The Quick Tag Editor starts in Edit Tag mode when the current selection consists of a complete tag (an opening tag, plus a corresponding closing tag if applicable, and the tag's contents, if any). For example, if the selection is an image, or if it's a FONT tag and the corresponding /FONT tag and all the text in between, the Quick Tag Editor starts in Edit Tag mode. The easiest way to ensure that the current selection starts and ends with matched tags is to select a tag in the tag selector at the bottom left of the Document window.
The Quick Tag Editor also starts in Edit Tag mode when the current selection includes an unmatched opening or closing tag. In this case, the selection is expanded to include the current selection's parent tag and its contents. For example, if the current paragraph consists of the HTML <p>They were reading <cite>A Tale of Two Cities</cite> in class.</p>, and the current selection is reading <cite>A Tale, with no closing </cite> tag, the Quick Tag Editor starts in Edit Tag mode with the entire paragraph selected.
In Edit Tag mode, you can edit only a single opening tag. If you move the insertion point past the end of the tag and enter more than one tag, an error message appears and everything you enter is ignored. If Apply Changes Immediately While Editing is selected in the Quick Tag Editor panel of the Preferences dialog box, then every time you use Tab or Shift+Tab to move from one attribute to another, the attribute you changed is updated in the document. If that option is deselected, you must press Enter (Windows) or Return (Macintosh) to apply the changes you've made.
To switch from Edit Tag mode to Wrap Tag mode, use the Control+T (Windows) or Command+T (Macintosh) keyboard shortcut again. See About Wrap Tag mode. To switch from Edit Tag mode to Insert HTML mode, use the keyboard shortcut twice. See About Insert HTML mode.