How to type hash and at symbols

Question

How to type hash and at symbols

Hi all,

Hope someone can help me here. Here's the story:

My 2009 Macbook Pro was stolen recently. I replaced it with a Macbook Pro Retina early 2015 model bought on Ebay UK.

When it arrived I discovered that it has a US keyboard rather than a UK keyboard. In fact I use a French AZERTY keyboard so this didn't make any difference to me, I thought it would be simple just to set it to a French keyboard in system preferences, as I had done with my previous UK model Macbook Pro. It was indeed easy so I bought a silicon keyboard cover so that it now looks like an AZERTY keyboard - so far so good.

However, I can't type the at symbol or the hashtag symbol.

I have two Apple keyboards with my iMac, one USB with number pad, one wireless. Both are original Apple keyboards bought in France. Both have the at and hashtag on top left directly beneath the escape key.

However, if I hit that key on the Macbook Pro I get < and >, which is in fact exactly what is shown on the silicon cover.

I simply cannot work out how to type @ and # (I've copied and pasted to add them here)

I've even tried going to system preferences/keyboard/text tab, where omw is used as an example to write 'on my way'. I've tried setting aa to produce @ and hh to produce # but none of these shortcuts work either !

I rarely need to use < or > and regularly need to use @ and #, so really would like this key to do what it does on a normal Apple French AZERTY keyboard.

Is there any way I can do this?

If not, are there keyboard shortcuts for a US keyboard set to French input? I've searched online but none of the suggestions work.

Thanks in advance for any advice that anyone can offer.

Heather

MacBook Pro with Retina display, OS X El Capitan (10.11.4)

Posted on Apr 20, 2016 9:44 AM

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Answer 1

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,626 points

Apr 20, 2016 10:59 AM in response to HeatherInFrance

HeatherInFrance wrote:

whilst the Show Keyboard Viewer box is still ticked it still doesn't appear in the menu bar.

Go to system preferences/keyboard/input sources and make sure the box for Show Input Menu in Menu Bar is also checked.

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Answer 2

Apr 20, 2016 10:26 AM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Thanks for your reply Grant. I've tried that already. It didn't ask me to save when I closed but the box remained ticked. However, the little window with the cloverleaf doesn't appear! I've just restarted the computer and whilst the Show Keyboard Viewer box is still ticked it still doesn't appear in the menu bar. I didn't mention that in my question because thought I had written enough already :-)

El Capitan is up to date. Is there anything I can do to make Keyboard Viewer work as it should? I've just tried it on the iMac too but it doesn't show on that either despite the box remaining ticked. I'm wondering if it's a regional thing (both computers have region set as France but main language as English, second language as French)...

I'll keep experimenting but if you have any further thoughts please let me know. Thanks again!

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Answer 3

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,626 points

Apr 20, 2016 12:42 PM in response to HeatherInFrance

HeatherInFrance wrote:

Option grave accent gives me « and option shift grave gives », so thanks to those who tried with this one but alas it didn't work.

We were referring to the grave accent on an AZERTY keyboard, which we thought your keyboard cover would have at that key which has \| on the US keyboard.

If you do option plus shift on that key, the same one where you use option to get @, you should certainly get #:

It is discouraging to hear that Apple support could not find # on keyboard viewer, which is really a very simple task.

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Answer 4

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,626 points

Apr 20, 2016 1:26 PM in response to HeatherInFrance

HeatherInFrance wrote:

I still don't quite see why Apple have shifted the keys about in the way that they have though. It would have been much more straightforward IMO if they had programmed the @ and # to be where they are on a normal French Apple keyboard and moved the < and > to the extra key on the right hand side.

You can ask them to fix that via

http://www.apple.com/feedback

I suspect the problem is that they expect everyone using azerty to have the bigger ISO keyboard with the extra key at the bottom left, so they never paid much attention to the layout that gets generated for the ANSI/US keyboard where that key is missing.

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Answer 5

Apr 20, 2016 9:51 AM in response to HeatherInFrance

System preferences > Keyboard > keyboard pane...

... check the checkbox that says [√] Show Keyboard viewer [and other viewers] in the Menubar

close and save changes if asked.

Go to the MenuBar and look for the new symbol there that looks like a tiny window with a cloverleaf key in it.

Choose Show Keyboard Viewer.

Now a tiny keyboard replica appears on screen. Hold down modifier keys (option, shift, control) and it will show you what each key can generate.

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Answer 6

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,626 points

Apr 20, 2016 10:57 AM in response to HeatherInFrance

HeatherInFrance wrote:

However, I can't type the at symbol or the hashtag symbol.

Try Option/alt plus ` (grave) for @

Try Option/alt plus Shift plus ` for #

These are the shortcuts for the US keyboard set to French. The US keyboard has one key less than a European keyboard so some things are put in different places.

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Answer 7

Apr 20, 2016 12:20 PM in response to Grant Bennet-Alder

Hi all,

I'm replying to the most recent message for ease but thanks to everyone.

Firstly, keyboard viewer is indeed shown on the drop down menu on the flag symbol in the menu bar. Apologies for my misunderstanding, I was looking for a separate symbol 😊

So with keyboard viewer I have now found how to get the @ symbol. Thanks to all who helped with this. The 'answer' is option and then the key above the right hand side return key, below the delete key, which on the American keyboard shows a vertical slash and a backslash. I hope this will be useful to someone in future.

Option grave accent gives me « and option shift grave gives », so thanks to those who tried with this one but alas it didn't work.

In the meantime I rang Apple support, who have been brilliant. Still no answer on the hashtag, which doesn't appear anywhere in keyboard viewer. They can't find the answer either. A senior advisor is looking into it and will get back to me tomorrow. I'll post any useful results here ..

Thanks again everyone. Further comments or possible solutions will be most welcome

Heather

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Answer 8

Apr 20, 2016 12:54 PM in response to Tom Gewecke

You are absolutely right, thank you so much. I had tried option and shift and command separately on keyboard viewer but not option and shift together. I see how it works now and yes, it is simple when you know how and would have thought that Apple support people would have found it even if I didn't.

I still don't quite see why Apple have shifted the keys about in the way that they have though. It would have been much more straightforward IMO if they had programmed the @ and # to be where they are on a normal French Apple keyboard and moved the < and > to the extra key on the right hand side.

There are a number of people on French forums asking this question too and this is the first response I've seen that found the solution, so thanks again everyone.

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Answer 9

VikingOSX

Level 10

125,122 points

Apr 20, 2016 10:58 AM in response to HeatherInFrance

Try option + grave accent for @, and shift+option+grave accent for #.

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Answer 10

Apr 20, 2016 11:07 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

It may also appear as a flag icon or a different tiny window icon on the MenuBar.

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