Question :

For years, I used to start  the onscreen keyboard whenever I wanted to type a character on my Mac that I didn’t know the key-combo for by heart…

Now I’m on OSX 10.11 El_Capitan and I don’t see the icon in the menu bar top right… and I can’t find the option to switch it on either…

What should I do ?

Answer :

What you call ‘onscreen keyboard’ is officially called the ‘virtual keyboard’ ; it’s a very handy option in OSX as you mentioned.

For some reason, after upgrading to OSX 10.11 El_Capitan, your preset for quick access to the virtual keyboard is lost… and switching it back on is hidden in some cryptic text in the Preferences :

• in the Finder, go to Apple [top left] –> System Preferences –> Keyboard
• in the window that opens, under the Keyboard-tab, put a check-mark at “Show Keyboard, Emoji & Symbol Viewers in menu bar”
• then close the System Preferences window
• now, in the Finder, top right, click on the flag-icon and select “Show Keyboard Viewer”
• then, the virtual keyboard will appear onscreen and you can use it as you’re used to…

that’s it !

enjoy 😉