Changing and Selecting Text

Whether you are editing code, HTML, or plain text, the Microsoft Script Editor works the same and functions like other text editors or word processors.

To add or insert text

  1. Either click somewhere in the document or move the cursor to the desired location.
  2. Type the text. If your cursor is between existing characters, the text is inserted between them.

To overwrite characters in an existing line, press the INSERT key to put the editor in Overstrike mode. You can tell that it is in that mode when the cursor turns from a flashing line into a flashing block, and by the OVR displayed in the bottom right corner on the Script Editor taskbar. Press the INSERT key again to return to Insertion (INS) mode.

To delete characters or a word in a line

  1. Place the cursor immediately before or immediately after the word or letter you want to delete.
  2. Press the DELETE or BACKSPACE key, as appropriate, as many times as needed to delete the characters or words. In Design view, press CTRL+DELETE and CTRL+BACKSPACE to delete whole words.

Alternatively, you can double-click a word and then press DELETE or BACKSPACE to delete it.

To delete lines, paragraphs, and pages

  1. Highlight the text you want to delete by holding down the left mouse button and dragging over the text, or by using the SHIFT key with the HOME, END, PAGEUP, or PAGEDOWN key, or with one of the arrow keys. You can click in the Selection Margin to select the current line.
  2. Press DELETE or BACKSPACE.

You can also cut, copy, and drag and drop text in your document. For more information, see Dragging and Dropping Text.

You can format your code or let the environment do it for you. For more information, see Managing Code Formatting.

Selecting Text

The Script Editor has two text selection modes:

To stream select text

To column select text

For information about moving around in a document, see Navigating Text.