Backtick key needs to be pressed twice to type a backtick character on Windows 11 with NZ Aotearoa Keyboard
Sep 7
There appear to be hundreds of these questions already and I do feel bad for writing another, but I have not found any solution for Windows 11. It seems all the solutions for older versions of Windows do not apply to Windows 11. My hope is a fresh new answer will serve the community well. Is that possible?
This is a new computer with Windows 11 - no upgrade path involved here.
My keyboard language does not contain the word "international" anywhere in the title or description, so I have nothing to switch away from there.
I appear to be using the, new for Windows 11, NZ Aotearoa Keyboard which may have a bearing, having just found this article. I haven't installed it, this is just what my new machine came with.
Thanks to @JosefZ I learn that on this keyboard the backtick key is a dead key. See Windows Keyboard Layouts -> NZ Aotearoa Keyboard
If I press backtick key followed by e I get an "e macron" 'ē' symbol. I assume this is the purpose of the delayed processing of the ` key. What I am trying to learn is how to turn this off.
The only key that seems to be affected is the backtick key `. I must press it twice in order to get a single backtick. Other questions have described problems where they have to press it twice to get anything, and then when they do they get two backticks. This is not what I see. I press it twice and get a single backtick.
My other quote keys work fine. My hat ^ key works fine. The other symbol on my backtick key ` is the tilde ~ and that comes out with a single press. I don't believe there is something physically wrong with the key. Given all the other questions on this specific symbol, I assume therefore that there is a Windows 11 setting that is causing my key to have this behaviour, but none of the older Windows version solutions that are described in answers to other questions even seem to apply on Windows 11 - the menus, tabs, or Control Panel settings that they direct you to don't even seem to exist.
So, any help gratefully received.
1 answer
Accepted answer · original discussion
Sep 16
You'll have to switch keyboard layout
- Tap on the search icon in the taskbar, type "keyboard", then choose "Edit language and keyboard options"
- The settings app opens.
- On the list of preferred languages, next to the first language listed, click on the tree dots and choose "Language options" (see image below)
- on the "Options" screen, scroll down and click on "Add a keyboard", and from the list select "US" (see the keyboard layout here - it's almost the same as NZ-Aotearoa). N.B: Don't select the "United States International" keyboard, which has two dead keys, and actually worsens the situation.
- (Optional) remove the NZ-Aotearoa keyboard, if you don't need it (three dots -> remove)
If you have more than one language on the "preferred languages" list, repeat the last two steps for any language.
NOTE: If you have more than one language/keyboard installed, hitting "Win"+spacebar will switch between languages/keyboard combinations. The relevant button and display is on the right side of the taskbar, as shown in the image below
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