Keyboard

**grunt0300** · 01-19-2013, 02:20 PM

O.K. this may sound crazy, but all of the accent marks for my keyboard are gone. when i hold down the "o" key, i used to get eight options for accents above the letter, seven for the "e" key, five for the "u", etc. My wife has the exact same MacBook Pro, OS X 10.7.5 as i do. I assumed that it was a setting, so i rechecked her settings against mine, and what i looked at was exactly the same. What am i overlooking? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

**Alli** · 01-19-2013, 02:46 PM

I remember when I first got my Mac that was something I went looking for (on Windows it's a language/region setting), because I switch languages regularly and need my accent marks. There was no setting on the Mac - it just does it.

If you've somehow accidentally disabled it, try this:
→ Open up your terminal
→ Enter the following command (no quotes): "defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true"
→ Restart your computer. Bummer, I know. The press-and-hold functionality is immediately disabled, but you can't hold down a key until you fully reboot.

**grunt0300** · 01-19-2013, 03:07 PM

I'll try this although i've never used "terminal". After i type in that sentence to terminal, is there something else that i have to do, in order for terminal to receive the command?

**Fausty82** · 01-19-2013, 03:29 PM

Originally Posted by grunt0300

I'll try this although i've never used "terminal". After i type in that sentence to terminal, is there something else that i have to do, in order for terminal to receive the command?

just press [enter/return]

**grunt0300** · 01-19-2013, 03:30 PM

Nope. Tried it three times, and no go. Thanks for the help.

**Fausty82** · 01-19-2013, 03:43 PM

Originally Posted by grunt0300

Nope. Tried it three times, and no go. Thanks for the help.

Interesting... I had turned mine off some time back... but I just tried it and it worked perfectly, even without rebooting. Here's an article on the subject, but the command is exactly as Alli said:

**grunt0300** · 01-19-2013, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by Fausty82

Interesting... I had turned mine off some time back... but I just tried it and it worked perfectly, even without rebooting. Here's an article on the subject, but the command is exactly as Alli said:

Is it possible that there's another explanation. Maybe i'm typing it in wrong. I'll try again.

**Fausty82** · 01-19-2013, 05:42 PM

Originally Posted by grunt0300

Is it possible that there's another explanation. Maybe i'm typing it in wrong. I'll try again.

You can copy/paste into the terminal window... What version of OS X are you running? Mountain Lion? Lion? Snow Leopard? Leopard?

**grunt0300** · 01-19-2013, 06:06 PM

Originally Posted by Fausty82

You can copy/paste into the terminal window... What version of OS X are you running? Mountain Lion? Lion? Snow Leopard? Leopard?

Lion. Could it be a setting in "system preferences"?

**Fausty82** · 01-19-2013, 06:08 PM

Originally Posted by grunt0300

Lion. Could it be a setting in "system preferences"?

It "should be" IMHO, but unfortunately, it is not.

Actually, there is a 3rd party tweak from

that might help. I’ve been running the Mountain Lion version of the tweak since Mountain Lion was released. There’s a setting for enabling/disabling the repeating key...

**grunt0300** · 01-19-2013, 07:02 PM

Originally Posted by Fausty82

It "should be" IMHO, but unfortunately, it is not.

Actually, there is a 3rd party tweak from

that might help. I’ve been running the Mountain Lion version of the tweak since Mountain Lion was released. There’s a setting for enabling/disabling the repeating key...

No go. Cannot get the character accent menu to work, no matter what i try. Looks like a trip to the Apple Store. Thanks for your help.

**grunt0300** · 01-19-2013, 11:17 PM

It was there all the time!!! I had switched web browsers from Safari, to Firefox. Safari supports the character accent menu, and Firefox doesn't.

**Fausty82** · 01-20-2013, 03:16 AM

Originally Posted by grunt0300

It was there all the time!!! I had switched web browsers from Safari, to Firefox. Safari supports the character accent menu, and Firefox doesn't.

I love a happy ending.

**grunt0300** · 01-20-2013, 08:34 AM

Character accent menu also works with Google Chrome, but i'm undecided whether to use it for my browser, or stay with Safari. I've gotten used to Netvibes for my homepage, and it's a great substitute for iGoogle.

Thanks again to you and Alli for your help.