keyboard viewer, devanagari, missing characters

Question

Level 1

27 points

keyboard viewer, devanagari, missing characters

I'm learning to type in Hindi using the inbuilt Devanagari - QWERTY keyboard but I'm getting only a partial display of characters on one of my iMacs.

On my older computer (24-inch, Early 2009, OS X 10.11.6) the keyboard viewer displays correctly,

ie:

but on my later computer (27-inch, Mid 2011, OS X 10.13.6) the keyboard viewer will only display question marks for several of the characters,

ie:

Can anyone explain why this is happening and is there a way for me to fix it?

I have already tried deleting the .plist in keyboard prefs but it didn't help.

Thanks

iMac 27″, macOS 10.13

Posted on Sep 18, 2021 2:38 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

D.I. Johnson

Level 7

23,861 points

Sep 18, 2021 5:22 PM in response to Gary Young

If rebooting your Mac doesn’t fix things, see if the problem still happens in Safe mode (hold the shift key down at startup). It can take much longer to safe boot (10 min) so be patient.

How to use safe mode on your Mac - Apple Support

Safe mode forces the OS to clear certain caches and logs and do other miscellaneous housekeeping. It's non-destructive to user data so is safe to do. Very often certain weird software behavior is corrected by simply logging in this way as a troubleshooting method. When you're in safe boot, the machine will not be at its best performance, especially with graphics, but that's expected.

Does the problem persist while in Safe mode?

Exit safe mode by restarting your Mac normally and re-evaluate the issue again.

If the problem is still unresolved, please return here and post a reply and we’ll see what else we can come up with for help.

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,322 points

Sep 19, 2021 12:41 PM in response to Gary Young

Gary Young wrote:

This problem does not occur with any language using the standard western alphabet but it does with languages using a non-western script such as Chinese, Arabic, Thai and others.

I think your fonts are probably ok but your keyboard viewer app has gone bad. Suggest you reinstall the OS.

https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/reinstall-macos-mchlp1599/10.13/mac/10.13

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Answer 3

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 19, 2021 11:59 AM in response to Gary Young

On your 2011 Mac, the missing characters (with '?') are the ones that have 'matras' (as highlighted - long and short a, e, i, o, u sounds added to the Devanagari alphabet)....

You may want to Validate fonts in Font Book and check if it addresses the missing characters.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

118,322 points

Sep 18, 2021 6:22 PM in response to Gary Young

Do you get these question marks when you actually type into an app like Pages or TextEdit or Mail?

Normally this is caused by a bad or missing font. Try going to Font Book and doing File > Restore Standard Fonts and restarting.

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Answer 5

Gary Young Author

Level 1

27 points

Sep 19, 2021 3:09 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Yes, I've tried that but nothing has changed.

I've also tried copying the font folder from the mac where it does work to the mac where it doesn't but the Devanagari keyboard still displays with the question marks across it.

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Answer 6

Gary Young Author

Level 1

27 points

Sep 19, 2021 11:17 AM in response to Loner T

Yes, this shows correctly in the menu.

I've also taken a look at a number of the other available alphabets. This problem does not occur with any language using the standard western alphabet but it does with languages using a non-western script such as Chinese, Arabic, Thai and others.

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Answer 7

Gary Young Author

Level 1

27 points

Sep 19, 2021 3:04 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Did a new install off the internet but still have the same problem.

I'm beginning to think I may have to live with this and just use my old Mac for my Hindi lessons until I can afford to upgrade to a later model.

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Answer 8

Loner T

Level 9

59,513 points

Sep 19, 2021 4:47 AM in response to Gary Young

In System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Input Sources, if you click on the "+" and select Hindi, do you see the Devanagari QWERTY keyboard with proper identifications?

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Answer 9

Gary Young Author

Level 1

27 points

Sep 18, 2021 6:58 PM in response to D.I. Johnson

Unfortunately the problem still remains while in Safe mode and also after restarting. I'll run this test a second time though to see what happens.

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Answer 10

Gary Young Author

Level 1

27 points

Sep 18, 2021 7:02 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

No. The correct symbol is shown when I type the keys that are covered by question marks but since I am in the process of learning Hindi I do not know enough to guess at the hidden characters.

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