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Special characters not working in Messages app on MacBook Pro Ventura 13.6

Special characters, such as accents when typing in Spanish are't working at all in the Messages app. I'm using a MacBook Pro running Ventura 13.6. Please help.

MacBook Pro 15″, macOS 12.4

Posted on Oct 30, 2023 7:40 AM

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Posted on Oct 30, 2023 8:45 AM

Remove Unicode Hex. It is uses option for something totally different, has no press and hold, and is not appropriate for any normal language.


If for some reason you want to keep it, just make sure it is not the active one indicated by the input menu at the top right of your screen. That should show "US" (and not U+).

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 30, 2023 8:45 AM in response to brooklander

Remove Unicode Hex. It is uses option for something totally different, has no press and hold, and is not appropriate for any normal language.


If for some reason you want to keep it, just make sure it is not the active one indicated by the input menu at the top right of your screen. That should show "US" (and not U+).

Oct 30, 2023 8:09 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

I'm not using my phone. I'm using my regular keyboard on my MacBook Pro laptop. Up until just a few days ago (I don't know what's changed) I've been able to make accents, for example, by hitting the Option key and then the letter e (or any vowel), or hitting the Option and then hitting n. I'm unable now to make any such character. I first noticed it in Messages for Mac, but I see now that I can't make any of those characters in this chat on this site either.

Oct 30, 2023 8:31 AM in response to brooklander

Press and Hold normally works on MacOS as well as on iPhones.


If the option key shortcuts are not working, you probably have the wrong input source active. Go to system settings > keyboard > text input > edit > input sources and make sure you have only one item on the list and that the name of that item is US or ABC.


With US or ABC you hit option e and then e to make é. Do you normally use a different keyboard?

Special characters not working in Messages app on MacBook Pro Ventura 13.6

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