Spacebar issues

Hiall, My macbook pro spacebar is inserting a space then moving back to the end of a word and therefore not actually making a space.



Can anyone help?

Have you tried checking all your Keyboard Pref Pane tab options, especially shortcuts, that there isn't something entered there.

If you possibly have some third-party software that may be causing the problem, try booting in Safe Boot Mode and see if the problem will disappear.

To enter safe boot mode, restart or bootup and then press and hold the shift key until login window. To get back to normal, just restart normally.





- Patrick
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Thanks Patrick just tried your suggestions but still not working correctly. To write this message I'm having to go back and insert spaces between each word or I end up with somethinglikethis.

Any other ideas?

Hezza12 said:

Thanks Patrick just tried your suggestions but still not working correctly. To write this message I'm having to go back and insert spaces between each word or I end up with somethinglikethis.

Any other ideas?

Click to expand...

OK, but I'm a little bit confused up, which doesn't take much.

I gather from what you say, by having to go back and insert spaces between each word, that your spacebar is not even working, i.e.: it's simply not leaving a space when depressed. Or in other words, it just ain't work'n!!!

Have you got another keyboard you can use to plug in and test???

Have you had any spills or accidents with your keyboard lately???


EDIT:
I also wanted to ask but forgot, does depressing the spacebar create a space and then somehow something makes it backspace to delete the space???





- Patrick
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Depending on the model year, of your MBP, there have been lots of reports about swollen batteries affecting the keyboard and the trackpad.

ferrarr said:

Depending on the model year, of your MBP, there have been lots of reports about swollen batteries affecting the keyboard and the trackpad.

Click to expand...

+1.
I should have remembered that as a possible cause, especially considering I tracked down a swollen battery as being the cause of keyboard typing problems with my cousins Mac book a few years ago.

I was trying to figure out just what exactly the presses were actually doing with the actual text as per my previous post. Like, does a press on the spacebar actually leave a space, and/or does the space close-up and disappear if left.





- Patrick
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Hi Patrick

re:

"I also wanted to ask but forgot, does depressing the spacebar create a space and then somehow something makes it backspace to delete the space???"

This is exactly what happens.

Could it be something set in System Preferences>keyboard>text? Maybe a space is replaced with a space/delete combination?

MacInWin said:

Could it be something set in System Preferences>keyboard>text? Maybe a space is replaced with a space/delete combination?

Click to expand...

I was thinking the same thing Jake.

I am also wondering if such a thing would show by highlighting the keys involved with the Keyboard Viewer window open. In this case, maybe both spacebar plus delete keys would highlight showing both have been set, which couldn't confirm your suggestion. Definitely worth checking I would say, and easy enough to do.

Conversely, try using the Keyboard Viewer to type the text needed and see if it behaves properly, especially clicking the spacebar in the Keyboard Viewer window and see if it doesn't produce a proper space, and without a backspace.


PS: I have been playing around with Mac OS X Dictation in Mavericks. And I don't know if it has improved with later Systems, but one thing it doesn't seem able to do is to enter a space or spaces using any voice command.

PPS: anyone have a spare registration/serial number for an old Version 3 of Dragon Dictate I could use that should work as Nuance seems to have pulled out of the Mac voice recognition market and provides zero support. As if they ever really did.







- Patrick
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Patrick, the symptoms sound to me like a "trick" that someone would play, putting into the text area a substitution for space with space-delete. So if he has a prankster with access to the system, it may be a more likely cause.

Gotta love pranks!

MacInWin said:

Patrick, the symptoms sound to me like a "trick" that someone would play, putting into the text area a substitution for space with space-delete. So if he has a prankster with access to the system, it may be a more likely cause.

Gotta love pranks!

Click to expand...

LOL!!! ;D

I must admit I hadn't thought of that possibility, which is a bit odd, as I have done more than a normal users fair share worth of pranks on some users Macs. Especially on some arrogant smart-*** "know-it-alls" who didn't know diddly-squat.

Actually I hadn't thought of doing something like that and not sure putting any substitution for space with space-delete would actually work.


PS: I wonder if or when the OP will get back with an answer to your #8 post query???







- Patrick
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I don't know if it would work, either, but it's where my mind went as soon as I heard the problem. Maybe it's my mind that needs some work?

MacInWin said:

I don't know if it would work, either, but it's where my mind went as soon as I heard the problem. Maybe it's my mind that needs some work?

Click to expand...

Well, Halloween with all its various tricks is sure close, so they could be in the air.

I guess to be constructive and to possibly find a fix for the OP, I would probably start by doing a safe boot mode startup and see if there's any change.

Next up, create a new test user, and login and test what happens there.

That's after checking what you suggested in post #8 first of course.

Certainly some checking and diagnostic procedures need to be done to help narrow down the cause of the problem.

For now, I must stop snickering on the possibility of a text substitution and adding a character delete function somehow. But nobody would do that to a nice guy - would they???


PS: I was just thinking that the MacBooks all have a function (fn) key do they not which can change what may be typed. I wonder if it could be involved somehow???





- Patrick
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Hezza12 said:

Thanks Patrick just tried your suggestions but still not working correctly. To write this message I'm having to go back and insert spaces between each word or I end up with somethinglikethis.

Any other ideas?

Click to expand...

So how are you doing that if not with the space bar? Are you copying/pasting a space from some other text? When you press the space bar twice, does it back up twice or once?

So how are you doing…

Click to expand...

I was wondering if the OP actually thought their problem sorted out or not.

At least another way they could get their typing done is by using the Keyboard viewer and the mouse pointer to click the letter required. It's quite feasible that personal experience can attest to.

Or is their MacBook Pro possibly still at the Mac repair shop???






- Patrick
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