How to make alt-backspace delete words in Windows?

Question

I am attempting to make the text editing experience in a Windows workstation I use alongside my OS X systems line up with the keybindings that Cocoa offers.

To start, how would one change mappings so that alt-backspace (in this case it's the option-back-delete key on an older MacBook Pro) deletes entire words?

I would also like to map many other keys differently, such as control-a/e to go to beginning/end of line and a number of other alterations to match it up, but I'd like to start off at the very least with the above.

possible duplicate of How do I remap the keys on my keyboard?, How can I remap a keyboard key?, Windows keyboard macro playback software? — Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Aug 05 '14 at 19:49
Those keystrokes you're mentioning are handled by each application itself, not by the OS. I doubt this is possible. How would this tool know how many characters are in the word? Every application's model under the hood is different. — Steve, Aug 05 '14 at 19:49
@Steve OP wants to map a key to another key or combination of keys - all answers point to AutoHotKey (or alike), which is much more than "simple key remapping", but it does that too. — Ƭᴇcʜιᴇ007, Aug 05 '14 at 19:53
A newer question has arisen which provides better answers: How to add the Alt+Backspace macOS typing functionality to Windows. — Marc.2377, Mar 15 '18 at 05:24

score 4 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 23 '18 at 22:46

4

Did you know that you can delete words by the combination Ctrl+Backspace?

Alt+Backspace is generally mapped to the "Undo" command.

If you still want to change the behavior, you can use the AutoHotKey program.

edited Nov 23 '18 at 22:46

Run5k

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answered Nov 23 '18 at 20:50

Mikko Vedru

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score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 24 '16 at 03:45

To faster delete whole words, you can first select them by placing the cursor at the end and pressing Control + Shift + Left Arrow. Then proceed by pressing Backspace or Delete.

To map the Alt + Backspace behavior to do this, check the links given as "possible duplicates" to your question.

How to make alt-backspace delete words in Windows?

2 Answers2