How to change from key-repeat to hold-key-for-variations?

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Level 1

21 points

How to change from key-repeat to hold-key-for-variations?

I have a MBP running Sonoma 14.7.2. For a long time — since the 1970s — I've used keyboards set to “auto repeat” (aka “type-o-matic”). I use fn/🌐 for other characters.

Lately I've been doing work requiring accented Latin character glyphs and want to switch to what I guess is the default across most apple devices: hold-key-for-variations.

I went to System Settings, Keyboard tab, and set Key Repeat Rate to Off. That stopped the repeating, but did not enable hold-key-for-variations. Is there something else I need to change?

MacBook Pro 16″, macOS 14.7

Posted on Feb 9, 2025 7:15 PM

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Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

cwr Author

Level 1

21 points

Feb 10, 2025 10:32 AM in response to Tom Gewecke

Thank you! Yes, this:

defaults write -g ApplePressAndHoldEnabled -bool true

and a reboot, fixed my problem. I overthought it a bit and found Set ApplePressAndHoldEnabled for one specific application but in fact the default behavior is what I want. I can use key repeat for delete and arrow keys, and for making “separator comments” (//--------------) in Xcode — along with easy access to ñ, ô, etc.

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Answer 2

Tom Gewecke

Level 10

122,112 points

Feb 10, 2025 4:23 AM in response to cwr

MacOS Accent Menu Has Disappeared - Apple Community

Many accented Latin characters can be made via option key shortcuts without switching the keyboard layout.

https://sites.psu.edu/symbolcodes/mac/codemac/

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