"Unknown part workbench.parts.activitybar" when moving to the sidebar!

[a-eid]

1. If you can, please include a screenshot of your problem

2. Please include the name of your operating system MacOS

3. If you can, steps to reproduce are super helpful

I have these vscode shortcuts to move between splits ( ctrl + l ) to move to right right split & ( ctrl + h ) to move to the left split, however I am unable to move to the sidebar and I can only move to splits. ( it works on vscode fine )

[washanhanzi]

Got the same problem, the action is workbench.action.navigateLeft and similar ones.

[Bubbleinpit]

Same problem here. I just want to use keybinding to navigate among panels but I always get this error message.

[
  {
    "key": "ctrl+j",
    "command": "workbench.action.navigateDown"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+k",
    "command": "workbench.action.navigateUp"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+h",
    "command": "workbench.action.navigateLeft"
  },
  {
    "key": "ctrl+l",
    "command": "workbench.action.navigateRight"
  }
]

[benschac]

SAME!

[code661]

This way it can be solved.

"workbench.activityBar.orientation": "vertical",

[yangsimin]

This way it can be solved.

"workbench.activityBar.orientation": "vertical",

It works !!

[yagudaev]

Thanks, @code661, it works great. Life saver 🛟

[coindegen]

This way it can be solved.

"workbench.activityBar.orientation": "vertical",

you da real MVP 🏆🏆

[turfaa]

Thanks @code661, it works!

However I only can move from the editor to the sidebar using ctrl+h. I can't go from the sidebar to the editor using ctrl+l.

Edit: I just managed to do this by adding this in my keybindings.json:

    {
        "key":"ctrl+l",
        "when":"sideBarFocus",
        "command":"workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup"
    }

[mrjxtr]

Thanks @code661, it works!

However I only can move from the editor to the sidebar using ctrl+h. I can't go from the sidebar to the editor using ctrl+l.

Edit: I just managed to do this by adding this in my keybindings.json:

    {
        "key":"ctrl+l",
        "when":"sideBarFocus",
        "command":"workbench.action.focusActiveEditorGroup"
    }

So ctrl-l will only work when we are in the sidebar but how about when we are navigating between 2 editor groups next to each other?

[resetheadhard]

So ctrl-l will only work when we are in the sidebar but how about when we are navigating between 2 editor groups next to each other?

Assuming you mean moving between the sidebar and a left and right group of editors, I have the same keybinding set as you mention and can navigate back and forth between them all.

[saadfarooq07]

If you can’t do this you shouldn’t be coding On Sun, Feb 23, 2025 at 10:46 AM Alexandre Gerona @.***> wrote:

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[dassongh]

"vertical" activity bar alignment is broken in recent update 🫠

[mrjxtr]

"vertical" activity bar alignment is broken in recent update 🫠

You can create a separate issue for that

[Bubbleinpit]

"vertical" activity bar alignment is broken in recent update 🫠

@dassongh You can use "Custom CSS and JS Loader" extension to configure custom CSS styles to restore it to the VSCode appearance:

/** Restore the height of the activity bar element to the vscode default value */
.monaco-workbench .composite-bar .monaco-action-bar:not(.vertical) .action-item {
  height: 35px !important;
}

/** Restore the icon size of the activity bar element to the vscode default value */
.monaco-workbench .composite-bar .monaco-action-bar .action-item .action-label {
  font-size: 16px !important;
}

/** Restore the progress icon position of the activity bar element to the vscode default value */
.monaco-workbench .progress-badge>.badge-content:before {
  transform: none !important;
  left: 1px !important;
  top: 1px !important;
}

[mrjxtr]

Yup... with recent updates... they even disable the only fix know that can solve this "Unknown part workbench.parts.activitybar" issue...

it is now grayed out.

[Bubbleinpit]

Yup... with recent updates... they even disable the only fix know that can solve this "Unknown part workbench.parts.activitybar" issue...

it is now grayed out.

@mrjxtr May I ask what the version number is?

[mrjxtr]

Yup... with recent updates... they even disable the only fix know that can solve this "Unknown part workbench.parts.activitybar" issue...

it is now grayed out.

@mrjxtr May I ask what the version number is?

I'm not sure, but they already patched it... I installed using the AUR

[maxktz]

Hope they fix it soon

[stefvhuynh]

The fix mentioned above no longer works. Might just go back to VScode for now.

[mrjxtr]

The fix mentioned above no longer works. Might just go back to VScode for now.

Right... This annoying bug actually forced me to just use neovim for the past months and found myself relying on code completion less and less 😆 actually a win tbh

[maxktz]

Do they even plan to fix it, did they see it, announced?

[mrjxtr]

Do they even plan to fix it, did they see it, announced?

Probably not because it's such a niche bug exclusive to a specific extension

[karambaq]

That's crazy, no fix at all?

[maxktz]

That's crazy, no fix at all?

Yeah, they didn't even mark it as a bug

[LikeRainDay]

Desperately needed. There's no silky vim

[Vladipz]

Hello, i fixed the issue with vertical but workbench.action.navigateUp and down doesn't work in the cursor but works in the VS Code. Could someone help me fix it?

[jondkinney]

Setting "workbench.activityBar.orientation": "vertical" just worked for me having installed Cursor today to fix the ability to navigate around properly with ctrl+hjkl. But Ideally I'd like to hide the activity bar entirely like you can in VSCode. However, that command isn't valid... :/

workbench.action.activityBarLocation.hide

[akfmdl]

@jondkinney This helped!!

[davidfedericodev]

Fixed on latest Cursor version

I just fixed the issue today using the latest version of Cursor (Cursor Version: 0.50.7 | VSCode Version: 1.96.2 ), so I can confirm everything now works as expected — both the navigation problem and the appearance glitch.

Here’s the fix: just add these two lines to your settings.json file:

"workbench.activityBar.orientation": "vertical",
"workbench.activityBar.location": "default" 

The second line restores the default layout (like in standard VS Code), which avoids the rendering bug caused by conflicting layout modes (e.g., vertical orientation + top position). This solution brings back full compatibility with keyboard navigation (e.g., Ctrl+H/J/K/L) without any visual overflow.

Hope this helps others facing the same problem!