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Why is keyboard navigation broken in OS X?
I do a lot of typing, and prefer to do things without the mouse if possible, to save time. I am aheavy user of keyboard navigation whenever it is enabled. ALthough this is a built in feature of the OS (See System Preferences -> Keyboard and Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts) it does not work in a number of apps. Most surprisingly, it does not work with a number of apps that are part of OSX e.g. Preview, Finder, Safari, Terminal. In particular, the key combination I notice being broken often is Cmd+`, which should allow for the selection of different open windows in the same application (like a Cmd+Tab, but only for the windows of the current application).
Strangely, the functionality works fine in Firefox.
Why is this feature broken in some many Apple apps? Isn't it supposed to be enforced by the OS?
Strangely, the functionality works fine in Firefox.
Why is this feature broken in some many Apple apps? Isn't it supposed to be enforced by the OS?
I’m confused
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Inappropriate?No, Cmd-` is not built into the OS as far as I know, although it's used by many applications. It works fine for me in Safari, Preview, Terminal, and the Finder.
Perhaps you're using a keyboard layout that remaps the ` key to something else so that the OS is not recognizing it as the right key? Try this test: make sure you're using one of the U.S. keyboard layouts, then see if Cmd-` works. Good luck!
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You were dead on: switching back to the US keyboard layout fixed everything. I was using the US-International layout, which is not distributed with OSX. This layout has all the keys in the same place as the US layout, but it allows for simple key sequences for accentuation.
A question remains: Why does the key combo work with Firefox and not other apps when using US-International? The ' key is in the same place, and in both keyboard layouts it produces the same character. -
Try the U.S. Extended layout. That's what I mostly use. It may do what you wanted to use the U.S. International layout for.
I have no idea why Cmd-` would work only in Firefox, unless in that application, you had already switched to the U.S. layout. Remember, Mac OS keeps track of keyboard layout for each application, or sometimes each window.
And to your question about why Cmd-` wouldn't work with the International layout even thought the ` key produces the same character: it's probably not really the same character. You might be able to use the Character Palette to figure out whether it's really the same character. -
Inappropriate?I was irritated by not being able to "tab around" in a dialog to select buttons like "Ok" or "Cancel." Luckily this is just a setting in Keyboard & Mouse -> Keyboard Shortcuts:
http://www.paulmc.org/whatithink/2007...
But still prett crappy that it's not the default. -
Inappropriate?I can't get my R apple key to work in combination with delete, or any of the letters in most applications.
I've changed the keyboard layout to US extended, back to US... nothing helps.
Does anyone have any suggestions?
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That sounds like it might be a hardware problem. Open up Keyboard Viewer and see if the right-hand Command key even registers.
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Inappropriate?Hi Marnen, I've checked (thanks for the suggestion) but the key is there in keyboard viewer. The power key does work in Finder but not in combination with delete etc., and not in firefox or any other program.
Any other suggestions?
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I'm sure the key is *there* in Keyboard Viewer, but if you press the key, does it flash on the screen? And don't bother using the power key -- that's the key you press to turn the computer on.
At this point, I'd say to talk to a Mac Genius if none of these suggestions help. -
Inappropriate?I'm having a similar problem. finder isn't recognizing the keypad: no scrolling by arrows, no "cmd+w" for closing windows, I have to do everything by mouse, which annoys me, since I'm an avid shortcut dude. some things still work, but only things that involve other applications.
