How To Stop Overwriting In Gmail

Overwriting in Gmail could be a problem and also a blessing. It’s just two ways of writing. But then again, not everyone likes the Overwriting feature a lot. So today we’re gonna know more about this feature, how to stop it and also how to switch between the typing ways. So keep reading! 

The Two Modes Of Typing

In MS Word, you can type in two ways. Overwrite, which is also called overtype and the other one is insert writing, the popular and default mode. Let’s learn more about these two modes briefly. 

What’s Overwriting/Overtyping?

The basic definition of Overwriting is to write on top of another writing. While writing an email, you might have come across this feature where you type and it’s displaying that you are writing over the already written parts. This is what we call overtyping in the case of computer science. 

 

• What Is Insert Typing?

Insert typing is the most commonly used typing mode. Insert typing is where you insert text where the cursor is or the insertion point is. Insert typing is the default mode. Most people prefer insert typing more than overtyping. 

 

The overtype replaces the text instead of displacing it. In other words, it is typing over it. You can toggle between the tho and pressing the keyboard keys to allow this function.

 

• How To Stop Overwriting?

Now that we know about the two writing modes, we should proceed to learn how to stop overtyping. 

 

A lot of other people seem to have experienced the overtyping problem in Gmail without having intentionally triggered the overtype mode on their keyboard. It’s possible that on some keyboards, overtype mode might be triggered inadvertently with some alternative key combinations.

 

In overtyping mode, what you are experiencing is consistent with being in “overtype/overwrite” mode which is opposed to “insert” mode. Insert mode is the usual default.

 

This mode is generally activated by just hitting the Insert key on your keyboard. This might require a key combination on some keyboards, especially laptops. 

 

• What if Pressing The Insert Key Doesn’t Work?

As we said before, the insert key might not work in all devices. In laptops or other devices, a key combination is needed. Follow the below steps if pressing the insert key doesn’t work. 

 

Step 1: Just go to MS Word and press ALT+T+F= Word Options .

 

Step 2: Go To Advanced>General. Then check on the “Use Insert Key To Control Overtyping” box.

 

And that’s all you need to do! 

 

• Additional Information

One reason people might think that the insert key does not work in Gmail is that it only seems to toggle between modes when in the message body of a compose window. In the subject box, the insert key seems not to have any effect.

 

If it is happening in the Subject line, you need to move the cursor to the main compose window to toggle. 

 

It is also important to note that it does not change across accounts if you have several email addresses open. It is only for the one gmail account where you accidentally activated the overtyping mode on.

 

• Another Way of Activating The Overtype Mode

To change the overtype settings so that you can access overtype mode by pressing Insert, do the following:

 

Press Alt+F, T to open Word Options.

 

Press A to select ADVANCED, and then press Tab.

 

Press Alt+O to move to the Use the Insert key. To control the overtype mode, check the box.

 

Press the Spacebar to select the check box, and then press Enter.

 

To turn Overtype mode on or off, press INSERT.

 

   

• Other Possible Reasons For It Not Working

It’s the insert (or INS) key on your keyboard.  

 

Numlock may have to be turned off first depending on your  keyboard type.   If that still doesn’t work, there are a lot of solutions posted here- https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/gmail-users/mvBubY1S1dg   

 

And lastly, for HP users specifically, in order to enable INSERT and disable overwriting in messages-

 

Do not use the upper right small key that reads “ins prt sc“.  Notice your number pad. The number zero also has “ins” or insert key on it. In your email where the issue is, hold the “fn” or function key and the 0 / ins key and see if it works. 

 

• Overtyping in windows 10 

In Windows 10, pressing the Insert key apparently doesn’t seem to work. It may be because the toggle is not turned on by default or other functions are affected.

 

This is not a malware or Windows 10 update issue, so there are a few general solutions, but no danger that device may face. It involves settings in particular. However, the incompatibility issues are the reason for your problems, scanning the machine with Reimage can be a solution.

 

So here we go! Now you know how to switch between the two typing modes easily. Hope we helped you with this article. Thanks for reading! 

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