Toggle Floating Sidebar keyboard shortcut not working

[maxnabokow]

Captchas

• [x] I have read the instructions.
• [x] I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
• [x] I am not filing an enhancement request.
• [x] I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.
• [x] I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS.

What happened?

See #3356

Version

1.11.2b

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

macOS - aarch64, Windows - aarch64

What component is this issue related to?

Tabs

Relevant log output if applicable

[maxnabokow]

@froggy-jpg, @mtrent6, @emoveo-design, @jinbatsu, @rukh-debug, @imxade, @ChitranshuV, @OMARxKHALID, @rudyorre

[maxnabokow]

Re-submit of #3356, because it was deleted as part of cleanup.

[Propheticus]

Does it help to re-assign the shortcuts to the exact same, showing their special character equivalent?

[emonadeo]

Does it help to re-assign the shortcuts to the exact same, showing their special character equivalent?

Not for me. (Windows amd64)

[Propheticus]

Just a basic check then: did you enable compact mode (ctrl + alt + c) first? This toggle only toggles in compact mode.

[Dehelssey]

I have the same issue. I've tried to change the shortcut but it still doesn't work.

I've also tried Ctrl + Alt + C as suggested by @Propheticus but with no effect at all

[Propheticus]

Ok, to be super redundant and recap what has worked for me:

Workaround steps

1. Re-assign compact mode shortcuts using the exact same keys, resulting in:

2. While not on a textarea or search field, use ctrl + alt + c to enable compact mode. (If the cursor is in a text field it'll enter a © and not trigger the function)**
3. While not on a textarea or search field, use ctrl + alt + s to toggle the sidebar. (If the cursor is in a text field it'll enter a ß and not trigger the function)**

Similarly for workspace switching

1. Re-assign compact mode shortcuts using the exact same keys, resulting in:

2. While not on a textarea or search field, use ctrl + alt + q or ctrl + alt + e to switch back/forward. (If the focus is on a text/search field, ä or é are entered instead)**

Observed issues:

• The shortcuts do not work until re-assigned*.
• Shortcuts are recorded as accent/special characters (ctrl + alt + s is shown as ß instead)
• The shortcuts do not work when the cursor is in a text field because they clash with a (system wide) special character. (other apps are able to override these global hotkeys/shortkeys, e.g. ctrl + alt + s is often a shortcut for 'Save as')
• The shortcuts are ~~not~~ reverted to their original when clicking "reset to default" & restarting Zen but this is not reflected in the UI. (#4194)

Environment Tested in Zen 1.11.3b on Win 11 x64 Reproduced in Zen 1.11.3t (Twilight) without mods and in a clean profile Language: English (GB) Keyboard: US International

@emonadeo @Dehelssey This might feel repetitive, but I'm trying to find out how/why this workaround I found differs for you. Perhaps you could retrace my steps and indicate if that works. Keyboard and language setting differences could be relevant here, so please mention them. If it does not work, it's interesting to know if it does work in a new profile (can be made in about:profiles). This reportedly did work for another user.

Related issues #7230 #7341 #7488

*: Some however report back, also re-assigning does not help. To validate if this is also true while using a new/clean profile. **: The exact special character entered can depend on the keyboard setting.

[Jack-Chronicle]

Changing the shortcut keys has sadly not helped, even using the international keyboard special characters

I have noticed that the same keys work on my Linux install of Zen for the shortcuts which is interesting

[dosubot[bot]]

Hi, @maxnabokow. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog. I'm marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary:

• The issue involves a non-functional keyboard shortcut for toggling the floating sidebar on macOS and Windows in Zen version 1.11.2b.
• The problem does not occur on Mozilla Firefox and works on Linux, suggesting a platform-specific issue.
• Propheticus suggested a workaround, but it was ineffective for users like emonadeo and Dehelssey.
• The issue might be related to keyboard and language settings.
• Linked to related issues #7230, #7341, and #7488.

Next Steps:

• Please let me know if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
• If there is no further activity, the issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!

[ariestwn]

i still have this issue

[evancohen]

Also having this issue. Fresh install on Win 11.

[Msouza91]

I have noticed this issue now that I decided to give zen a try. On a windows machine and the issue occurs when I try to use or set a keybinding with 2 or more modifiers. With 2 modifiers Zen registers only the third key as the binding as in ctrl+alt+t registers only the t and if I try include shift to use 3 modifiers then it would register as shift+t.

[bmigirl]

Also having the issue on Mac, freshly installed Twilight. Tried various variations of 2 and 3 character shortcuts along with resetting to default, quitting the app multiple times etc. Also tried shortcuts like cmd+1 that were initially assigned to something else (in case of cmd+1 it was switch to tab 1 I think), then removed them from those and assigned to toggling floating sidebar / toolbar. None of these worked, so I'm pretty sure this feature is broken - if it was anything "outside" (like extensions etc), then cmd+1 wouldn't have worked for the tabs either.

[Hisui02]

Also having this issue, Windows 11, US International Keyboard layout

[grantith]

Still an issue for me Zen Version 1.15.2b Macos 15.6.1

[emoveo-design]

This is still an issue for me, on my 2 laptops One is an M2 Mac, the other is an M4. Same os version (15.6.1), same Zen version (1.15b). This has been an issue for several versions of OS/Zen now.

One thing i noticed when i read this thread once again : why is there no menu for toggling the sidebar on the menu bar ? Maybe this could be triggerred using an OS shortcut ? But since there is no menu we can't try this either.

Someday i will try a complete wipe of any Zen data and create new profile too (but not today 😮‍💨)

[Dehelssey]

Works for me, both on Linux and Windows

[gevezelain]

Still having this issue on Linux. Unable to open floating side bar.