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iPad iPad Keyboard - why no Full Stop (Period) or Comma?

Dino F

Dino F

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Original poster
Sep 16, 2010
4,515
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Croydon, South London, UK
I have the original iPad Air 2 and it's on the most current iOS 13 firmware (whatever this happens to be - can't recall what the current version is but my device is on it!!).

I'm not sure if this is an issue or just the way my device is but on the keyboard (I am a U.K. user), on the far right of the keyboard (talking from memory as don't currently have my iPad at hand), i have the question [?] mark and exclamation [!] mark keys instead of the full stop [.] and comma [,] keys ?!

When I press the [?] and [!] keys, I can get the [.] and [,] in my sentences by using the shift key or the 123 key or the +#- key however, it means having to press these each time I need a full stop or comma?! Why don't the full stop and comma punctuation marks show on the keyboard instead of the question mark and exclamation marks....?!
 
Dino F said:
...yea, sorry, I was indeed referring to the iOS default keyboard.
Click to expand...

If you press and hold the
the Switch Keyboard key
key, what keyboard does it say you're using?
 
Ok, so I am on my iPad right now.

Next to the letter m, on the right, I see the exclamation mark [!] and next to that I see the question mark [?].

This does NOT change whether I press the left arrow shift key (on the left of the letter z), or the right arrow shift key (on the right of the question mark).

It also does NOT change when I press the bottom left .?123 key (on the left of the smiley emoji key) or the bigger .?123 key on the right of the space bar.

No other button combination presses change the exclamation mark or question mark keys neither.

For me to actually use the exclamation mark or question mark, I have to first tap either shift key and then press either the exclamation mark or question mark key. If I just tap either of these keys first, then I will get the comma [,] on the exclamation mark key and the full stop [.] on the question mark key.

This makes no sense as surely the keys should show the FIRST tap of the buttons - so the keyboard should show a comma and NOT an exclamation mark and similarly, show a full stop and NOT a question mark........?!
[automerge]1581967263[/automerge]
C59DA184-0A00-4B18-9CC5-1975245C6877.jpeg

This is what my keyboard looks like on my iPad.
 
Does it type in all caps? i ask because your shift key is active in that screenshot, and those keys are supposed to switch to ! and ? in that case. I guess you would have mentioned it though.
 
Last edited:
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sparksd said:
Did you try the full power down & restart?
Click to expand...

....no. Haven’t tried that - will do now but I’m 99% sure it won’t make a difference.
[automerge]1581972851[/automerge]
mw360 said:
Does it type in all caps? i ask because your shift key is active in that screenshot, and those keys are supposed to switch to ! and ? in that case. I guess you would have mentioned it though.
Click to expand...

It was only active as I took the screenshot. Whether the keyboard is locked in lower case or upper case, BOTH the exclamation mark and question mark keys are ALWAYS constantly visible on the keys - it doesn’t make any difference.
[automerge]1581972940[/automerge]
Just to also add - all my keyboard options (in Settings) are enabled other than ‘Key Flicks’ as I don’t like seeing the ‘key flicks’ above every letter!
 
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sparksd said:
I suggested the restart because of these -


forums.macrumors.com

Missing comma and full stop on iPadOS keyboard

I’ve just noticed that the comma and full stop keys on the pop up keyboard have now been replaced by ! and ? which used to appear only when pressing the shift key. Pressing those keys does print , and . it’s just the display that’s wrong.
forums.macrumors.com forums.macrumors.com
Click to expand...

Wow, that’s weird!!

So just rebooted and the comma and full stop now DO show under the exclamation mark and question mark keys:

01FFF5C4-A4CB-4011-863D-852FE81E1DA2.jpeg

These were NOT showing earlier?! Was this a glitch then?!
 
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Dino F said:
Wow, that’s weird!!

So just rebooted and the comma and full stop now DO show under the exclamation mark and question mark keys:

View attachment 894785
These were NOT showing earlier?! Was this a glitch then?!
Click to expand...
I don’t think it was a glitch. I think it was just because you have the Shift key on. You’ve got the lowercase keyboard in this screenshot versus uppercase in your earlier screenshot.

Edit: Didn’t see your other post regarding same keys on both lower and uppercase. In that case, yep glitch. Probably memory related.
 
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I happen to be sitting here looking at two iPad pros. My husbands is 2019 model, mine a years older. His is suddenly missing the comma and the period on his keyboard. Mine has them right where they have always been. Makes me wonder if he had an automatic update that I haven't gotten yet. I hope that isn't the problem as the period and comma are needed. I have compared all our settings and they are the same as far as I have been able to figure out. The problem is exactly what others have described.
 
Dino F said:
Wow, that’s weird!!

So just rebooted and the comma and full stop now DO show under the exclamation mark and question mark keys:

View attachment 894785
These were NOT showing earlier?! Was this a glitch then?!
Click to expand...


..ok so the same iPad from above is now on iOS 13.5.1 and is once again missing the comma and full stop as in the above screenshot???

1594197295370.png


I'm gonna try a reboot again to see if it fixes....

EDIT - reboot has once again brought these back?!!! Why does this keep happening?!!
:oops:
 
Dino F said:
..ok so the same iPad from above is now on iOS 13.5.1 and is once again missing the comma and full stop as in the above screenshot???

View attachment 931789

I'm gonna try a reboot again to see if it fixes....

EDIT - reboot has once again brought these back?!!! Why does this keep happening?!!
:oops:
Click to expand...
Again you have Shift activated. Could it be that when you shift, the keyboard just tells that you would input an exclamation mark or question mark, and when you DON'T shift, you see them as usual?
 
MandiMac said:
Again you have Shift activated. Could it be that when you shift, the keyboard just tells that you would input an exclamation mark or question mark, and when you DON'T shift, you see them as usual?
Click to expand...


...thats not the case.

In the native iOS Messages app - it now makes no difference whether shift is activated, the comma and period now shows under the exclamation mark and question mark.

Weirdly though, in the YouTube app - neither the comma or the period show whether or not I have shift activated..?!
 
Dino F said:
Weirdly though, in the YouTube app - neither the comma or the period show whether or not I have shift activated..?!
Click to expand...
Seems like YouTube is somehow altering the keyboard or using its own. So that's on Google to solve, then? Gotta try this at home myself (although I'm using a German QWERTZ keyboard).
 
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Dino F said:
...thats not the case.

In the native iOS Messages app - it now makes no difference whether shift is activated, the comma and period now shows under the exclamation mark and question mark.

Weirdly though, in the YouTube app - neither the comma or the period show whether or not I have shift activated..?!
Click to expand...
I just tried it with the on-screen German QWERTZ keyboard.
Funnily, on iOS 14 (beta 2) the behaviour is the same throughout all apps (Messages, YouTube, Safari) - when i press Shift, I only see the character I'd type when pressing it. I see only both characters when I don't shift.
 
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