When I type, unfamiliar characters appear on the screen

If unfamiliar characters appear on your screen when you type in Mac OS X, these steps can help you troubleshoot the issue.

It's possible to accidentally change your keyboard's language or layout—for example, from English to Japanese. This can result in mixed-up language when you type, like this:

 

  1. To switch back to the U.S. keyboard, from the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.

    2.  

  2. Click the International icon to open its preferences.

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  3. Click the Input Menu tab near the top of the screen.

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  4. Scroll down the list and click any checked non-US keyboard layout checkboxes to deselect them.

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  5. Close System Preferences and try typing a few characters. You can easily do this by creating a new folder in the Finder, clicking on the folder name, and renaming it. Do you still get strange characters when you type? If you do, check to make sure that you have carefully followed the instructions above.
Published Date: Feb 18, 2012