keys one to nine not working

I have a MacBook Air around five years old. my number keys, one to nine do not work, but the 0 key does. therefore, I can't access my email as I need the at key which is shift+two. I have looked on here for answers and had checked the enable mouse button is unchecked. any help would be great please.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 10.15

Posted on Feb 19, 2023 1:08 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Feb 21, 2023 8:51 AM

Hey there Lyppy2014,


The first steps we recommend are going to be found under the section 'If other keys don’t work' near the bottom of this link to help address those specific keys not working: If your Mac doesn’t respond to key presses If the issue remains afterwards, we wanted to confirm more details to better understand what's happening, along with ruling out some other possible causes:


  1. When did this start to occur with the 1-9 numeric keys?
  2. If you're able to test connecting an external keyboard with your Mac, does the issue occur with the same numeric keys?
  3. Sometimes unexpected behavior can be resolved with a restart. Check out the section ‘Restart your Mac' here: Shut down or restart your Mac
  4. We see you have macOS 10.15 installed, but the latest for that older OS is macOS 10.15.7. You can verify this by clicking on the Apple logo at the top left corner of the screen, then on ‘About This Mac’. In case you needed it, this link shows how to first back up, then Update macOS on Mac.


Cheers!

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Feb 21, 2023 8:51 AM in response to Lyppy2014

Hey there Lyppy2014,


The first steps we recommend are going to be found under the section 'If other keys don’t work' near the bottom of this link to help address those specific keys not working: If your Mac doesn’t respond to key presses If the issue remains afterwards, we wanted to confirm more details to better understand what's happening, along with ruling out some other possible causes:


  1. When did this start to occur with the 1-9 numeric keys?
  2. If you're able to test connecting an external keyboard with your Mac, does the issue occur with the same numeric keys?
  3. Sometimes unexpected behavior can be resolved with a restart. Check out the section ‘Restart your Mac' here: Shut down or restart your Mac
  4. We see you have macOS 10.15 installed, but the latest for that older OS is macOS 10.15.7. You can verify this by clicking on the Apple logo at the top left corner of the screen, then on ‘About This Mac’. In case you needed it, this link shows how to first back up, then Update macOS on Mac.


Cheers!

Feb 22, 2023 3:08 PM in response to Lyppy2014

Hey there Lyppy2014,


Updating macOS could definitely help. When you say you don’t have enough memory, do you mean storage space? If so, these steps can help:


“Find out how much storage space is available


Your Mac can show you how much storage space is being used by various categories of files, and how much space is available for additional files. As you take the steps in this article to free up storage space, this storage information updates automatically. 


  • macOS Ventura or later: Choose Apple menu  > System Settings, click General in the sidebar, then click Storage on the right.
  • Earlier versions of macOS: Choose Apple menu  > About This Mac, then click Storage.


Optimize storage space


Your Mac can optimize storage by using iCloud to automatically make more storage space available when needed.* Let your Mac free up storage space for you. You can also use built-in utilities to quickly find and delete files, apps, books, movies, and other items that are taking up space, then delete items you no longer need.



Move or delete files


If you have another storage device, such as an external drive connected to your Mac, you can move files to that device. Media files such as photos and videos can use a lot of storage space, so you can take steps such as these:



You can also delete files that you no longer need. For example:


  • Delete musicmoviespodcasts, or other media, especially if it's media that you can stream or download again as needed.
  • Delete files in your Downloads folder. Open this folder from the Dock, or by choosing Go > Downloads from the menu bar in the Finder.
  • If you use the Mail app for your email, choose Mailbox > Erase Junk Mail from the menu bar in Mail. Also choose Mailbox > Erase Deleted Items.
  • If you use your Mac to back up your iPhone or iPad, you can delete old backups.
  • Uninstall apps that you no longer use.
  • If your Mac is set up for multiple users, delete users that no longer need access to your Mac. Or ask them to follow the steps in this article after logging in to their user account. Also check the Users folder on Macintosh HD for any undeleted data belonging to deleted users. 
  • Check the Users folder on Macintosh HD for any shared files that you no longer need to share.


If you don't want to delete certain files, you might be able to save space by compressing them. Then expand them when you need to use them again.


Did you empty the Trash? When you move a file to the Trash, its storage space doesn't become available until you empty the Trash.”


Read more here:


Free up storage space on your Mac - Apple Support


Try updating again after that and see if the issue is resolved.


Take care.

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keys one to nine not working

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