No character palette, no keyboard viewer

In System Preferences >International > Input Menu, character palette and keyboard viewer seem to be totally missing! I cannot check them, and cannot make them appear in the menu bar. Has anyone else encountered this? Does anyone have a solution?

http://discussions.apple.com/message.jspa?messageID=5937093#5937093

Similar Messages

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    I need to use the Character Palette frequently in my work, but since going to 10.5 it is not working. Only the bottom part appears, starting with the "View" drop-down menu, and under that the large character on the left and the "Related" scroll box next to it. Therefore, I can't select any other characters from the categories that should be at the top of the CP (or were in 10.4), and I'm stuck with whatever happens to appear in the large character box. How can I get the whole CP back?

    For some unknown reason the international data caches can get corrupted and prevent character palette and keyboard viewer to appear in the input tab of the international preference pane. This also prevent from working the special characters item in the edit menu of many applications, including the Finder, Safari and Text Edit.
    If this happened to you, go to System/Library/Caches folder and trash the following files (don't worry, they will be re-created when you restart your Mac):
    com.apple.IntlDataCache.le
    com.apple.IntlDataCache.le.kbdx
    com.apple.IntlDataCache.le.sbdl
    com.apple.IntlDataCache.le.tecx
    As you are attempting to cancel files from System folder, you will be asked for an administrator ID and password.
    If you don't have an administrator ID and password, ask the system manager in your office.
    After you insert an administrator ID and password, the files will be trashed.
    Restart your Mac.
    Open System Prefererences (in the apple menu, or inside the main Applications folder), open the International pane, and click the input menu. You will find again the character palette and keyboard viewer items with their chechboxes.
    Click the two checkboxes. Be sure to click also at the bottom of the pane the checkbox labeled show the keyboard menu in the menu bar.
    Exit System Preferences.
    In the right side of the menu bar you will find a menulet with your nation's flag. Click the flag and you will find both character palette and keyboard viewer.
    Also, the special characters item in the edit menu of the applications that have this item will work as expected, and will open the characters palette.

  • Keyboard Viewer does not appear in menu bar input menu...help with 10.4.9

    When I click on the flag in my menu bar, I have two options (Show/Hide Input Source Name and Open International Preferences). Is there any way to test the special characters on my keyboard if there is no keyboard viewer or keycaps application? Thanks very much.
    2.16 GHz Intel Core 2 Duo iMac   Mac OS X (10.4.9)  

    Hi.
    Go to System Preferences/International/Input Menu and tick On Character Palette and Keyboard Viewer.
    Next time you click on the menu bar flag, you'll see "Show Character Palette" and "Show Keyboard Viewer"
    MacMini G4 1.25GHz 1GB   Mac OS X (10.4.9)  

  • Character palette window malfunction

    In trying to sort out a problem I was having with non-English fonts, I went to the Help Viewer and thought I had a lead with the Special Characters selection under the Edit menu. I opened the Special Characters window and found a variety of non-English fonts (I was specially interested in Hebrew). The instructions said to open an application and select the charachter. I opened Textedit and made an attempt which did not work that I could tell. What it did do, was cause the Character Palette window to malfunction. It flashes partially open on an irregular but frequent basis, perhaps connected to program activity. The window appears in the middle of the screen, it is titled and has the litlle rotating activity icon in the middle but is blank otherwise. It remains for less than a second and then disappears. When I look at it with the Console utility, it gives this sort of message:
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    Nov 23 19:08:24 william-scotts-ibook-g4 crashdump[608]: crash report written to: /Users/williamscott/Library/Logs/CrashReporter/CharPaletteServer.crash.log
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    Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8717
    Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8718
    Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8717
    Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8718
    Looking for devices matching vendor ID=1193 and product ID=8717
    etc...
    I can't seem to make it stop. Relaunching the Finder didn't help. Logging out didn't help. Turning the machine completely off and restarting didn't help. Its driving me nuts...
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    Hi sonopan
    Fully understand the frustration
    Open "Activity Monitor" in /Applications/Utilities/
    On the panel you will see all of the programs in memory
    scroll down and one click on "ChaPaletteServer" it will highlight
    click on "Quit Process" at the top of the screen
    that should clear it
    To use another language I select it in System Preferences > International > Input Menu
    enable "Character Palette" and "Keyboard Viewer"
    at the bottom of the pane
    enable "Allow a different input source for each document"
    and "Show input menu in menu bar"
    Open Textedit
    click on the flag icon on the menu bar
    select "Show keyboard viewer"
    select the language
    and away you go - the keyboard viewer shows the characters as available on your keyboard
    You can access the International Prefs from the icon as well so if you want to deselect a language you can but change back to English (if that's you normal language) before doing so
    chris
    Please use the "Question Answered" and "Points Systems" (if appropriate) as it does indicate to others the need for help, or a possible answer for others with a similar problem.

  • Can't find Keyboard Viewer

    Hi,
    I can't figure out how to make a simple copyright symbol. I looked and looked for the Keyboard Viewer in the Preferences>International, but couldn't find it, or anything like it.
    I just want something like Key Caps.
    Thanks,
    Allan
    PS BTW I'm again having that problem of the message posting when I press Return. I've edited this post 4 times.

    Hi Allan
    I have not experienced a loss of keyboard Viewer myself, but the following link to the subject by Giorgio Piras, may allow you to recover it.
    Missing character palette or keyboard viewer
    The path given applies to 10.3 as well, so it may work for you too.
    The behaviour of "Show Input mode palette" seems normal. That is what is does on my machine as well, which as you have noticed does not do anything. It seems to be merely an alternative to going to the menu bar if you have more than one language to choose to run.

  • Font Selection in Keyboard Viewer

    In previous versions of the OS the Keyboard Viewer let me choose what font I wanted to view. Now all I see are "Standard" and a few odd fonts. Am I missing some preference setting that will allow me to view ANY font? I have, for instance, Koch Signs which I can't view at all any more.

    Tom Gewecke wrote:
    for most special characters you must use the Character Palette and not the keyboard for input. The Favorites section of that is designed to provide easier access to special characters that are frequently used. Or a custom keyboard layout can sometimes easily be created to include characters you need all the time.
    If you tell us exactly which ones you need, we can probably tell you whether and how a keyboard combo can be used.
    In my workflow, the special characters I need to use generally do have a keyboard combination to activate them -- my frustration is over the seemingly increasing hassle it requires to see what that key combination is. And the difficulty with setting "Favorites" is that there aren't really any specific ones I frequently need on a regular basis.
    Here's a typical example: I was recently using the Hoefler Text font to generate captions and special titles for some montages I was creating in Photoshop. Hoefler has an "Ornaments" style, which had some decorative glyphs I wanted to use to bookend some of the text entries. Using Font Book (with Preview set to Repertoire) I could easily see all the available glyphs in that Ornaments style, at whatever size I wanted to view them.
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    With Character Palette (which I've re-discovered thanks to this and other threads), I can at least use the Insert option to pop a selected character into whatever file I was working on -- but how do I first try out a special "string" of these characters to see how they'll look together? I seem to recall the old Key Caps utility would let you do that.
    I guess my main point is that all of these kinds of functions and options need to be integrated into Font Book in an easy-to-use way.
    PS The best place to tell Apple how you feel about this issue is here:
    http://www.apple.com/feedback/macosx.html
    Believe me, I have. For many, many apps. Many, many times.
    I sometimes wonder how seriously the Feedback is actually monitored, however, since very often the options offered in the questions you need to fill out (what version of the app are you currently using; which version of the OS; etc.) are several months out of date. One can only hope that even though the pages themselves are not being actively maintained, at least some of the user input sent via those pages does get looked at.
    (And while Apple would never say this publicly, IMHO if they're smart they've also got a staff of people whose only job is to monitor the Apple Discussions Forums, and track what's working and what's causing frustrations in the OS, its hardware, and all of the apps.)
    In any case, thanks Tom for the reply and the offer of assistance.
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    Toronto

  • Where is keyboard viewer gone?

    Hi there,
    I am trying to display the keyboard viewer but it is nowhere to be found... Looking at the help it says:
    <quote>
    To access Keyboard Viewer:
    1. Choose Apple menu > System Preferences and click International.
    2. Click Input Menu, then select the checkbox next to Keyboard Viewer
    </quote>
    Well I know it must be me but I can't see any checkbox or any reference to Keyboard Viewer. Am I think or is it really not there?...
    Em

    Under the "Input Menu" tab in "International" the first three items in the list should be "Character Palette", "Japanese Kana Palette", and "Keyboard Viewer", then a bunch of regional input methods depending on your OS localization.
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  • Character Palette Berzerk

    When I go into the Character Palette, set the View to All Characters & click 'by Radical' the palette locks up completely. I can still turn it on/off thru the menu, as well as turning off the pref altogether. But as long as it remains on it periodically attempts to display but disappears instantly.
    Various actions seem to trigger its attempt to display, such as opening/closing files, switching windows, etc., but the only 'cure' is to delete com.apple.CharPaletteServer.plist, which is obviously being corrupted by the action described above.
    Does anyone know if this is a known issue or why the behavior occurs? I have found no specific reference in Discussioons or elsewhere.
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    TIA

    Thanx for the reply, Tom. I think you hit the nail on the head... I did remove most unneeded fonts from the System fonts folder, not realizing that Character Palette uses it directly.
    Since Character Palette works just fine otherwise I'm simply going to stay away from the 'Radicals' altogether.
    Regards |:>)

  • Keyboard Viewer+ Character Palette = madness

    I am going crazy!!
    I turned on the keyboard viewer and the character palette.
    Then I closed their windows. I turned them off in System Preferences.
    They return every time I wake from sleep or screensaver.
    I tried to delete all kinds of preferences. (Any that would change when I enabled
    these two windows I would trash.) No good so far.
    Advice would be greatly appreciated.
    Thanks.
    charlie

    Update: I was using "Require password when waking from sleep..."
    I stopped using that. No more character palette.
    I re-enabled the password thing.
    The character palette from H*ll returns.
    Weird how it is coupled to the password thing.
    Next I am trying logging out, restart etc.
    charlie

  • My keyboard on macbook pro (laptop) is acting weird. One key is not responding at all. Have verified using Keyboard viewer and some other keys are printing the unresponsive character at random.

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    No one here works for Apple, so we don't know what Apple might or might not do.  If it's a genuine defect, they will of course repair it under warranty.  It is not their responsibility if it effects your ability to work or not, so that's on you.
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  • Keyboard, power, and character palette issues

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    Re the character palette:
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  • Keyboard Viewer - Palette Size

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    Open the Terminal app, copy and paste in this command, and hit the return key:
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  • Character palette easier than keyboard shortcuts?

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    Hi den.thed!
    I'm looking at my minuscule keyboard going, "Green button? Green button with a + on it? I don't see ANY green button ... hm..mmmmm ... "
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  • Keyboard viewer and font choice

    Hello...
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    Tom Gewecke wrote:
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    It certainly isn't useless for me. Could you explain why you think that in more detail? Do you often need to use fonts with non-standard mappings?
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