Messages on Mac mangles text when editing (Big Sur and Monterey)

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Level 1

11 points

Messages on Mac mangles text when editing (Big Sur and Monterey)

When editing text in the Messages app, Messages will completely mangle the text. It inserts random characters, cuts out words, and makes a complete mess of the text. If I'm typing a longer text message, I have to do so in another application and then copy and paste the text into Messages.

I've experienced this problem on my old Intel MacBook Pro running Big Sur as well as my new AS MacBook Pro running Monterey. I did not use the Migration Assistant to migrate to my new machine either.

Any suggestions?

MacBook Pro Apple Silicon

Posted on Aug 4, 2022 8:58 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

PRP_53

Level 10

91,345 points

Aug 5, 2022 4:41 AM in response to Rob X

Must say, does not happen on any of my M1 Apple Silicon Computer when running Big Sur and now Monterey 12.5 .

Nor on Ancient Mac Mini Intel from circa 2011 running High Sierra mcOS 10.13.6

1 - Restart in Safe Mode. This will perform a Disk Repair, clear cache files and only load Apple Software, extensions and fonts. The boot up will be slow and can take some time - Normal.

2 - Does the issue present in this mode ?

3 - Sometimes a Safe Boot followed by a Normal Boot will just put things right.

4 - If not - there could be something in the main User Account playing up. To further isolate this - Set up users, guests, and groups on Mac. Then log out of the Main User account and log into the dummy account and test again if the issue persists.

5 - If the issue is present in the dummy account - then, this appears to be a System Wide issue on the computer.

6 - If after performing each of the above steps in the order that have been presents and still have issues - please advise for possible further assistance.

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Answer 2

k haugen

Level 1

4 points

Aug 14, 2022 7:59 AM in response to Rob X

I have the same problem on my 2021 MacBook Pro, Monterey 12.5. So frequent and frustrating, I now routinely compose longer texts in Notes and copy and paste them over - total hassle. It's never happened in other apps or on on my older Macs or other devices. I'll try @PPhilip's suggestions, but am open to others, too.

This goes far beyond Mac's awkward word completion algorithms - as @RobX says, it mangles the text - swapping the order, deleting or repeating text, replacing characters with apostrophes, etc., often several words earlier in the text. Here's an example that just happened:

I had typed this:

I think it’d be great if we could get the tile and gas pipe scheduled for the same day if at all possible. Neither should take a long time. It’s possible there’s enough ‘give’ in the horizontal run of pipe under the house that they just need to undo the hanging brackets

And when I went to add in "drill through the floor," I got as far as "drill" before it turned into this:

I think it’d be great if we could get the tile and gas pipe scheduled for the same day if at all possible. Neither sh’s possible there’s enough ‘give’ in the horizontal run of pipe under the house that they just need to undo the hanging brackets drill ua new ndo the hanging brackets

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Answer 3

Rob X Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 9, 2022 12:37 PM in response to PRP_53

Thanks for the suggestions. I did a Safe Boot and it mostly fixed the issue. I've noticed that typing an ellipsis seems to really trigger the madness. And once it starts, every attempt at correcting the garbled text just makes the issue worse elsewhere in the block of text.

I've checked Keyboard settings and turned everything off. I don't use the abomination that is Siri, so there's nothing to delete. I haven't tried making a new account yet.

My machine is a new machine and I did not use the migration assistant, so it's basically a clean install of everything. I can't really imagine what would have corrupted the main user account in this way, but who knows. These days Apple's software is so buggy (and I say that as a 40 year customer) that nothing would surprise me.

Thanks for trying to help.

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Answer 4

Rob X Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 9, 2022 1:35 PM in response to dialabrain

I did try Safe Mode. It didn't completely fix the problem but it was better. In Safe Mode it would garble a bit, but fixing the garble didn't then trigger another garble elsewhere in the text. When booted up normally, once it garbles, then fixing the garble, garbles text somewhere else, and so on and so on. Just gets progressively worse.

I'm sort of at a loss. It only happens in Messages. No other apps. Can you think of any third party apps or types of apps that might be the culprit? I don't have a lot of third party apps installed and they are all pretty mainstream and established.

Thanks!

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Answer 5

dialabrain

Level 10

124,805 points

Sep 9, 2022 1:43 PM in response to Rob X

I really don't have an idea what would cause it. You could try creating a new user account and see if it has the same problem.

Just so it's clear, you are trying to edit the message before you send it? I actually don't know how you could otherwise. In the meantime perhaps someone else will have an idea.

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Answer 6

PRP_53

Level 10

91,345 points

Sep 9, 2022 1:45 PM in response to Rob X

Then as @dialabrain indicated and I agree - some piece of Third Party Software installed is probably the root cause of this issue.

To possible really see where it issue is coming from

Download the Application Etrecheck directly from the Developer.

The application is free or paid from added features.

It will take a Snap Shot - both the hardware and software.

The Report will Not Reveal Any Personal Information.

Post back the Full Report - copy and paste - using the Additional Text Icon ( 3rd Icon to last )

We can have a look at the report for possible issues and may have possible suggestions to resolve the issues.

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Answer 7

Rob X Author

Level 1

11 points

Sep 9, 2022 1:49 PM in response to dialabrain

I'm still not sure what all triggers it, although typing an ellipsis almost always does. K Haugen's example above of what happens to text is the same sort of behavior I see. It mangles text somewhere in the message you're typing. Then you go to fix the mangled text and it mangles more text elsewhere in the message. Fix that and the same thing happens elsewhere. Etc. It just keeps getting progressively worse. It's super weird. I think you're probably right about it being a third party app. I've seen the behavior in Big Sur and Monterey on both Intel and AS machines. I just have no idea what third app would only be affecting Messages. I also don't use any third party apps related to Messages.

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Answer 8

dialabrain

Level 10

124,805 points

Sep 9, 2022 1:55 PM in response to Rob X

Rob X wrote:

I just have no idea what third app would only be affecting Messages. I also don't use any third party apps related to Messages.

In theory, running in Safe Mode should not allow any third-party extensions to run in the background to affect things. But, an app doesn't have to be related to another app in order to cause problems.

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Answer 9

k haugen

Level 1

4 points

Sep 9, 2022 3:06 PM in response to dialabrain

Lots of this is beyond me, but I'm still having the same issue Rob X has. I wondered if it were some kind of malware, but nothing shows up when I run virus/malwar scans. I resort to composing longer texts in a different app.

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