A child I tutor was typing in Google Docs on a Dell laptop yesterday. Then suddenly, after he

[tblue37]

backspaced to delete a mistaken letter, any further attempt to type a letter resulted in a previous letter being replaced by the new letter. For example, when he tried to add "d" to "awar" to get "award," the " d" instead replaced the "r," producing " awad." We couldn't figure out why it happened or a way to make that stop. We even exited and then returned to Google Docs and, when that didn't work, we rebooted the computer. That didn't help either. Now he can't use that computer at all for his project (he is required to us Google Docs for the project).

I am guessing he must have used the wrong key to delete something, but I don't know which key that would be, or which key to use to make it go back to normal. Also, of course, we need to know which key caused the problem so it won't happen again.

I use a Mac, and I don't use Google Docs, so I am at a loss.

[canetoad]

1. Press the Insert Key

It will be somewhere on the top right of the keyboard. Looks like it's been turned on by accident.

[tblue37]

2. Thanks we'll try that. nt

[onecaliberal]

3. That is the problem.

[TruckFump]

4. IMO you have it set to "typeover."

Look at the bottom of the keyboard, right side of the space bar for”ins.” That is the insert key.

[hunter]

5. The locking overwrite "insert" key function is a holdover from typewriter days.

People who typed on typewriters wanted computers to work in a similar way.

It's also useful for making neat tables in monospace type.

My mom was a world class typist. Her first experiences with computer word processing were that she typed too fast for the machines to keep up.

In the days when computers were uncommon my mom made me and my siblings take typing classes. There were only two boys in my seventh grade typing class.

My mom's foresight served me very well. In college and in work I've spent many hours each day at the keyboard. (I've spent countless hours here on DU as well!)

I can generally type as fast as I think, but not nearly so fast as my mom.

In high school I'd be up at one o'clock in the morning struggling to finish typing a term paper I'd procrastinated on, clickity, clickity, clickity...

It would irritate my mom to hear me typing so slowly so she'd get out of bed, and with much irritation and disgust, finish typing my term papers in about two seconds, BRRRAAAAPPPPP!, perfectly, without any mistakes, repairing trivial spelling and grammar mistakes along the way. But oh man, would I pay for that...

[tblue37]

6. I called on Monday to tell the child's father what y'all told me, and he did what you

said to do. When I got there yesterday (Tuesday), the problem had been solved with your advice.

Thanks to everyone.