, so it aborts correction.

Anyway, turning off auto-correct spelling completely stops this.

Pages randomly deleting Pilcrows