As more and more people want to use their iPad as a laptop replacement, it is again noticeable how some functions don’t quite work as they should. Fortunately, you can make text selection a lot easier on an iPad.
Select iPad text: this is how it works faster
The iPad is in an awkward position. On the one hand, it has been a tablet for years, but with the arrival of the new iPad Pro, Apple increasingly sees it as a fully-fledged alternative to the laptop.
In that case, the lack of a trackpad or mouse support often irritates users. For example, how do you select large chunks of text without swiping them line by line? Apple has found something on this, but does not explain it anywhere, so few people know about it. It goes like this.
- In a text, select the word where the text selection starts by tapping it twice;
- Press and hold the (digital) keyboard of the iPad with two fingers until it turns light gray;
- Now move your fingers up or down on the keyboard to select large parts of text at once;
- Release the keyboard, tap the selection and choose to copy, paste, or something else.
The feature was already added to iOS a few years ago, but is still very unknown. When a developer demonstrated the feature via a video on Twitter over the weekend, it was shared en masse.
Note that this feature requires an app to support built-in iOS text selection. If the app doesn’t do this, the app may have found its own way to perform this function.
iPad Pro 2018 available now
With the iPad Pro 2018, Apple is breaking new ground with the iPad. The tablet has a new design for the first time in years and is more powerful than most MacBooks. Nevertheless, in 2018 the question is still whether the tablet can replace Apple’s laptops.
Read all about the new iPad Pro