ABC Extended input not working

[mpkadobe]

I am using a macbookair with OS 15.5 and InDesign 20.4.1

Typically, I write in both Japanese and English and for English input I use what is called ABC-Extended that lets me add macrons and such to the letters. This works in all apps (Word, Mail, Safari, etc) but it does not work in InDesign. InDesign does not recognize the ABC-Extended input and so I need to use the "Keyboard Viewer" to manually add special letters.

How can I get InDesign to recognize ABD-Extended input?

[Doc Maik]

English has no special letters. Did you mean "typing latin characters" in general?

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @mpkadobe,

Thanks for reaching out and explaining the issue so clearly. Since ABC Extended works fine in other apps but not in InDesign, this could be related to how InDesign handles Unicode input or specific keyboard layouts.

Can you please try switching the font you're using in InDesign to one that fully supports Latin characters with macrons (like Minion Pro or Times New Roman) and then test the ABC Extended input again?

Also, just to confirm, does this behavior happen in all InDesign documents or only in certain files? And does restarting InDesign after switching to ABC Extended make any difference? Please share a screen recording demonstrating the behavior in InDesign and other apps for better understanding.

Also, could you confirm if this was working in any of the earlier versions of InDesign?

Let me know how it goes after checking this.

Looking forward to your update!

Abhishek 

[mpkadobe]

Thank you Abhishek

In answer to you questions.

  • I am writing in Adobe Garamond Pro which handles all diacritical marks (accents, macron, umlaut, etc). To test out your theory though I switched the font to Minion Pro and then to Times New Roman but the same issue remained.

   • I opened a new blank ID file and tried again but the same issue remained.

   • Restarting ID does not fix things. 

   • I do not remember if I had this issue in earlier versions of ID. I think not but I only have the latest version installed now.

Normally, in Word, Mail, Safari (all other apps), I switch back and forth between Japanese input and ABC-Extended input. When in ABC+ if I depress an "e" key for a second, up pops a window with choices for all the "e" related diacritical marks. Same goes for all other letters that have diacritical marks in Unicode. However, in InDesign now, the issue is that if I depress the "e" key for a while I only get a long line of "e" characters. However, if I press Option + certain letters, I can add a diacritical mark to a letter in a two-step process. For instance, Option + "e" will bring up accent aigu (´).

I am trying to figure out how I can get ID to work with diacritical marks like every other app I own does.

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @mpkadobe,

Thanks so much for checking all of that and for the clear explanation. From what you described, it sounds like InDesign might not be picking up macOS's native press-and-hold accent menu the way other apps do, even though the Option-key combinations still work.

To investigate this further, could you kindly drop a quick screen recording showing your full workflow, especially how it works in another app like Word or Mail, and then how it behaves differently in InDesign using the same input method? That'll help me test the exact steps on my end and check with the team if needed.

Looking forward to your update!

Abhishek

[Joel Cherney]

Hi Abhishek! Does this thread remind you of the other recent thread about keying accented Greek into InDesign?  It looks like exactly the same issue to me.

It's not hugely likely, but I wonder if these issues are related in any way to the "Use inline input for non-Latin text" preference.  I've honestly never touched it - I never really type anything at all directly into InDesign -  but it's my understanding from chatting with Japanese users that there are sometimes challenges when trying to key furigana into InDesign, because there's some problem switching back and forth between keying kanji directly into InDesign versus choosing ruby from the little popup window that is part of the macOS JP input method. 

@mpkadobe isn't that exactly what you are trying to do with the ABC-Extended keyboard? Hold down a key in InDesign, and get the macOS little popup window that lets you select your accented glyph? Do you ever have to typeset furigana or otherwise select glyphs from a popup generated by the macOS JP keyboard - and does that work as expected?

[mpkadobe]

Joel;   Thanks for the link to the Greek accent article. Will check it out.

I have never had cause to use furigana in InDesign so I don't know if it has the same issue.

[mpkadobe]

Here are three screen captures:  Word, InDesign and Illustrator

[Joel Cherney]

OK, maybe I jumped the gun; I really don't know if the issues in the Greek thread are related to yours or not. 

[Abhishek Rao]

Hi @mpkadobe,

Thanks for sharing the recordings. They were really helpful in understanding the issue clearly. I'll be checking this with the product team to confirm whether this is a known limitation in InDesign or something unexpected.

@JoEL, you're right that this might feel similar to the Greek accent input issue, and while they're not exactly the same, they may be related at a deeper level. The Greek input issue was more about precomposed accented characters showing duplicated marks, especially when typing quickly. That one seemed to worsen in older InDesign versions like 19.5.4.

In @mpkadobe's case with ABC-Extended, the problem is that macOS's built-in long press accent picker doesn't show up in InDesign at all, even though it works in Word, Mail, and other apps. So it looks like InDesign is handling the input differently or possibly bypassing that macOS behavior altogether.

Looking into this further and will keep you posted.

Abhishek