Text navigation shortcuts in Parallels 4
The most annoying thing with running windows in a Parallels virtual machine, is that the default key mappings for navigating text is different between windows and OS X:
Windows:
- Go to end of line = End
- Go to start of line = Home
- Go to next word = control-right arrow
- Go to previous word = control-left arrow
OS X:
- Go to end of line = command-right arrow
- Go to start of line = comand-left arrow
- Go to next word = option(alt)-right arrow
- Go to previous word = option(alt)-left arrow
Parallels by default remaps the text copy, cut & paste from command-c to control-c, command-v to control-v etc. Why oh Why didn’t it do this for text navigation I bemoaned over and over, frustratingly trying to remember which OS I was using and switching to the right one.
Then, today, I had a moment of clarity. It was so obvious. I felt stupid for not looking for it before. Behold the screen shot below and now I am calm and relaxed with a unified text navigation scheme.
Lol, n00b
Actually, one of the first things I do when installing a program is check out the preferences. Maybe I’m just a tweaker like that.
Thankyou very much for this. I knew there must be somewhere it could be configured but I kept searching for it in the Virtual Machine preferences, not in the actual Parallel’s preferences. Duh.
I was getting so frustrated with doing ALT-Left Arrow while typing in a text area in IE and having the browser navigate back in history. This has saved me from that frustration.