How do I restore the Option-8 bullet point shortcut in macOS 15.3.2?

Dannymac22 wrote:

Well, now that I have the "Show input in menubar" turned on, it's pretty easy to NOT use Unicode Hex.

Unless you need it for something, still best to remove it, as it can be easy to switch to it by accidentially hitting one of the keyboard shortcuts used to switch keyboards.

But while you have it there, switch to Unicode Hex and then hold down the option key while typing 2022. Does that produce • ?

Dannymac22 wrote:

Not clear what I would look for in an EntreCheck report. No major issues found there.

post its full report here.

Use the "additional text" button and paste the report into the text box.

You have a lot of very old stuff - like Flip4Mac, VirtualBox version 5.* (which I don't think even works in an Apple Silicon Mac), and others.

This suggests that you have been upgrading the OS in place, and migrating everything from one Mac to the next, probably over a decade or so.

I can't say if anything specifically is causing the problem that brought you here, but it is recommended when moving to a new Mac (especially from an Intel to an Apple Silicon one) to migrate only the user accounts, and not applications, settings, or other files. This will leave behind many agents, daemons and startup items (a feature deprecated since 10.10 Yosemite!), and start fresh, while keeping all your documents, photos, music, mail, etc., as well as your personal settings.

Dannymac22 wrote:

and two option 7s just make ¶¶.

Make sure that in your app, in Edit > Substitutions, you have Text Replacement checked.

I think even just one ¶ should work, if you space after.

Note that non-Apple apps like MS Office don't use Apple's text replacement, but have their own in their settings/preferences.

Dannymac22 wrote: This is an Apple problem. NOT a MIcrosoft problem. But an Apple problem can still lead to inconveniences in other apps.

Unfortunately (unless you have found other reports of it) the failure of Option 8 to produce anything seems to be confined to one account on one machine. It may be impossible for anyone else to duplicate, and that makes it really hard to find a fix.

Making text replacements work the way you want in Word is solely a MS problem, Apple can't fix it.

It seems like there should be a way to do text replacement in Terminal. I have found this, but not clear it can do the necessary in this case

Create custom function keys in Terminal on Mac - Apple Support

Dannymac22 wrote:

OK, we're way, way past that.

Here is something different to try, a custom keyboard with bullet on Option 7.

To install, move the .bundle file to Library/Keyboard Layouts, logout/login, and then go to system settings > keyboard > text input > edit > all input sources and use the + at the bottom to add US Opt 7 Bullet to the list, and then select it in the Input Menu at the top right of the screen. And try typing Option 7.

If you do not have access to Library/Keyboard Layouts, put it in Home/Library/Keyboard Layouts. To get to Home/Library, hold down the option key while doing Finder > Go.

You type a space after you type the replacement sequence or letter (not in the replacement setting itself).

Any Apple app should normally have an Edit menu with a substitutions submenu.

The text replacement works perfectly well - even with just one character:

Just put the ¶ in "Replace" and • in "With" (no spaces at all).

Then when you are typing press Option-7 and a Space to get •

It's likely you will have to do a fresh install of macOS.

Option with just about any other key will produce something. Option-v should be a square root symbol.

Option with most vowels and a few other keys are compound combinations to produce accented characters. E.g., Option-e, then a will produce an accute accent, á. Those won’t produce anything until you press the second letter.