Some keyboards are designed such that you can type letters and numbers at the same time (for example, when you hit the fn or alt key + the button with a letter and a number on the top or to the side). Some customers are baffled as to why it unexpectedly can’t type letters and only accepts digits. We’ll explain why this happens in this article and walk you through the procedures to get your keyboard back to normal. But first, we must comprehend how the keyboard functions.
A numeric area (numbers only) and an alphanumeric area are found on most keyboards (numbers and letters and symbols). Companies, on the other hand, build keyboards with simply the alphanumeric area in order to save space. As seen on mini-computers and notebooks, this is extremely frequent in laptops that rely on decreasing space for the sake of portability. The alphanumeric area is usually divided into function keys (F1 to F12), numeric keys (0-9), and alphabetic keys (A-Z). After that, there are a few symbols keys (e.g. brackets, question marks, plus). The arrow keys, backspace key, insert, home, end, page up, page down, delete, and tab key are all typical cursor keys that modify the pointer position. The special keys, such as shift, control, alt, caps lock, scroll lock, fn, and num lock, are then available. The additional features of the other keys are activated by the special keys.
Reason for the Keyboard typing numbers instead of letters
Other keyboards have crammed numeric keys and numbers together to save space and reduce size. The Lenovo Thinkpad keyboard is a nice example. You must hold down the Alt or fn key to type a number; otherwise, you will only be able to type characters. The num lock is on when the keyboard begins to type only numbers instead of letters. This informs your computer that the keys (those with letters and numbers on the same key) have been set to only type numbers. When the user doesn’t know how to turn num lock off, this creates a problem. If the num lock key isn’t working, the problem becomes worse. Additionally, num lock may have been activated when using an external keyboard, and turning it off on a laptop keyboard is difficult.
This is a common occurrence when using a keyboard. It’s not a problem in any manner.
Here are some simple ways to fix your keyboard without breaking a sweat. The goal is to turn the num lock off, but it’s also a good idea to turn the scroll lock and caps lock off in case they become problematic.
Method 1: Turn off Num lock from your laptop keyboard
Turning off num lock on your laptop keyboard is the quickest way to do this.
Simply press the num lock key to turn it off. To confirm this operation, a light will turn on beside the key or on the top or sides of the laptop.
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To turn num lock off on some keyboards, hold down the fn or shift key while pressing the num lock key.
Method 2: Turn off Num lock using the windows on-screen keyboard
If the num lock key isn’t working and the previous option doesn’t succeed, we’ll need to bring up the on-screen keyboard and use it to disable num lock.
1. To open the run dialog box, use the windows/start key + R.
2. In the textbox, write osk and click OK.
3. It will be displayed in a different color if num lock is turned on (white). Turn num lock off.
4. If the on-screen keyboard does not have num lock, go to options and check the “Turn on numeric keypad” option. Click OK. Num lock will now appear; disable it.
Method 3: Turn off Num lock using an external keyboard
If your laptop keyboard is too intricate or the num lock key isn’t working, you can utilize this.
1. Connect an external keyboard to your computer.
2. Wait for it to install.
3. The external keyboard num lock light will be on if num lock is enabled on your keyboard.
4. To disable num lock, press num lock on the external keyboard.
5. Your num lock laptop key’s light will likewise turn off.
6. Remove the external keyboard from the computer.
