Delete Text in MS Word
We’ll talk about how to delete text in MS Word. In a Word document, it’s very common to delete text and retype the content. It’s possible that you typed something you didn’t intend to type or that the document contains extra information that is not necessary.
Whatever the reason, Word gives you a number of options for deleting text from a document, either completely or partially.
Table of contents
What is Deleting Text in MS Word?
Deleting Text in MS Word is one of the many features that MS Word offers. When we make a mistake while typing and want to delete it or want to delete some text or a paragraph that is no longer necessary.
The Backspace or Delete keys on the keyboard can be used to perform this specific operation.
How to Delete Text in Word Using the Keyboard
One way to delete text in Word while typing is using the Backspace and Delete keyboard keys.
The “Backspace” key on the majority of PCs deletes text that is located to the left of the insertion point. Meanwhile, Backspace key or Backspace key is a keyboard key that deletes any character before the cursor’s current position. Text to the right of the insertion marker is deleted when the “Delete” key is pressed.
The “Delete” key on the majority of Macs removes all text to the left of the insertion point. Text to the right of the insertion point can be deleted by simultaneously pressing the “Delete” key and the “fn” (function) key.
Selecting the text to be deleted within the document is another way to delete text in Microsoft Word. Then, delete it by pressing the “Delete” key on your keyboard.
What are the Simple Ways to Delete Text?
The simplest way to delete text is to delete one character at a time by pressing the backspace or delete key. The table below shows how to use either of these two keys to delete a single character or a whole word.
| Keys | Ways to Delete |
|---|---|
| Backspace | Keep the insertion point immediately following the character you wish to delete, and press the Backspace key. Microsoft Word deletes the character to the left of the insertion point. |
| Ctrl + Backspace | Keep the insertion point immediately following the word you wish to delete and press Ctrl + Backspace. Word eliminates the entire word to the left of the insertion point. |
| Delete | Keep the insertion point right before the character you want to delete and press the Delete key. Word gets rid of the character that is right next to the insertion point. |
| Ctrl + Delete | Keep the insertion point right before the word you want to delete and press the Ctrl + Delete keys. The word to the right of the insertion point is deleted by Word. |
List of Using Selection Method
Here is a list of ways to delete text in an MS Word document using the Selection Method. You can make use of that learning to delete those selected parts as described in the following list.
- Deleting text between two points – To select a block of text, click at the beginning of the block, hold down the Shift key, and click at the end of the block. Then, press either the Backspace or Delete key.
- Deleting a single word – You can delete a word by double-clicking anywhere on it and then pressing either the Backspace or Delete key.
- Deleting a paragraph – You can delete a paragraph by clicking on it three times and then pressing either the Backspace or Delete key.
- Deleting a sentence – Hold down the Ctrl key and click anywhere in the sentence you want to delete. Then, press either the Backspace or Delete key.
- Deleting a column of text – Hold down the Alt key, click and hold the mouse button, and drag over the column you want to delete. Then, press either the Backspace or Delete key.
- Deleting a line – Bring your mouse to the selection bar, click in front of the line you want to delete, and then press either the Backspace or Delete key.
- Deleting entire document content – Press the Ctrl and A keys together to delete the entire document, and then press either the Backspace or Delete key.
How to Delete Text in MS Word Step-by-Step
Let us now examine the methods on how to delete the text step by step. This operation is elementary and simple to master.
- Using the Backspace key to delete the text
We can delete any word by pressing the Backspace key over and over, but it takes a long time when the text is long, like a whole paragraph. So, we’ll look at how to do it below.
Step 1:Open MS-Word on your computer first.
Step 2: Now, either open the document you want to do this with or make a new one.
Step 3: Select the text to be deleted.
Step 4: To delete the selected text, press the “Backspace” key.
Step 5: Thus, the text has been successfully deleted.
- Delete the text by using the Delete key
Step 1:Open MS-Word on your computer first.
Step 2: Now, either open the document you want to do this with or make a new one.
Step 3: Select the text to be deleted.
Step 4: To delete the selected text, press the “Delete” key.
Step 5: Thus, the text has been successfully deleted.
Additional Tip in Deleting Text in MS Word
These are additional tips for deleting text in MS Word. To highlight one row of text at a time, hold down Shift and press the down or up arrow key. You can also highlight one page of text at a time by holding down Shift and pressing the Page Up or Page Down keys. When the text is highlighted, pressing the Backspace or Delete key deletes it.
Moreover, when using an Apple keyboard with only a Delete key and no Backspace key, pressing delete removes the text before the cursor.
Summary
In this tutorial, we’ve talked about the ways how to delete text in documents as well as what those terms mean. We also gain insight what are the tips deleting document. Further, we also picked up some skills on what are the shortcut keys in deleting documents.
We hope this tutorial helps you as you plan to create a document in MS Word.
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