Robin Williams Mac OS X Book, Jaguar Edition, The

Insertion Point

When you move the I-beam pointer to a spot within text and click, it sets down a flashing insertion point that looks like this:| (but it flashes).

This insertion point is extremely important! After you click the mouse to set the insertion point, then you can move the I-beam out of the way (using the mouse)—the insertion point is what you need to begin typing, not the I-beam!! The I-beam just positions the insertion point.

With the insertion point flashing, anything you type will start at that point and move out to the right. This is true whether the insertion point is at the beginning or the end of a paragraph, in the middle of a word, in a field of a dialog box, in the name of an icon at your Desktop, or anywhere else. (The ...