System wide keyboard combination for “ESC” on iPad Pro removed with iPadOS 17 using iPad Pro Magic Keyboard - what’s my alternative?

Hi!

With Apple’s launch of iPadOS 17 they for some unimaginable reason removed the option to press CMD+”.” (Period) to mimic the non-existent ESC-key on the iPad Pro 12.9” Magic Keyboard (4th generation).


This option was a must when using auto-correct as if you can’t use the keyboard to “decline” the suggestion you need to use the mouse for it. That very quickly gets extremely annoying if the auto-correct suggestion is wrong.


I’ve opened an issue with Apple’s tech support for this, but when the tech didn’t find any solution after a week he simply just stopped answering me and gave no further explanation.


I’ve tried everything the tech suggested, even completely wiped the iPad Pro and did a fresh install of iPadOS 17. Nothing helped to get it back. I’ve tried changing CAPS to ESC in Modifier Keys but it does nothing for declining auto-correct.


In some applications it actually seem to do mimic ESC, so perhaps it’s the iPadOS 17’s auto-correct that’s stopped working with ESC?


Anyone else noticed this? Does it exist a solution?


Here’s an article explaining more of how it used to work originally.

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Here’s an article explaining how to modify CAPS to work as ESC.

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[Edited by Moderator]



iPad Pro

Posted on Dec 13, 2023 1:17 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Dec 13, 2023 2:44 AM

Ok, so some moderator edited out the links so thats not possible for you to see. Just google “iPad Pro Magic Keyboard ESC key” and you’ll see articles describing how it used to work.


I’ve sort of managed to narrow it down though. It’s actually not that the system wide ESC alternative (using cmd+.) is missing in iPadOS 17.


It seems that it’s auto-correct that no longer accepts ESC to decline suggestions.


In other apps cmd+. functions as ESC correctly. Like in Photos app, if you’re viewing a photo in full screen and want to go back to gallery. Then you can press cmd+. to get back, mimicking ESC.


So, Apple for some reason removed this and the only options to get around it is to either stop using auto-correct all together or use the mouse/finger to decline the suggestion every time. Terrible for productivity…

1 reply
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Dec 13, 2023 2:44 AM in response to Yivey_pple

Ok, so some moderator edited out the links so thats not possible for you to see. Just google “iPad Pro Magic Keyboard ESC key” and you’ll see articles describing how it used to work.


I’ve sort of managed to narrow it down though. It’s actually not that the system wide ESC alternative (using cmd+.) is missing in iPadOS 17.


It seems that it’s auto-correct that no longer accepts ESC to decline suggestions.


In other apps cmd+. functions as ESC correctly. Like in Photos app, if you’re viewing a photo in full screen and want to go back to gallery. Then you can press cmd+. to get back, mimicking ESC.


So, Apple for some reason removed this and the only options to get around it is to either stop using auto-correct all together or use the mouse/finger to decline the suggestion every time. Terrible for productivity…

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System wide keyboard combination for “ESC” on iPad Pro removed with iPadOS 17 using iPad Pro Magic Keyboard - what’s my alternative?

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