Unable to enter text in Keynote

Question

Unable to enter text in Keynote

Hi

This is really bizarre. I'm trying to use Keynote for the first time. I created a new file and I've been editing the slide layouts so that I have something that will be suitable for my purposes.

Okay, so now I find I am unable to enter text in any text box in Keynote. I cannot enter text in a "placeholder" type of text box where it says "Double click to edit". I cannot enter text in a text box I introduce onto the slide. I cannot enter text into a text box defined in the "Appearance" part of the format pane on the right.

I cannot do any of this in my own Keynote file, nor can I do it in any other keynote file. If I uses command-N then select a template at random and open it I am unable to type text into any of the predefined areas for that.

What actually happens is that I put the insertion point in the text box and then nothing happens. I type, but not text appears.

There is no problem typing text in any other program on my MacBook Air.

So what is happening with Keynote?

Thank you.

MacBook Air (M1, 2020)

Posted on May 19, 2023 2:40 AM

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Answer 1

Best reply

Gary Scotland

Level 7

25,874 points

May 19, 2023 6:13 AM in response to p_a_t_r_i_c_k

What version of Keynote is this?

What Mac OS version?

Try resetting Keynote, it is known to sort these type of issues

Complete all of the following steps, in the order listed:

1 - close all applications

2 - uninstall Keynote; for this procedure to work, an application removal tool must be used, App Delete has a free trial and works for this procedure. It can be downloaded from the developer’s website here:

http://www.reggieashworth.com/buy.html

3 - empty the Trash (Finder > Empty Trash)

4 - restart the Mac (Apple Menu > Restart) and immediately press the shift key on the keyboard, release the shift key when the Apple icon appears. Start up will take longer than usual as the Mac is performing a software repair of the start up drive

5 -after the Mac is fully powered up, restart the Mac normally: Apple Menu > Restart

6 - reinstall Keynote from the Mac App Store Application and test

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Answer 2

May 20, 2023 10:42 AM in response to Gary Scotland

Hi Gary

Thank you for your helpful reply. In fact I shut down my computer for the night after I posted this question, then the following day I started it up again and Keynote was now working totally fine. I really should have taken some or all of the actions you have listed before I asked my question, I have been using Macs for a long long time and I have enough experience to know these actions will probably sort out the problem. I had been using Keynote, I think, for the first time, or maybe for the first time in a long time, and I had been struggling for some time trying to work it out. Then when I thought I'd worked it out this minor fault occurred but the built up frustration led me to ask this question here.

So, all is working fine now and actually I think I now understand Keynote quite well after a relatively short period of time. I do use Pages and Numbers a lot but I don't do presentations very often. Like Pages and Numbers Keynote actually has a pretty easy learning curve really and it is a very elegant design.

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Unable to enter text in Keynote

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