Typing Multiple Lines In Messages, Web Forms and Other Mac Apps

Hi, this is Gary with MacMost.com. Let me show you how you can type with one line of text even when it appears you can't. 

So sometimes when you're typing on your Mac, or even on an iPhone or iPad, it appears that you can only type one line of text. When you press return key it simply submits the text or goes to the next field. For instance, when you're typing a message in the Messages App sometimes you want to have more than one line of text in your message. Now you can just keep typing and keep everything in one long line but what if you really wanted to have a return or two between lines of text. For instance, say you were typing something like this. Now your intention is to put the next word on the next line. But when you press Return, which is the natural thing to do, it submits the message. So it appears you can only have one line of text in a message. You can't put a second line because pressing return will just send the message. But, there is a way to do it. The trick is instead of pressing Return, hold down either the Shift Key or the Option Key, and you'll simply add a new line. For instance here I'll hold Shift and press Return and you see how I go to the next line. I can actually insert several blank lines by using Shift and Return if I like. You can also use Option and Return and it does the same thing. So you can put as many lines of text as you want in a single message before pressing Return by itself to send it. 

Now this trick comes in handy in a variety of other situations as well. For instance, here in Reminders I'm going to add a new reminder here. I'm going to type something and let's say I want to put a second line in the title of this reminder. If I press Return it goes to the next reminder. But instead if I hold down Option and  press Return I actually get another line and I can actually have a reminder with two lines in the title, though it doesn't work if you do Shift and Return. So in the Reminders App Option and Return works but Shift, Return doesn't 

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Here's another example of a place where you can use this. Let's say in the Calendar App if I were to double click in a day. If Type the name of an event, like this, and I press Return it accepts it as the name of the event. But instead if I use Option and Return you can actually put another line as the name of the event. Now it is going to condense that as a single line here in the Monthly View. The same in Week View and Day View. But if I were to view it I can see multiple lines here in the title. In this case Shift Return doesn't work either. Only Option Return.

Now you can use this, sometimes, in web apps. Like for instance in websites that have communities where you can chat. Very often pressing return simply sends it like a message. If you want a second line sometimes it shows you on the website that using either Option Return or Shift Return will get you that. For instance here in Patreon you can get a second line by holding the Shift Key down and pressing return. But holding the Option Key down and pressing return will actually send the message.

Now here's another place where this comes in very handy. In Numbers you can have multiple lines of text in a cell. So if I'm typing in a cell, of course I can just type a very long paragraph of text here. But if I want to have one line and then another line in the same cell I need to use Option and then Return and I can have a second line that. It has to be Option, not Shift, and you can add as many lines as you want in a single cell.

Now this even works in Formulas. It will ignore the new lines. So you can have your formulas be a little bit more readable by breaking them up into lines. Just press Equals there to start a new formula and I'll start it like this and let's say I want to put the next part of this formula on a new line. I can do Option Return, go to a new line and I can then have this next part right here. It's going to ignore the new line there and give me the correct answer. This also comes in handy when you want to have a result that's multiple lines. So for instance here I can have some text like this in the double quotes. Put an ampersand and then I can have a calculation, like that. Then let's say I want to have a second part of the results here. I can do ampersand again, double quote, and then Option Return to go to a new line and that's part of the text inside the double quotes. So now I can continue like this and have a second part, like that, and you can see that Option Return is here inside the double quote just before the b equals portion. You can see how it does these two calculations. Puts them on separate lines because of the Option Return that I placed right here. 

So the next time you're in a situation in an app or on a webpage where pressing Return seems to send or  complete the text entry try Option Return or Shift Return on your Mac and then you get multiple lines of text instead of a single long line. Now sometimes you need to do this on the iPhone or iPad as well but it is rare because the virtual keyboard allows you to have other buttons on the screen. So the Return Key can actually act as a new line and there can be a separate button for Send or Complete. Sometimes this is an upward pointing arrow. But then if you're using an invisible keyboard like on an iPad with a Magic Keyboard the Shift Return or Option Return sometimes works as well. Then in a rare case where there Return Key does actually send something on an iPhone or iPad you can tap the Shift Key first and then once that is highlighted it's a solid up arrow instead of an outline, then pressing Return won't be the same as doing Shift Return and in some cases will get you a second line instead of sending the text. 

I hope you found this useful. Thanks for watching.