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How to make the Mac “delete” button work in JOSM?

When running JOSM on Mac (either on MacOS directly, or in a VM), there is no actual "delete" button - the one that is labeled "delete" on the keyboard is actually backspace.

"Delete" operation for map objects in the edit mode can be achieved by pressing "Fn + delete", but this is rather inconvenient.

How can one reconfigure JOSM so that the hardware "delete" button removes selected objects in the map view?

josm mac keyboard delete

asked 25 Mar '19, 11:34

Richlv
1.7k●15●31●42
accept rate: 22%

One Answer:

When running JOSM in a Linux VM

Go to Edit -> Preferences (or press F12), switch to the keyboard tab (7th from the top) and enter "delete" in the "Search" field.
Select "Edit: Delete" and choose "Backspace" in the "Key" dropdown (usually near the top; you can also sequentially type "backs..." to jump to the correct entry).
Click "OK"

JOSM preferences on Linux

When running JOSM directly in MacOS

Go to Main -> Preferences (or press command + ,), switch to the keyboard tab (at the time of this writing, the tiny icons on the left - 7th from the top) and enter "delete" in the "Search" field.
Select "Edit: Delete" and choose the arrow-like object that points to the left with an X on it in the "Key" dropdown (usually near the top; there does not seem to be an easy way to jump to it).
Click "OK"

JOSM preferences on MacOS

answered 25 Mar '19, 11:34

Richlv
1.7k●15●31●42
accept rate: 22%

edited 25 Mar '19, 11:46