Punctuation snafus suddenly appeared per keyboard...plus bluetooth speaker connects, but won’t play music

"for most users it's easiest to just have one item on the list"

Yup. That's certainly working for me.

What a relief to not have to clean up so many punctuation bollixes. So thanks again.

Per the blue-tooth "connecting but not playing" my JBL FLIP5...looks like I'll have to wait for a Sequoia update-fix somewhere down the line. ( ]<:)

Thanks.

And shitburgers per Apple’s upgrades! 

I’d been using OS Monterey “forever“ because I’d upgraded before and had lost functionality on some peripherals. So I wanted to wait until any update had completed its “shakedown cruise.“

Then, for some crazy need to “feel current,“ I upgraded to Sonoma on my laptop...which I rarely use. Everything seemed kosher on it, so I foolishly figured upgrading to the newest system on my home-base (Mac Mini 2018) would be fine. My naive self thought Apple would have worked out all kinks.

It hadn’t.

Lesson learned.

I love me some Apple products. I like plug-and-play and not having to tinker with anything under the “digihood.“ I hate dealing with the unforeseen hassles that, I’ve learned the hard way, inevitably come with upgrades.

And to be honest, I really don’t find any of the new “whizz-bangs“ in Sequoia worth the change. I was seduced by the latest-is-best siren call, forgetting why I use the OS in the first place (mostly to write, use email, and surf the Interwebs).

It’s like smartphones: for years I used simple flip/clam phones. I’m not a gamer or someone who uses phones for more than calls or text-messaging (doing few of those). Mostly I’m content using my coal-burning Mac-Mini, the phone minimally.

When I went to a Verizon store to discuss my FIOS account, the rep spotted my smoke-signal-sending old-school flip-phone and suggested I get a smartphone. He actually listened to me, heard my needs, and urged me to not buy one of his store’s new phones, but get a refurbished Apple iPhone online. I did just that. I purchased a cheap, mint-condition iPhone SE...which I like very, very much. It looks like a Porsche to me and serves all my needs.

Again, I just use it for calls/texts. I’m usually the only rider on public transportation who’s looking at a...book. (<:)

Anyhoo, for now I cope (barely) by using the “letter-substitution“ function on my computer. When I type a punctuation key and the usual mark doesn’t appear, the “brain“ of my computer substitutes the correct one (the one that normally should appear, pre-OS upgrade). It’s a workaround, but still: it’s frustrating and slows down my typing.

In any case, thanks for your tips. I’ll suss them out.

PS. I don’t use this forum very often, but when I do I’m amazed at both the speed of responses and their helpfulness. Appletonians have bailed out my digital arse several times. I’m grateful.

I checked the keyboard set-up (fine) and tried a few other keyboards. The problem remains.

The issue:

When I type a colon, I get this Ñ (the one above was copied from a correct punctuation mark elsewhere)

A quotation mark appears as [

An ampersand is /

Asterisk is (

And so on.

Tom:

OMG! Yuda M-A-N!

So far, so good now per your suggestions.

I'd tried changing the keyboard text input before, did select US, but then failed to delete the Latin option (didn't know I had to). So while I thought I was solely on the US version...I wasn't.

So...thank you, thank you, thank you!

And thank you once more.

Again, you're the best.

(And honestly, this forum ain't too shabby, either. It's save my Luddite-arse more than once. Per keyboarding, I'd gone on a wild goose chase in other forums and YouTube offerings and not ONE suggested what you did).