'a' selects all when I just want an 'a'

[angusm]

When typing I often find that pressing 'a' on the qwerty keyboard selects all the preceding text instead of entering an 'a'. I assume this is because I have hit some key sequence that puts the keyboard (or maybe just certain keys) into edit mode, but I do not know what key sequence I should avoid. Can anyone enlighten me? Or, better still, point me at some relevant documentation?

Thanks,

Angus.

 

[reybie]

I saw someone post the same thing before and the only way I could do it was accidentally hitting the menu button then A.

 

[angusm]

Reybie, thanks for the quick reply, but Menu A doesn't seem to do anything on my Droid 4 - and I'm sure I didn't hit that sequence by mistake. Thanks anyway.

Angus.

 

[debdroid1a]

Are you accidentally pressing the OK button on the keyboard? That selects all and holding it down gives you other options.

Other then that I'm not sure. I haven't had that problem. And I just tried by typing a word, then the letter 'a', then a word, then 'a'... it typed just the 'a' and I just tried with a Shift key then the 'A' and it capitalized it but didn't select anything.

 

[angusm]

debdroid1a, the effect of holding down the OK key was news to me, so thanks for that, but it doesn't seem to be the root of my problem. Is there any documentation anywhere?

 

[angusm]

I found a manual that I could access at http://www.motorola.com/staticfiles/Support/US-EN/Mobile%20Phones/DROID-4/Documents/StaticFiles/Droid4_UG_Vzw_68016676001A.pdf.

 

[debdroid1a]

Some things I was thinking about.

Is this only when you're texting? Which app are you using or is it stock?
replying to a post? E-mail?
Are you rooted?

 

[angusm]

Good question! Now that I think about it, it is always when I am typing in a password on the qwerty keyboard - initially when I was setting up email and latterly when trying to connect to My Verizon. If I exit and try again it may work OK, or may not.

The phone is just as I got it from Verizon - not rooted, no apps downloaded, just some settings (e.g. email) changed. The problem first occurred in the Verizon store (and the Verizon associate (tech?) had the problem, too) when I initially configured my Exchange email.

 

[xtingu]

When typing I often find that pressing 'a' on the qwerty keyboard selects all the preceding text instead of entering an 'a'. I assume this is because I have hit some key sequence that puts the keyboard (or maybe just certain keys) into edit mode, but I do not know what key sequence I should avoid. Can anyone enlighten me? Or, better still, point me at some relevant documentation?

Angus!
I just registered for this account so I could reply to you. I've been trying to find another human having this problem because it makes me MENTAL.

Here's what I've found:
I type something.
I select some text, I do menu + C to copy it.
I move my cursor someplace, then I do menu + v to paste it.
I move on with my life and keep typing whatever I was typing. If a word has the letter A in it, everything is selected and then gets replaced with the next thing I type. AAAAARRRGH. I can't tell you how many blog posts, emails, you name it I've lost because of this.

It happens anytime I type, regardless of the app. I could be texting, typing on a web page, using stock apps or apps from the Play Store. It's any text input at all.

What's happening is after you hit Paste (Menu + v) the menu button stays activated somehow. So when you press A, it thinks you're hitting Menu + a (select all), and then you overwrite everything with your next keystroke.

The only workaround I've found is to train yourself to hit the Menu key one more time after you've pasted. then it's fine.
It's been happening for well over a year. I thought the ICS update would fix it... it didn't. I thought the most recent VZW update would do something... it didn't.

I factory-reset my phone which didn't fix it. A month ago I did a total wipe including the SD card, and that fixed it!! Yippee!!
and then it came back again last week totally mysteriously. I admit I was re-installing some apps (again, these are all standard, boring apps... nothing weird), and I should have written down the order and tested the Menu+A issue after every installation to see what the culprit was. Two nights ago I did another total wipe including the SD card and it didn't fix it. I'll probably try one more wipe and this time I'll test after each app to see what's causing it.

I wish I knew what was causing it.

If you've discovered any fixes or workarounds, please let me know.

Rock on,

Jill

 

[moongdss]

Angus!
I just registered for this account so I could reply to you. I've been trying to find another human having this problem because it makes me MENTAL.

-snip-
The only workaround I've found is to train yourself to hit the Menu key one more time after you've pasted.

Here's another soul driven batty by that very same 'quirk'! My solution has been fat-thumbing all the keys in frustration until it stops LOL. Good to know it's the MENU key, I'll look to that next time it happens.

I haven't upgraded to JB because of the SHIFT key issue. Good to know I'm not missing a fix!

Cheers,
Diana

 

[xtingu]

Folks: I just figured it out!

I just totally blew away my entire phone (factory reset, blew away SD card, everything) and installed my apps one by one, and after I installed each app, I did the Control + A test.

And I figured out which application was causing it:
Business Calendar.

It's an app I paid for (and sadly, I love love love love). I uninstalled it and the problem went away. Bingo!

I'm not done re-installing all of my other apps, and I will still continue to install them one by one and doing the Control+A test after each one just to see if more than one app was causing it.

But HOLY HALLELUJAH, this was making me mental.
You should have seen the insane dance I just did in the kitchen yelling "IN YOUR FACE, BUSINESS CALENDAR!"

I'm not a sane gal.

Anyway, I'll continue testing my other apps... but if you use Business Calendar, definitely uninstall it.

Woot!

Jill
(Droid4, Verizon Wireless, not rooted.)

 

[xtingu]

A few more apps that cause it...

So, in addition to Business Calendar, looks like it also happens with Seesmic / Seesmic Pro, Yelp, and Dropbox.

The select-all problem goes away when I uninstall these apps, though.

Now, here's something weird:
My boyfriend has the same exact phone/carrier as me (we bought our phones on the same day from the same location), and he uses the Yelp and Dropbox apps, yet he doesn't have this problem at all.

Grrrrrr. So now I'm starting to think it's hardware-related.

I don't think I can live without Dropbox. I can survive without Seesmic, Yelp, and Business Calendar, but not Dropbox... I use it for work. So I guess I'll just have to live with the Select-All thing.

(For the record, I've installed and successfully tested GMail, Google Search (with the Google Now update), Google Maps/Navigation, Voice Commands, YouTube, Facebook, Chrome, Twitter, Google Keep, Google Voice, K9 Mail, Solitaire (by Ken Magic), Instagram. Those all work fine and don't cause the Select-All issue for me. I still have a few more apps to install... but it's late so I'll do those tomorrow.)

The mystery continues...

Jill

 

[Heero121]

When typing I often find that pressing 'a' on the qwerty keyboard selects all the preceding text instead of entering an 'a'. I assume this is because I have hit some key sequence that puts the keyboard (or maybe just certain keys) into edit mode, but I do not know what key sequence I should avoid. Can anyone enlighten me? Or, better still, point me at some relevant documentation?

Thanks,

Angus.

this has happened to me alot, and i can agree that it can be incredibly frustrating. especially when you type out a response and it clears out your entire message. My quick fix for this is, i slide the qwerty back up, finish my response with swype, thn next time i slide my keyboard out the problem is gone...until it happens again at another extremely odd time, like 2 weeks, later or 2 days later lol. hope this could be of help.