Question

I need to know how to make Emacs usable for a person so used to windows… Specifically what I really need are:

1) Copy-paste keys

2) Shift arrow to select text

3) The backspace acting regularly, i.e. I don’t want the cursor to have to be on the letter to delete it.

Thank you very much for any help.

Answer 1

1. The Emacs defaults are M-w (Alt + w) for copy and C-y (Ctrl + y) for paste. If you want to use your standard shortcuts, go into the Options menu at the top of the window and activate the option labelled “C-x/C-c/C-v Cut and Paste (CUA)”.

2. This is not active by default. You start a selection by hitting C+<space> and then moving your pointer around (you can actually “set your mark” this way, and then do an incremental search with C-s to the place you’d like to select up to). You can activate Options > Active Region Highlighting to make the region more obvious. If you’re in a windowing environment, you can use your mouse to make a selection.

3. I’m not entirely sure what you mean by this one. Far as I know, backspace should work as normal in Emacs (though I have been using it for a while; I may have just forgotten what “normal” means here).

Also, as a former Windows/current Emacs user, keep it up. Learning Emacs really is worth it if you can put up with the alien UI (you may eventually want to get into a little bit of Lisp too).