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Does anybody know where is the Insert button on the Apple keyboard? Or is there any shortcut to emulate insert button? I have Big Sur OS on my new M1 MacBook air and no advice that I found on the internet works. I tried shortcuts like fn + I, fn + enter, fn +return, shif + fn + enter,... but nothing works.

MarkM
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  • If none of the answers in the linked questions work, please [edit] to explain what you're trying to use insert for (i.e. what app and what functionality?) – grg Aug 20 '21 at 06:13
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    I mean any app, not specific one. Just like the Insert button on normal PC (Linux, Windows, ...) keyboard. Is there any button like that? Or shortcut? – MarkM Aug 20 '21 at 06:17
  • The problem is there's no system-wide insert vs overwrite mode toggle on macOS, and because there's no specific insert key on Mac many apps converted to macOS bind something else to the same functionality. As shown by the variety of shortcuts given as answers in those linked questions, there's no one answer to this, but it just depends on what app you're using and/or what conversion happens in between (e.g. if you're remote desktop to a Windows computer). Without knowing a specific app or functionality it's just going to be guessing more shortcuts and there's already lots to try in the links. – grg Aug 20 '21 at 06:22
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    Aha, now I get it. That is stupid. Such a terrible keyboard design. Thank you for you explanation! – MarkM Aug 20 '21 at 06:25
  • In IntelliJ, alt-insert on Windows is actually cmd-n on macOS — there's no way we're guessing something like that without more details as there's no one-to-one mapping of the insert key! (each x-insert maps to a completely different x-y on macOS chosen by the IntelliJ developers) – grg Aug 20 '21 at 06:25
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    I don't agree it's terrible keyboard design, it's classic Apple design of designing the hardware and software together. Since the software doesn't have the concept of insert, the hardware doesn't either. Software ported to macOS should take into account the customs of macOS and conform to the standard shortcuts used on the platform rather than trying to map keyboard shortcuts literally. – grg Aug 20 '21 at 06:29
  • But I think there should be a concept of insert on the macos... it makes work much more convenient, especially for developers. – MarkM Aug 20 '21 at 06:36

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