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User profile for user: Brooks51
Brooks51 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Shift key does not type character printed on certain keys

I replaced my keyboard [the old one died]. The new keyboard will type a period, but does not want to type a colon [the character printed above the period].


Period key types .

shift and period key types >

dash key types /

shift and dash types /

there doesn't seem to be a way to type an equal sign, semi colon, or question mark even though all are printed on the keyboard/


The keyboard is set to US English and was purchased in California. Setting the keyboard to US International or Canadian English changed nothing. I'm at a complete loss. This sucks

iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 10.14

Posted on Feb 26, 2021 6:56 PM

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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
118,446 points

Posted on Feb 26, 2021 9:19 PM

Brooks51 wrote: The new keyboard will type a period, but does not want to type a colon [the character printed above the period].

No US or English keyboard has a colon printed above the period. They always have > printed on that key. Period on the same key as colon means the keyboard is designed for some European language.. Do you see a key printed with Ñ? If so, it is designed for Spanish.


In any case, for the keys to match what is produced on the screen, you have to set the Input Source, which appears at the top right of the screen. to the right language flag. If you have a Spanish keyboard, the right input source is normally Spanish ISO.


If you think you have a keyboard for some other language, tell us about any accented characters printed on the keys and we can help you get the right input source selected.

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User profile for user: Tom Gewecke
Tom Gewecke
User level: Level 10
118,446 points

Feb 26, 2021 9:19 PM in response to Brooks51

Brooks51 wrote: The new keyboard will type a period, but does not want to type a colon [the character printed above the period].

No US or English keyboard has a colon printed above the period. They always have > printed on that key. Period on the same key as colon means the keyboard is designed for some European language.. Do you see a key printed with Ñ? If so, it is designed for Spanish.


In any case, for the keys to match what is produced on the screen, you have to set the Input Source, which appears at the top right of the screen. to the right language flag. If you have a Spanish keyboard, the right input source is normally Spanish ISO.


If you think you have a keyboard for some other language, tell us about any accented characters printed on the keys and we can help you get the right input source selected.

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User profile for user: Brooks51
Brooks51 Author
User level: Level 1
4 points

Feb 27, 2021 3:39 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

This was helpful/ I saw this in the morning and realized the solution to this was to exchange the international keyboard for one with a US keyset. Even if I could have made the language work, all of my keystroke commands would have moved on that keyboard. It wasn't worth the headache to relearn parts of my workflow that I can do with my eyes closed

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Shift key does not type character printed on certain keys

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