10.6: Pop-up and hide word definitions

Sep 09, '09 07:30:07AM

Contributed by: lullabud

It has long been possible to pop up a definition of a word by pressing Control-Command-D, but in 10.6, a familiar behavior has been added.

After pressing Control-Command-D, you can release the D key. As long as you hold down Command and Control, the definition stays popped up, but goes away when you release those keys. This is consistent with the dashboard and other click-and-hold-to-display-temporarily features.

[robg adds: Sadly, the ability to customize the Control-Command-D shortcut has been lost in 10.6. It used to appear in the Keyboard Shortcuts tab of the Keyboard & Mouse System Preferences panel, but no longer. Yes, there's still a "Look up in Dictionary" entry there, but that's the one for the dictionary Service, not the pop-up dictionary. If anyone figures out how to change this shortcut, please let us know -- submit a hint, post a comment, etc. I've looked at the app itself, too, and there's no option there. In 10.5, I had it set to F7, which I found much simpler than using the Control-Command-D shortcut.]

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