Typing in a fraction and having it replaced

[DaveWT]

Both on my iMac and on my wife's MacBook Pro, we have System Preferences > Keyboard > Text set up so that typing in the characters to form a mathematical fraction produces a smaller. single character representation of that fraction.



For example if I type "1", immediately followed by "/", immediately followed by "3" I will get ⅓ (and it worked perfectly here.)

On my iMac, if I do that sort of thing in Pages or Notes, it also works but if I try it in TextEdit or Mail it doesn't work.

On my wife's MacBook Pro this doesn't work in Pages, Notes, TextEdit or Mail and I don't see where there is a setting to control this action.

Yes, I know we can go up to the flag icon in the menu bar and drop down to "Show Emoji & Symbols", select "Digits - All" in the sidebar and find the fraction symbol there to insert when needed, but that shouldn't be required when we have defined these substitutions in System Preferences.

 

[chas_m]

For example if I type "1", immediately followed by "/", immediately followed by "3" I will get ⅓ (and it worked perfectly here.)

On my iMac, if I do that sort of thing in Pages or Notes, it also works but if I try it in TextEdit or Mail it doesn't work.

It should work (nearly) universally (some third-party programs don't honour the setting). The only thing I can suggest is to try unchecking the preference and re-setting it. If that doesn't work, I'd suggest on OnyX workout and then a restart.

 

[DaveWT]

Ah, Chas,

That is no doubt my problem... Other than defining the fraction substitution as I showed in my screenshot, I don't see another setting to "uncheck" (and then re-check) to turn the whole substitution actions on or off. Am I overlooking something obvious?

 

[chas_m]

Ah, Chas,

That is no doubt my problem... Other than defining the fraction substitution as I showed in my screenshot, I don't see another setting to "uncheck" (and then re-check) to turn the whole substitution actions on or off. Am I overlooking something obvious?

Apologies for my poor choice of terminology. You're not missing anything, I used the term "uncheck" when what I meant was "delete the selection that's not working, and re-enter it."