How to Change the Order of Keyboard Languages

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Level 1

137 points

How to Change the Order of Keyboard Languages

Yesterday I updated the OS X to 10.11.4. Today I noticed that the order of the keyboard languages has changed, it's not in alphabetical order any longer. In my case, it used to be Canadian English, then Romanian, then Romanian - Standard. Now it's Romanian, then Romanian - Standard, then Canadian English. I would like to go back to the previous order (which was true since OS X Leopard) because it's Canadian English which I use the most and I would like it to be at the top. However, I can't seem to be able to change the order. How could this be accomplished? Thank you.

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4), i7 2.6GHz, 16GB, 1TB

Posted on Mar 24, 2016 2:25 PM

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Answer 1

Michael9009 Author

Level 1

137 points

Mar 25, 2016 8:39 PM in response to Michael9009

It appears I solved the problem myself. Any other languages that I was adding were placed after Canadian English, except for Romanian. So I deleted the Romanian keyboards. Then, I went to Language & Region, where I added German (random selection) and deleted all the other languages. This forced German to become the primary language for the system. I rebooted, then I re-added Canadian English and deleted German, which made me reboot again, and Canadian English became again the primary language. Lastly, I added again the Romanian keyboards which now are in the correct order, first Canadian English and then Romanian.

It's interesting to know that, before upgrading to 10.11.4, on many previous OS X versions I had all three keyboards added. No problems with them ever. And, after upgrading to 10.11.4, only these three were affected. Perhaps a little Apple bug in 10.11.4 which was not killed by Apple bug repellant.

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Answer 2

Michael9009 Author

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137 points

Mar 25, 2016 11:15 PM in response to dialabrain

But did you just change the keyboards? This did NOT work for me. I had to go into 'Language & Region' to change the default language of the system. You know, the one when the entire language of the OS changes. So everything was in German and then back to English.

And, again, I had no problem with adding new keyboards, like you added Romanian, only with the ones I had set for a long time (viz. Romanian). I believe the first keyboard in the list is the one corresponding to the system language. The latter for me is Canadian English. Perhaps the system became somehow confused when upgrading to 10.11.4.

Thanks very much anyway for trying to help.

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Answer 3

dialabrain

Level 10

136,103 points

Mar 25, 2016 3:27 PM in response to Michael9009

some things you could try.

1. create a new user and see if it works there

2. Start up in Safe Mode then back to Normal Mode… Try safe mode if your Mac doesn't finish starting up - Apple Support

3. It might be a permissions error, run this in the Terminal then restart once it's done…

sudo /usr/libexec/repair_packages --repair --standard-pkgs --volume /

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Answer 4

dialabrain

Level 10

136,103 points

Mar 25, 2016 2:44 PM in response to Michael9009

You mean here?

As it states, you just drag them to the order you prefer.

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Answer 5

Michael9009 Author

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137 points

Mar 25, 2016 2:48 PM in response to dialabrain

How did you get to that window? I can see this, where I cannot change the order. Thanks.

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Answer 6

dialabrain

Level 10

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Mar 25, 2016 3:10 PM in response to dialabrain

I managed to figure this out and you don't have to restart. Delete the two Romanian Choices leaving just the Canadian English. Then just add Romanian then Romanian-Standard.

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Answer 7

Michael9009 Author

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Mar 25, 2016 2:40 PM in response to Michael9009

Help! Anyone, please?

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Answer 8

dialabrain

Level 10

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Mar 25, 2016 2:58 PM in response to Michael9009

In the Text tab where you are, but that is just the for spelling. And I see what you mean about the input sources order. I can't change the order either. Perhaps someone else knows.

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Answer 9

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,176 points

Mar 25, 2016 2:58 PM in response to Michael9009

Michael9009 wrote:

I can't seem to be able to change the order. How could this be accomplished? Thank you.

Have you tried removing the Romanians, restarting, and then adding the Romanians again?

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Answer 10

Michael9009 Author

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137 points

Mar 25, 2016 3:15 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

I did. But it puts everything back in the same order. But I did not restart. I'll try that, too.

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Answer 11

Michael9009 Author

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137 points

Mar 25, 2016 3:17 PM in response to dialabrain

I did it again and it did NOT help. Same thing.

I noticed this happening after I updated to 10.11.4. What OS X version are you using currently?

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Answer 12

dialabrain

Level 10

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Mar 25, 2016 3:19 PM in response to Michael9009

Also on 10.11.4

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Answer 13

dialabrain

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Mar 25, 2016 8:54 PM in response to Michael9009

I think that's more or less what I did without having to restart. I was on US, added Canadian-English, deleted US then added the two Romanian languages.

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Answer 14

dialabrain

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Mar 26, 2016 1:10 AM in response to Michael9009

What's important is you have yours working.

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Answer 15

Michael9009 Author

Level 1

137 points

Mar 26, 2016 3:15 AM in response to dialabrain

Indeed it is. Thank you. 🙂

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