Basic Editing: Delete, Backspace, Highlight

What if we want to remove something we have typed? One way is by using the Delete key. This is located on the right-hand side of your keyboard and probably says Delete or DEL on it. We'll use our mouse to place the cursor in front of "completely". Now, we'll press the Delete key. Each type we press the Delete key, the next character is deleted.

Another way to delete is to use the Backspace key. It is located at the top right of the keyboard and may have a backsard arrow on it. We'll use the mouse to place the cursor after the "y" in "letely". Each time we hit the Backspace key, the cursor backs up and deletes the preceding character.

What if we want to delete something long? There's a faster way to do it than by going one character at a time. Say we want to change "I need this course" to "this course is required".

First, we'll use the mouse to place the cursor in front of "I need this course". Now, we'll keep holding the left button down with our finger, and we'll move the mouse to the right to the end of the word "course". Wherever the mouse has been, the letters have changed from black on white to white on black. We say that these letters have been Highlighted. Now all we have to do is press the delete key one time, and the highlighted letters will be deleted all at once. Then we can type in the new words we want.