Apostrophe comes up French accent è plus others on keyboard

Go to system settings / keyboard / text input / edit / all input sources and make sure there is only one item on that list, and the name of that item is US. Use the minus button at the bottom of the list to remove everything else.

It sounds like you may have French Canadian active by mistake.

Serenity53 wrote: I had CSA(includes French) and CA (just English). I do write in French periodically, but never had this problem before. I deleted the CSA for now, restarted the MacBook, and tried to write an email. The problem is still there.

If you really only have CA English on your All Input Sources list, and you get é by pressing forward slash, something is botched in your OS.

I suspect, as Etresoft mentioned, that you may have Canadian PC there instead of CA English. Canadian PC is another French layout which makes é at forward slash. It will (confusiingly) have a CA icon if it the the only item on the list. Try replacing your "CA" with US.

As mentioned, there's no need to have an extra keyboard to write French. All the characters are available via press and hold or option keys shortcuts (like option e then e for é).

There is no reason you can't have both English and French keyboards on your list. But it can be really easy to switch between them without knowing it by hitting the wrong key, so you need to keep an eye on the Input Menu in the Menu Bar at the top right corner of the screen to be sure about which one is active at the moment.

Serenity53 wrote:

Thank you Tom for pointing me in the right direction. I did go to those settings. I had CSA(includes French) and CA (just English). I do write in French periodically, but never had this problem before. I deleted the CSA for now, restarted the MacBook, and tried to write an email. The problem is still there. I will contact Apple Support.

Thanks again for your help. At least I know where to find the keyboard language.

Maybe you should post a screenshot showing your selected keyboard. I don't see any "CA" keyboard. The Canadian English keyboard just has an "A" on the icon. Could you be referring to the CA PC keyboard?

I just use the standard Canadian English keyboard, which just happens to be identical to the US keyboard. It isn't a true "Canadian" keyboard, thankfully. You can type all of the French accents via option e,`,u,i,c. You can type guillemets with the "| \" key. I find this method much faster than the new iOS-style press-and-hold pop-ups. I've never changed my keyboard from English and I've been using it to write in French for almost 30 years.

etresoft wrote:

I don't see any "CA" keyboard. The Canadian English keyboard just has an "A" on the icon.

You only get CA when there is another similar keyboard on the list. Otherwide it can appear as A.

Tom Gewecke wrote:

You only get CA when there is another similar keyboard on the list. Otherwide it can appear as A.

Well that's convenient. 😄

etresoft wrote:

Well that's convenient. 😄

Yes, it's totally nuts. Just like having CA stand for either an English or French layout depending on what else is on the list.