Strange behavior when typing quotes ' "

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Level 1

8 points

Strange behavior when typing quotes ' "

Last night I began experiencing some strange behavior with single ' and double " quotes. When I type a single or double quote an underline appears under it and seems to be waiting for additional input. Inside Dreamweaver, if I type text after the quote it becomes a closing single or double quote. Outside Dreamweaver no other quotes appear, but I get a beep from the system like I tried to do something illegal when I press an arrow key. I have to press the space bar twice to actually enter a space following a quote. Other text is entered immediately. The screenshots below show the strangely underlined quotes.

In a finder window the quotes receive an orange background:

Furthermore, if I type a single quote followed by the letter (a, c, e, o, i, u, A, C, E, I, O, U) I get a special character like:

These special characters can be created normally in OS X by typing option or option+shift and the letter. I'm not sure why the single quote is acting like an option key.

At first I thought it was just Dreamweaver doing something annoying, but I've found it is happening in just about any application that I can type in. I can't think of any recent changes to my system - no app installs or updates. I checked the Universal Access and Keyboard Preference Panes and saw nothing that would cause this wierdness. I'm trying to kill apps to see if one is causing this issue. This is very frustrating and I don't even know how it started. Any ideas?

Mark

2.2Ghz MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.6)

Posted on Mar 15, 2011 10:32 PM

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Answer 1

Best reply

TeenTitan

Level 4

2,640 points

Mar 15, 2011 10:46 PM in response to musicelect

Hi Musicelect,

Have you checked "Language and Text" in system preferences?
If so, under the language tab, is english at the top of the list?
Under the "Input Source" Tab is US checked? If it is checked, is Show input menu in menu bar checked? if so, on the white menu bar at the top of the screen is the little flag, is the flag US? if it's not the US flag, dose choosing the US option in the menu resolve your issue?

if all of the above is set, and your still having the issue. under the "text" tab of "Language and Text" is spelling set to "automatic by Language" and or U.S. English? Is word break set to "standard?" and is both smart quotes set to the first time of their quote lists?

after changing these settings you may need to quite, and reopen the application to see the changes made. As such you may want to use text edit or some other small text writing application to test with.

good luck,
-TT

Message was edited by: TeenTitan

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Answer 2

musicelect Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 15, 2011 11:02 PM in response to TeenTitan

Yes, in the "Language & Text" pane English is on top.

Under the "Input Sources" tab there are three selected input methods: U.S., U.S. Extended, and U.S. International - PC. Should I change these selections or choose just one?

The input menu option was not being shown in the menu bar. I get the US flag with PC in the corner when I turn it on.

Under the "Text" tab: Spelling: Automatic by language, Word Break: Standard, both smart quotes drop down lists set to their first selection.

I appreciate your help. I have previously played with these options, but it didn't seem to help. The effect of this problem is global. It affects text entry everywhere I have tried typing. Finder, Spotlight, apps, etc.

Mark

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Answer 3

TeenTitan

Level 4

2,640 points

Mar 15, 2011 11:23 PM in response to musicelect

Try setting the language to "U.S." instead of "U.S. - PC" in the language menu of the menu bar.

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Answer 4

musicelect Author

Level 1

8 points

Mar 16, 2011 1:04 AM in response to TeenTitan

I just did, and it solved my problem. Ugh, what kind of setting is that? I don't even know how it changed. Is there some 5-fingered keyboard shortcut or something?

Thanks a million. You just saved me from having to do an arduous erase and install.

Mark

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Answer 5

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,952 points

Mar 16, 2011 6:41 AM in response to musicelect

Ugh, what kind of setting is that?

The US International PC keyboard layout is very commonly used on Windows machines to type languages with accented characters. It was added to OS X because so many people switching from Windows to Mac wanted to be able to keep using it.

If you have multiple keyboards active, it can be easy to switch among them by error via the keyboard shortcut Apple + space.

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Answer 6

manishie

Level 1

0 points

Nov 24, 2012 11:23 PM in response to musicelect

wow, i've had my mac for about 6 months since i switched from windows, and i've had this same problem. it's been driving me crazy and i've wasted hours trying to fix it, and this solution worked! i also have no idea how it got switched. thanks for the tip!

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Answer 7

malekia

Level 1

69 points

Jun 13, 2016 8:38 PM in response to musicelect

I realize this is an ancient thread, but I've not found another with this identical issue.
I've had this Macbook for nearly 4 years, and this exact same problem just started occurring about a month or so ago. I've tried ALL of these fixes, I've deleted keyboard prefs, zapped PRAM, you name it... nothing fixes it. Help, please!

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Answer 8

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,952 points

Jun 14, 2016 3:22 AM in response to malekia

Go to system preferences/keyboard/input sources and make sure that only "US" appears on the list. If you see "US International PC", remove it.

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Answer 9

malekia

Level 1

69 points

Jun 14, 2016 6:37 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

As noted, I have already tried that. Along with every other suggestion in this thread. Nothing has fixed it. :-/

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Answer 10

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,952 points

Jun 14, 2016 8:58 PM in response to malekia

CCould you post a screen shot of what you are seeing when you type " in TextEdit ?

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Answer 11

Dec 17, 2016 5:56 AM in response to musicelect

I have the same problem that @Malekia explained:

"I realize this is an ancient thread, but I've not found another with this identical issue. I've had this Macbook for nearly 4 years, and this exact same problem just started occurring about a month or so ago. I've tried ALL of these fixes, I've deleted keyboard prefs, zapped PRAM, you name it... nothing fixes it. Help, please!"

I can only think there is a Maverick bug in the new OSX update because smart real quotes have disappeared and there is no way to make them come back. They are now replaced for standard dumb marks " (inches sign) and ' (apostrophe character), which is silly.

Even tried with unchecking the "Use smart quotes and dashes" checkbox in System Preferences and in TextEdit own preferences and in Notes preferences but nothing works!

This is definitively not what a designer expects from Apple!

Please help!

Thanks!

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Answer 12

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,952 points

Dec 17, 2016 6:23 AM in response to yakinbozek

edyakinbozek wrote:

smart real quotes have disappeared and there is no way to make them come back. They are now replaced for standard dumb marks " (inches sign) and ' (apostrophe character),

In TextEdit, are you able to make smart quotes by typing option-[ and option-shift- ] (to get “ ”)? Or option-] and option-shift-] (to get ‘ ’)?

In system prefs/keyboard/input sources, do you just have one item called US on your list?

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Answer 13

Dec 17, 2016 3:44 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

Hi Tom!

Thanks for your answer!

I've been tweaking around everything I could in the System and apps preferences and finally I got them back!

“I am happy now”.

It seems like there was an OSX Mavericks update that automatically changed the settings because as it was said before in this thread, I have been using this Mac for many years and it was the first time they disappeared.

I only noticed that they still don't work in “Notes". I mean the Apple native app called “Notes”. Is this a new limitation of the app itself? It is strange because in the Edit Menu of Notes there is a submenu called “Substitutions“ where it says “Smart quotes” but it doesn't work for me. I tried changing both ways, restarting the Notes app and still nothing.

I would like to know if this is a general bug from the new update in the Notes app or if it is something I have wrong in my own Mac.

Thanks a lot!

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Answer 14

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

115,952 points

Dec 17, 2016 4:09 PM in response to yakinbozek

Automatic smart quotes work for me in Notes in El Capitan and Sierra.

This forum is for Snow Leopard. You may be able to get more help if you post in the one designated for the OS version you are running:

Mac OS & System Software

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