Weird punctuation marks that fo not match what is being typed.

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Level 1

18 points

Weird punctuation marks that fo not match what is being typed.

All of a sudden my iPad keyboard is missing the decimal point/period and comma. When I strike the question mark on the keyboard it inputs a decimal point/period, but no question mark. When I strike the exclamation point, it inputs a comma. What’s going on (question mark intended here but unable to type one with the question mark key).

Running iPadOS 14.2. (Just now had to double strike space bar after the 14 to insert decimal point and then backspace to enter the 2. Can’t coherently punctuate sentences with a comma, when I have to strike the exclamation point key to do so, which I just did.

iPad, iPadOS 14

Posted on Nov 26, 2020 6:43 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Ali_E1

Community Specialist

Dec 4, 2020 4:49 PM in response to CWT TX

Hi, CWT TX.

Thank you for posting in the Apple Support Communities.

We understand that you’re experiencing an issue where the keyboard either isn’t typing the commands that you’re inputting, or it isn’t giving you the option to type the ones you want. We want to make sure we provide the best assistance possible.

Is this happening with an external keyboard like the Smart Keyboard? If it is, you might try the “Get help” section of this article:

Use your Smart Keyboard Folio or Smart Keyboard with your iPad - Apple Support

If it’s happening with the built-in keyboard, we’re curious about whether it occurs when you change the orientation of the keyboard? This should tell us whether the issue is related to the sensitivity of your touch screen or with the software.

Have you restarted your iPad since noticing this happening? If not, go ahead and do that, as a restart can resolve unexpected issues.

Restart your iPad

Warmest Regards.

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Answer 2

CWT TX Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 4, 2020 5:47 PM in response to Ali_E1

Hi, Alicia_K. Thank you for the reply.

Good news...the restart seems to have settled the matter tonight. That said, I had also restarted my iPad several times in the days before I wrote my message to the Communities. I knew that tactic sometimes resolved odd happenings. However, it did not back then, so I resolved to write.

While I seem to no longer be experiencing the problem, I will still go ahead and answer your questions, in case it happens again, or other customers experience the same thing.

I was using the on-board keyboard. I do not own an external keyboard. As for the orientation, I did not try changing the orientation, so cannot report as to whether the problem I originally described persisted or was resolved by changing that. When typing emails or filling in fields in online forms and the like, I always use my iPad in “portrait” mode if that is still the correct way to describe that orientation as opposed to “landscape.”

Thank you again for your message and encouraging me to try the restart again.

Have a nice weekend.

All the best to you.

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Answer 3

karina184

Community Specialist

Dec 6, 2020 9:51 AM in response to CWT TX

CWT TX,

We were happy to hear that restarting your iPad has you back to typing coherently! Thank you for taking the time to reach out and let us know.

We were asking about the orientation to see if it was possible the issue was related to a sensitivity with your touchscreen. Changing the orientation moves the location of those keys on the keyboard and can give you a good indication of whether the issue is hardware or software related. If a restart resolved it for you, it’s unlikely related to the hardware on your iPad. This is good news!

Regarding the previous restarts not resolving it before, there are a couple of different ways to restart your iPad, and we always encourage that you fully restart like you did with the instructions outlined in the article we linked in our last reply. This ensures that the processes for the app and your iPad are both fully shut down and restarted fresh when you open it again. If it's possible you were previously forcing the iPad to restart by holding a sequence of buttons until it shut down without the power off slider it may not have gone through the full sequence.

Enjoy the rest of your day!

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Answer 4

CWT TX Author

Level 1

18 points

Dec 6, 2020 6:11 PM in response to karina184

karina184,

Thank you for your message and the explanation about the orientation of my iPad vis a vi detecting if there was a problem with the touch screen.

Even if there had been a issue with the sensitivity of my device, the matter (that has now been resolved) would have also included a problem with the fact that the two lower right punctuation keys on my iPad’s onboard keyboard had ONLY an exclamation point (and no comma), and a question mark (and no period) displayed. Amazingly, in context, when typing the software seemed to know that a comma or period was needed to punctuate, even though the key itself only showed an exclamation point or question mark.

It was all very strange. Happy it is now resolved.

Thanks again for your message. I appreciate your concern.

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Weird punctuation marks that fo not match what is being typed.

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