PowerToys
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microsoft
Peek Activation key interferes with other applications instead of specific to File Explorer
Microsoft PowerToys version
0.70.0
Installation method
PowerToys auto-update
Running as admin
No
Area(s) with issue?
File Explorer: Preview Pane
Steps to reproduce
Install SQL Server Management Studio Install Red-Gate SQL Prompt add-on Ctrl-Space for Code Suggestions works correctly
Upgrade PowerToys via Auto-Update Enable Peek Leave Ctrl-Space as the Activation Shortcut
Return to SQL Server Management Studio Ctrl-Space no longer works correctly
✔️ Expected Behavior
Activating Peek would not disrupt other applications
❌ Actual Behavior
Peek is intercepting Ctrl-Space like a global hotkey instead of an application-specific hotkey for File Explorer
Other Software
SQL Server Management Studio 15.0.18390.0 SQL Server Management Objects (SMO) 16.100.46521.71 Microsoft Analysis Services Client Tools 15.0.19714.0 Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) 10.0.22621.1635 Microsoft MSXML 3.0 6.0 Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0.30319.42000 Operating System 10.0.22621 Edition Windows 11 Pro Version 22H2 Installed on 12/4/2022 OS build 22621.1702 Experience Windows Feature Experience Pack 1000.22641.1000.0 Red-Gate SQL Prompt add-on 10.13.8.680
I am able to reproduce this. I set the peek activation to Ctrl + A then opened Chrome Version 113.0.5672.127 (Official Build) (64-bit) and a new google document file, typed a few lines of text and was unable to activate the shortcut to select all.
Powertoys Version 0.70.0
Prevents me from being able to jump while sprinting in Minecraft. 😅
Can confirm, interferes with a couple of games where sprinting and jumping is LCtrl + Spacebar as default, seems to have the same problem when manually assigning those (some people like Shift for sprinting, but others LCtrl).
Confirming. PowerToys apparently hijacks ctrl+space globally. Didn't notice until the select column shortcut in Excel did not work. Spent a fair amount of time trying to figure out why. Changing the key combination in PowerToys or disabling Peek both correct this.
CTRL+Space is an extremely common shortcut, used in other Microsoft products (Office, Minecraft, etc), PowerToys should not be installing a new feature, activating it by default, and assigning that shortcut globally. It either needs to restrict that shortcut to file explorer or choose a far less common shortcut as default.
Currently have a fix that only consumes the shortcut for windows that have a shell interface. Tested on VSCode and Visual Studio that now Ctrl+Space still works there.
We expect that this fix will be included in a upcoming hotfix.
Wouldn't it be better to implement it like QL-Win did on his QuickLook, or macOS does, with just the spacebar?
Wouldn't it be better to implement it like QL-Win did on his QuickLook, or macOS does, with just the spacebar?
Agreed. I would much prefer to activate the Peek feature by pressing the spacebar in File Explorer. I don't think it is used for anything else and is more convenient.
Wouldn't it be better to implement it like QL-Win did on his QuickLook, or macOS does, with just the spacebar?
Agreed. I would much prefer to activate the Peek feature by pressing the spacebar in File Explorer. I don't think it is used for anything else and is more convenient.
Spacebar is being used to select files in the File Explorer, you can navigate files with the arrows and select it with space, if you hold CTRL or SHIFT you can select multiple files with the spacebar.
And by the way, if Peek is enabled on CTRL+Space, you can't use that selection feature anymore :/ (it opens one Peek with all the selected files).
I moved it to Win+Space as I don't use the language switcher.
Prevents me from being able to jump while sprinting in Minecraft. 😅
I quite literally googled this and here I am, thanks :joy:
Can confirm, it also interferes with Netbeans auto-completion. I have to disable or assign to another shortcut. It should only work in File Explorer (or maybe shell file dialog).
Actually, ctrl+space is often used to switch ime, but unfortunately it was set as the default value for peek, and because of this bug, ime switching suddenly became impossible, and it took me three days to find out the cause... I hope that anyone who is wandering around google because ime suddenly stopped working can find their way here...
Same here, conflicting with Visual Studio inline shortcut. We got really a new stackoverflow with the disrupting issue.
https://superuser.com/questions/1785700/ctrlspace-not-working-anywhere
Question... why default to Ctrl+Space? What was wrong with just using Space like on MacOS which, as far as I can tell, doesn't do anything on file explorer or dialogue boxes?
Question... why default to Ctrl+Space? What was wrong with just using Space like on MacOS which, as far as I can tell, doesn't do anything on file explorer or dialogue boxes?
Exactly! Since PowerToys aims to bring some of the macOS features to Windows, it would make sense to implement the shortcut in a similar way. Just using the spacebar, like on macOS, would maintain consistency and familiarity for users. This approach would also prevent interference with existing functionalities in other software applications. It's a win-win situation.
Question... why default to Ctrl+Space? What was wrong with just using Space like on MacOS which, as far as I can tell, doesn't do anything on file explorer or dialogue boxes?
Exactly! Since PowerToys aims to bring some of the macOS features to Windows, it would make sense to implement the shortcut in a similar way. Just using the spacebar, like on macOS, would maintain consistency and familiarity for users. This approach would also prevent interference with existing functionalities in other software applications. It's a win-win situation.
Spacebar is already used to select file with the keyboard, use CTRL or Shift to select several files with space. Hence, CTRL+Space is already used to select files, so I had to move Peek to Win+Space (you can still switch between keyboard layouts with Win+Shift+Space).
Question... why default to Ctrl+Space? What was wrong with just using Space like on MacOS which, as far as I can tell, doesn't do anything on file explorer or dialogue boxes?
Exactly! Since PowerToys aims to bring some of the macOS features to Windows, it would make sense to implement the shortcut in a similar way. Just using the spacebar, like on macOS, would maintain consistency and familiarity for users. This approach would also prevent interference with existing functionalities in other software applications. It's a win-win situation.
Spacebar is already used to select file with the keyboard, use CTRL or Shift to select several files with space. Hence, CTRL+Space is already used to select files, so I had to move Peek to Win+Space (you can still switch between keyboard layouts with Win+Shift+Space).
Huh. THAT doesn't seem to work properly. The controls are weird. You can use it to select another single highlighted item with Ctrl, since you don't need to press it again with Shift,but you cannot "unselect" anything with Space.
A useless function really. I'd say you should override that anyway. I'd be surprised if anyone who uses Powertoys used Space in File Explorer in that way, or would much prefer Space to preview.
IMO this "Peek" feature is something that should be brought to the main OS and Microsoft should ditch whatever space is trying to do in File Explorer with something significantly more useful.
Question... why default to Ctrl+Space? What was wrong with just using Space like on MacOS which, as far as I can tell, doesn't do anything on file explorer or dialogue boxes?
Exactly! Since PowerToys aims to bring some of the macOS features to Windows, it would make sense to implement the shortcut in a similar way. Just using the spacebar, like on macOS, would maintain consistency and familiarity for users. This approach would also prevent interference with existing functionalities in other software applications. It's a win-win situation.
Spacebar is already used to select file with the keyboard, use CTRL or Shift to select several files with space. Hence, CTRL+Space is already used to select files, so I had to move Peek to Win+Space (you can still switch between keyboard layouts with Win+Shift+Space).
Huh. THAT doesn't seem to work properly. The controls are weird. You can use it to select another single highlighted item with Ctrl, since you don't need to press it again with Shift,but you cannot "unselect" anything with Space.
A useless function really. I'd say you should override that anyway. I'd be surprised if anyone who uses Powertoys used Space in File Explorer in that way, or would much prefer Space to preview.
IMO this "Peek" feature is something that should be brought to the main OS and Microsoft should ditch whatever space is trying to do in File Explorer with something significantly more useful.
Maybe it works best with checkboxes enabled in File Explorer, but I sometimes use the keyboard to select files (can be useful with macros also). To select a file, just go to it with arrows, then to select another one, press CTRL and move to the file with arrows, press Space to select it (while keeping CTRL pressed), then continue to next one while holding CTRL. You can also select a batch of files with Shift (keep CTRL pressed if you select several batches).
I know it's not used much nowadays, but it works.
Question... why default to Ctrl+Space? What was wrong with just using Space like on MacOS which, as far as I can tell, doesn't do anything on file explorer or dialogue boxes?
Exactly! Since PowerToys aims to bring some of the macOS features to Windows, it would make sense to implement the shortcut in a similar way. Just using the spacebar, like on macOS, would maintain consistency and familiarity for users. This approach would also prevent interference with existing functionalities in other software applications. It's a win-win situation.
Spacebar is already used to select file with the keyboard, use CTRL or Shift to select several files with space. Hence, CTRL+Space is already used to select files, so I had to move Peek to Win+Space (you can still switch between keyboard layouts with Win+Shift+Space).
Huh. THAT doesn't seem to work properly. The controls are weird. You can use it to select another single highlighted item with Ctrl, since you don't need to press it again with Shift,but you cannot "unselect" anything with Space. A useless function really. I'd say you should override that anyway. I'd be surprised if anyone who uses Powertoys used Space in File Explorer in that way, or would much prefer Space to preview. IMO this "Peek" feature is something that should be brought to the main OS and Microsoft should ditch whatever space is trying to do in File Explorer with something significantly more useful.
Maybe it works best with checkboxes enabled in File Explorer, but I sometimes use the keyboard to select files (can be useful with macros also). To select a file, just go to it with arrows, then to select another one, press CTRL and move to the file with arrows, press Space to select it (while keeping CTRL pressed), then continue to next one while holding CTRL. You can also select a batch of files with Shift (keep CTRL pressed if you select several batches).
I know it's not used much nowadays, but it works.
I understand how it works, I also have checkboxes enabled on file explorer as I have a 2-in-1. It still has limited use compared to Peek, particularly because you cannot unselect.
Put it this way, I doubt you'll miss it much if it were to be stripped away.
I understand how it works, I also have checkboxes enabled on file explorer as I have a 2-in-1. It still has limited use compared to Peek, particularly because you cannot unselect.
Put it this way, I doubt you'll miss it much if it were to be stripped away.
You can unselect, by holding CTRL and pressing Space on the file, unless Peek hijacks it.
But yes, I won't miss it much if it disappears.
I am no longer able to reproduce this issue after updating to v0.70.1
Thank you!
So, it's official: no Space-only shortcut? :/ I guess I'll keep using QuickLook.
I have to say, though, as a macOS and Windows user, this is such a great feature, and I'm glad you guys added it to Power Toys. I just wish the integration was more seamless.
This issue was for peek was grabbing keystroke outside of file explorer. Space only is tracked in a different issue. It is clear people are asking for it, now to figure out how to do it. The big Proof of concept that is needed is detecting that a file rename is happening.
little by little.
So, it's official: no Space-only shortcut? :/ I guess I'll keep using QuickLook.
I have to say, though, as a macOS and Windows user, this is such a great feature, and I'm glad you guys added it to Power Toys. I just wish the integration was more seamless.
very true its weird they dont let us choose this error has also not been resolved yet i suppose i am facing it too.
Man, how annoying!!! I just spent the better part of an hour troubleshooting and uninstalling things in PowerShell, commenting things out in my PowerShell profile and uninstalling/reinstalling Terminal because this broke the Ctrl+Spacebar MenuComplete for PSReadLine. Don't get me wrong, I love most of the functionality in PowerToys, but there has got to be better regression testing. And as someone said earlier, these new features should not be enabled by default. Period.
