I remember those...gosh, that's dating myself.
You had to do a "period", backspace, and then "Shift" and "8" key. Of course, that was back when you HAD to be a good typist as well. No such things as White-out, just pencil shaped erasers. And you didn't use those unless you absolutely had to, as they left smudges. Made a mistake? Start over. Pure and simple.
And those things weren't easy on the fingers, either. You had to be pretty heavy-handed to get the keys to depress with enough pressure to give a clear imprint on the paper. You could always tell those of us who learned on manual type writers from those who learned on electric.