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Equivalent of 'Use the insert key to control overtype mode' in Word 365 for Mac

Anonymous
2021-08-17T13:45:33+00:00

I want to use the Insert key on my keyboard to toggle between Overtype/Insert text modes. This is a standard feature in windows:

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/office/type-over-text-in-word-for-windows-62c15c48-0936-4902-affe-4cadd71b7038

but the best I've managed to approximate in Mac is to bind Ctrl + Backspace to toggle overtype mode.

Am I missing something, or is this feature in fact missing from Office 365 for Mac?

Microsoft 365 and Office | Word | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2021-08-17T15:38:47+00:00

    Yes I do - and no, function insert doesn't work either I'm afraid.

    Do you have documentation that Word for Mac is supposed to respond to the insert key? I'm not convinced it is - it's a non-standard key for mac keyboards, although as I've shown, it can work just fine when it is present. The software just needs to be ready to support it. I'm not convinced that Word for mac does.

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  2. Anonymous
    2021-08-17T15:23:54+00:00

    Hi Dave,

    I do indeed have that option, and it works as expected - toggling overtype. It's actually under 'edit' rather than 'authoring and proofing'.

    What I do not have, and seems to be missing in the mac word version, is the ability to bind that option to the Insert key.

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  3. DaveM121 872.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2021-08-17T15:49:17+00:00

    Hi Adam

    No, I cannot find any documentation on that on the Microsoft websites

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  4. Anonymous
    2021-08-17T15:37:29+00:00

    OK, interesting, but it does show as 'insert' when logged by logging tools, e.g. Karabiner-event viewer. VS-Code also picks it up just fine - I've had to install an Overtype plugin to do anything with it, but I could for example bind the Insert key to 'a', and have it print 'a's whenever I press it without any plugins.

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  5. DaveM121 872.6K Reputation points Independent Advisor
    2021-08-17T15:31:06+00:00

    Hi Adam,

    Do you have an Insert key on your keyboard, if you do, if pressing the Insert key does not work, does Fn + Insert?

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