What is the ` key on a Mac French (Canada) keyboard?

Question

I was a bit annoyed that Cmd-Tab, in Mac OS, cycled between applications, not windows, on Macs, and I was looking for a way to do this with windows instead. For example, if I have 2 Finder windows and one Firefox window, a shortcut that would bring me from the first to the second Finder window instead of Firefox.

I think I found something like this in the Finder's application menu. Well, when I clicked it, at the first glance, I think it did more or less that. The shortcut mentioned was ⌘+`. I can find the ⌘ key all right, but what the heck is `? I'm pretty sure I've tried the whole keyboard.

EDIT: The Macs I have tried this with are running Snow Leopard in French (Canada), and their keyboard configuration is very much akin to the Canadian multilingual standard one that I use on my PC, except for the fact that "complicated" characters are performed with Alt+key instead of Ctrl+Alt+Key/AltCar+Key, as it is on Windows.

Solution 1

Check your keyboard layout in System Preferences » Language & Text » Input Sources, where you can also activate the Keyboard Viewer shown below.

• With the Canadian French (CSA) layout, the back tick key is to the left of Return while you hold the Option key (not the "highlighted" one — it's a dead key —, the one to its lower right).

  

• With the Canadian English layout, it's to the right of the left Shift key, without modifiers.

• For other layouts, enable Keyboard Viewer in the Input Sources screen of System Preferences, then open it via the the Input Sources menu bar item on the right, and try a combination of Opt, Ctrl, and Shift to find the back tick key.

Note that in System Preferences » Keyboard » Keyboard Shortcuts, you can change the keyboard shortcut for the window switching command.

Solution 2

It's next to the "1" key, on the left.

Comments

[ataulm]

out of curiosity, how are you writing that if you don't know where it is? :D

[Ariane]

@ataulm: I'm 1. on a Windows computer; 2. using Ctrl+alt+[the key on the right of the P] on my keyboard. My keyboard layout is Canadian multilingual standard.

[Ariane]

I don't even have the said Mac to test it (the only Macs I use are those at school, and not by choice), but since I pretty much mashed every key, or so I believe, let's assume it's not this, that I've just tried it and it's not the right key. What can it be? (Gonna add a few possibly useful details to the question in a second.)

[Ariane]

Heh. On my keyboard as well as those at school (Canadian multilingual standard), this key displays | # \ or | / \, depending on whether the keyboard is printer for Canadian multilingual standard or French (Canada). Though the Mac being configured in French as well, I sort of doubt it would point to -that- key. @Kruug read this as well.

[ataulm]

notavailablein.ca/2011/03/…

[Sirex]

that keyboard looks like it's for opening portals to stargates.

[HikeMike]

@Sirex Any OS X keyboard layout looks like then when you're holding down Option.

[Sirex]

is one of the options opening a portal to a stargate ?

[Ariane]

Uhm, so the final keyboard shortcut is Cmd+Alt+^? 1. Why the heck doesn't it display that instead, if that's the case? 2. I think I remember trying that too. 3. "Option" is Alt, right?

[Ariane]

@ataulm: Lol. I hate keyboards with a "short and wide" Enter key. Those are the evil ones. Most of the time, they even lack the key for French quotes next to left shift key, too! D:

[HikeMike]

@Ariane No, Command-Option-à if that's the correct layout. Cmd-` is the shortcut independent of keyboard layout (most layouts are much saner, that's why I explain how to simply change it)

[Ariane]

Independent of keyboard, meaning it actually is the key next to 1, according to you? And uhm, I'm guilty of having half-heartedly read your answer. Sorry. But as for changing shortcuts, it's so-so, since the Macs at school are Deep Frozen.

[Kruug]

@Ariane See edited post.

[HikeMike]

@Ariane No, it means it's always Cmd-` no matter what your layout. While Cmd-Opt-à would be easier to find for you, it would change the actual key combination of the shortcut for all other keyboard layouts. Custom keyboard shortcuts are a personal preference per user account (similar to wallpaper, screensaver, etc.), unless they mess with that, it should work.

[Ariane]

Alt Gr + É does nothing on my present keyboard. But then again, contrary to that image, AltGr + È does not do anything. Nor does it do a "micro" symbol upon pressing it with M. Looks like you have the wrong layout.

[Ariane]

Well, we don't have user accounts on the computers. Only on the network, for files. (That thing you log in to with Cmd+K.)

[Chiara Coetzee]

On Windows I press AltGr+^ for this key. I must then also press SPACE to get the ` character. This is because the ` key is also an accent key, used to make accented characters such as ò and ì which are not already on the CSA keyboard but are needed for typing in some international languages.