Escape key no longer functioning to back out of photos in Event view

That's an entirely different application and has its own forum here:

https://discussions.apple.com/community/mac_os/photos_osx/content

Leif Nelson wrote:

I too am frustrated by the escape key no longer working. I used it extensively to navigate back and forth between events and in/out of calendar making. I was super efficient. Now every time I want out of anything I have to find the mouse again! So frustrating!! It seems like iphoto 11 is a regression, not an upgrade!

I agree. And it doesn't get better with age either. I've been using iPhoto '11 for months now, and I still reach for the ESC key about 100 times an hour to move from Photo to Event to Event List. Except it doesn't work anymore!

Soooo exasperating. I understand that ESC is now used to drop out of Full Screen mode. I have no problem with that.

But if you are in normal windowed view (i.e. not Full Screen) then ESC should still work as it always did. Instead it is simply non-functional.

I've sent repeated iPhoto feedback on this....there hasn't been an update in months though.

Dave

Like you, Dave, I am repeatedly reaching for ESC (to "escape" what I'm in back to where I was, like it used to work) repeatedly all day long even though I know it doesn't work.

Space bar, ***? Okay so it works but it feels like a workaround, not a solution.

I can't imagine Steve Jobs (RIP) would have approved of this, ESC has been used to "escape" since the beginning. He must have been too sick to notice...

I just figured out a great solution to this problem! The goal here is to remap the Escape key in iPhoto so that it functions like the Command-Left-Arrow, which currently has all the functions we wish Escape had. The instruction are fairly simple:

1. Install KeyRemap4MacBook. It's a wonderful program that lets you take control of your keyboard. It's stable and powerful and quick and free.
2. Follow these instructions which tell you how to add your own custom settings. (Skip steps 4 through 6, which just give you some example settings to add.)
3. Edit private.xml so that it looks like the following (or at least contains the following "item", if you have other custom settings installed):

<?xml version="1.0"?>

<root>

<item>

<name>Escape to Command Left Arrow</name>

<identifier>private.app_iphoto_escape_to_command_left_arrow</identifier>

<only>IPHOTO</only>

<autogen>--KeyToKey-- KeyCode::ESCAPE, KeyCode::CURSOR_LEFT, ModifierFlag::COMMAND_R</autogen>

</item>

</root>

Finally, save private.xml, then click "ReloadXML" under the "Change Key" tab of the KeyRemap4MacBook preferance pane. Your new setting should appear at the top of the list. Enable it. Restart iPhoto if you feel like it (you probably won't need to). And now, in iPhoto, Escape should work as you want it to!

NOTE: There is one downside I've discovered. You won't be able to get out of Slideshow mode using the Escape key anymore, as this was the one case where Escape originally functioned sensibly. Rather, you'll have to use your mouse to click the X button to escape. But Slideshow mode is terrible anyway. Just use full screen mode instead.