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User profile for user: J Bertram
J Bertram Author
User level: Level 1
39 points

Apple keybard viewer in the top menu won't show my Apple Extended Keyboard "Can not be identified"

I use the Apple keyboard viewer in the top menu to find characters such at the check mark which I use in Excel. I used to have the extended keyboard which matched my APPLE keyboard. But the keyboard viewer is showing my MacBook Pro keyboard which I don't use.


Now I can't get the keyboard viewer to match my APPLE extended keyboard. I can't find any options in preferences for the keyboard viewer to show my keyboard number pad and match up to my Apple keyboard.


Preferences leads me to the system preferences for the keyboard which wants me to press the key to the right of the shift key to "identify" the keyboard.


When I press the Z key in my case, I get a "your keyboard can't be identified... you pressed a key on your Apple keyboard and not the key on the keyboard to be identified"..


The keyboard viewer is showing the MacBook Pro keyboard and not my Apple extended wireless keyboard like I want it to show.


This is an Apple keyboard. How do I get the keyboard viewer to show it in the keyboard viewer.


Programming at Apple is not thought out.... at all..... any more.

MacBook Pro 15”, macOS 10.15

Posted on Oct 28, 2019 12:17 PM

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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
112,649 points

Posted on Oct 28, 2019 12:29 PM

Click the small gear icon on the truncated default keyboard shown by the Keyboard viewer. Choose Customize… This will open a another Accessibility panel behind the current shown keyboard. Click the [+] Add Panel button and select Keyboard - ANSI (Large). Change the Show: category to As Home panel. Quit this panel, and the current floating keyboard.


When you select the Show Keyboard Viewer menu item again, it will launch as the full-size extended keyboard. You can enlarge it from the gear icon if its default size is too small.


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User profile for user: VikingOSX
VikingOSX
Community+ 2024
User level: Level 10
112,649 points

Oct 28, 2019 12:29 PM in response to J Bertram

Click the small gear icon on the truncated default keyboard shown by the Keyboard viewer. Choose Customize… This will open a another Accessibility panel behind the current shown keyboard. Click the [+] Add Panel button and select Keyboard - ANSI (Large). Change the Show: category to As Home panel. Quit this panel, and the current floating keyboard.


When you select the Show Keyboard Viewer menu item again, it will launch as the full-size extended keyboard. You can enlarge it from the gear icon if its default size is too small.


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User profile for user: J Bertram
J Bertram Author
User level: Level 1
39 points

Oct 28, 2019 12:33 PM in response to VikingOSX

Worked. Thank you. But too involved for "simple" use. Apple has lost sight of what is simple. If I have to post a question here to do simple things, it's no longer simple. Especially when this is an Apple keyboard. It should be in the primary drop down as a choice, not a PC-like involved process like this. Terrible programming, still.


Thanks again.

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Apple keybard viewer in the top menu won't show my Apple Extended Keyboard "Can not be identified"

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