It
appears that while typing a word in many OS X apps, such as iChat and Yojimbo, hitting the Esc key will present a
drop-down list of word completion options. I *think* this might be a Cocoa-related service of Mac OS X (sorry, Firefox
users), but I'm always hesitant to toss out a guess like that because I am constantly surprised as to which apps are
actually Cocoa (Finder, for example, is still Carbon, even in Tiger). I get this popup in Ecto, Stickies and Mail as
well, but not in any input areas on websites in Safari, so feel free to experiment with this handy but (as far as I
know) undocumented feature.TUAW Tip: Hit esc for some word suggestions
It
appears that while typing a word in many OS X apps, such as iChat and Yojimbo, hitting the Esc key will present a
drop-down list of word completion options. I *think* this might be a Cocoa-related service of Mac OS X (sorry, Firefox
users), but I'm always hesitant to toss out a guess like that because I am constantly surprised as to which apps are
actually Cocoa (Finder, for example, is still Carbon, even in Tiger). I get this popup in Ecto, Stickies and Mail as
well, but not in any input areas on websites in Safari, so feel free to experiment with this handy but (as far as I
know) undocumented feature.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
3-25-2006 @ 10:19AM
Stephen said...
Wow. I you guys.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 10:25AM
bloodthirstyrobot said...
That is so...cool! What a gem of a find.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 10:58AM
macsterdam said...
Great tip - thanks very much!
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 11:07AM
derek said...
It is OPT+ESC, not just ESC, by the way...
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 11:14AM
David Chartier said...
#3: Using just the Esc key seems to be working just fine in all the apps I tested Derek. I'm on the latest version of Tiger, and the only keyboard/typing haxie/addon I'm using is TextPander, but I know that's not what enables this feature. While Opt-Esc seems to also work for me, Esc works just fine all by itself.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 11:21AM
Tomm said...
Interestingly, opt-esc works for me, while esc alone does not. But it works in Safari for me. It's kinda nice, but I'm not sure really when I would ever use it.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 11:23AM
Alex said...
It works in this input-area as I comment right now...
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 11:59AM
Ccooper said...
See:
http://saladwithsteve.com/osx/2004/11/word-completion-in-cocoa-apps.html
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 12:57PM
Adam said...
While esc works sometimes, opt-esc will work in places where esc will not...
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 12:59PM
dkmarsh said...
F5 does the same thing for me.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 1:05PM
J. Simon van der Walt said...
Funny, I just noticed that by accident today, in the Systrans Translation widget of all places.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 1:06PM
David H said...
opt-esc works for me in Safari (in the built-in Google search box) while esc erases the word I type. Same thing in the Mail search box. Cool tip though! I never knew. Keep up the good work!
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 1:53PM
Pick said...
I just right-click on the word I misspelled, it comes up with the same thing.
Also right-click and go down to "Spelling", you will see more options for configuration.
And it IS documented, look at the help for finder and search for "spell".
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 2:30PM
David Chartier said...
#13: This isn't the built in spelling engine, it's a different word suggestion engine. Try using the keyboard shortcut and you'll understand; it isn't suggesting proper spellings for words you've already completed, it suggests words you're trying to complete. Not much unlike T9 text input on mobile phones.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 3:40PM
yoharryo said...
dont wanna be accused of critiquing you guys, as people always the full wrath of TUAW readers when that happens..but come on.. Scott McNulty posted this almost a year ago!!! http://www.tuaw.com/2005/05/26/autocomplete-in-cocoa-applications/
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 5:58PM
David Chartier said...
#16: Right yoharryo, but it's nice to have a reminder from time to time.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 7:17PM
totoro said...
Hmmmm...isn't Camino a cocoa app? I can get it to work in Safari, but not in Camino..
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 7:55PM
David Chartier said...
Yea but afaik, Camino is a bit of a Cocoa quirk, because it doesn't seem to play with some of OS X's text engines. For example, take a look for the Edit > Spelling menu... it isn't there.
Reply
3-25-2006 @ 11:58PM
oyam said...
This is a standard part of cocoa. All esc, opt-esc, F5 do the same kind of word completion and works in all text fields/areas as long as the apps are using native widgets (or extend native widgets)
Reply
8-07-2007 @ 4:24PM
Pick said...
#14: Yeah, I noticed that like 3 minutes after I posted.
Reply