Martin S Taylor
Level 1 (24 points)

Q: Keystrokes lost since upgrading to Lion

Since I've upgraded to Lion I'm experiencing a rather odd problem: iWork doesn't respond to certain keystrokes. The worst offenders are Cmd-C, Cmd-V, and the like, but sometimes regular typing just doesn't appear in the document.

 

This is an intermittent problem: if I click on a Finder window and then back to Pages (or Numbers, or Keynote) then all is well once again – for a few minutes. Then, sure enough, when I try to Cut or Paste, I have to do it from the menu: the keyboard shortcuts won't work.

 

Anyone else seen this? Any suggestions how to track down what's causing it?

 

Martin S Taylor

Intel iMac, 3GB RAM, Mac OS X (10.7), iPhone 4; iOS 4.3

Posted on Aug 11, 2011 7:07 AM

by DuncanFromChichester,Solvedanswer
DuncanFromChichester DuncanFromChichester
Level 1 (15 points)
A:

To Martin S. Taylor et al.

 

I have been having the same 'ignored keystrokes' problem, and have found a way to reproduce the malfunction entirely reliably.  It is when you use the magic mouse with one hand, the keyboard with the other.  I have been seeking a solution from Applecare support for 3 months, now, but nothing to date.  I suspect it is a bug in iWorks.  I would be very interested if someone can reproduce the problem and report back here.  Here is the sequence that produces the problem 100% reliably for me:

 

===============

  1. Open a new document in Pages and type a few words to make sure it is working properly
  2. Hold the magic mouse in your normal way, between you thumb and another finger.  (Not your index finger)
  3. Slowly stroke the top of the mouse with your index finger as if you are scrolling (very lightly, in any direction) BUT DON'T LIFT UP YOU FINGER AFTERWARDS.  With your finger still touching the mouse surface, try typing some characters with your other hand.  If it works for you as it does for me, all keystrokes will be ignored, until you raise your index finger from the mouse surface.
  4. This is very annoying for anyone like me, who tends to leave his finger resting on the mouse surface after dragging, clicking etc.  Randomly and intermittently keystrokes get ignored …  sometimes for many seconds (until, inadvertently, you lift up your finger from the mouse).

=======================

 

It happens particularly when you are copying and pasting because you normally use the mouse to indentify the text to be copied in one hand, while typing with the other hand.  Any confirmation would be much appreciated.

 

Regards,

Duncan Butlin

Posted on Nov 11, 2011 10:09 AM

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Martin S Taylor

Q: Keystrokes lost since upgrading to Lion

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  • by KOENIG Yvan,

    KOENIG Yvan Oct 10, 2011 2:05 AM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 8 (41,790 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 2:05 AM in response to Martin S Taylor

    I use Pages under 10.7.1 every day with documents of about 200 pages and this odd behavior doesn't surface.

     

    Is it permanent or is it striking from time to time ?

    Maybe you got it when the app is autosaving.

     

    Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 10 octobre 2011 11:04:12

    iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.0

    My iDisk is : <http://public.me.com/koenigyvan>


    Please : Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community

     

     

  • by Martin S Taylor,

    Martin S Taylor Martin S Taylor Oct 10, 2011 2:09 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 2:09 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

    I have to admit the problem occurs much more often with Numbers, but it does happen with Pages occasionally, too.

     

    It does only happen from time to time, and the idea that it might happen when autosaving is interesting. How can we test this hypothesis?

     

    MST

  • by KOENIG Yvan,

    KOENIG Yvan Oct 10, 2011 2:18 AM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 8 (41,790 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 2:18 AM in response to Martin S Taylor

    Run "Activity Monitor" and ask it to display disk activity.

    This way, you will be able to check if the app write on disk when the keys are on strike.

     

    It's to get rid of this kind of behavior that I wrote a script giving us a clone of the defunct Save As.

    Peggy encapsulated it in a Service allowing us to trigger it with a shortcut.

     

    Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 10 octobre 2011 11:16:07

    iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.0

    My iDisk is : <http://public.me.com/koenigyvan>


    Please : Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community

     

     

  • by krzysztofp,

    krzysztofp krzysztofp Oct 10, 2011 3:14 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 3:14 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

    I can not see clear correlation between autosaving and keystroke problems. Even so it is frustrating becasue you are not sure you copied something or not.

     

    Krzysztof

  • by KOENIG Yvan,

    KOENIG Yvan Oct 10, 2011 4:42 AM in response to krzysztofp
    Level 8 (41,790 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 4:42 AM in response to krzysztofp

    It's really simple and has no relation to data loss. I repeat that on a clean system, the autosave feature do its duty correctly.

     

    When the app is saving, it 'eat' much processor cycles. This may explain why the key stroke aren't treated.

    I highlighted the word may because it's just an hypothesis.

    It's just difficult to assume that a behavior reported by less than ten users may be a bug in the system or even in a given app.

     

    Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 10 octobre 2011 13:41:16

    iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.0

    My iDisk is : <http://public.me.com/koenigyvan>


    Please : Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community

     

     

  • by krzysztofp,

    krzysztofp krzysztofp Oct 11, 2011 2:45 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 11, 2011 2:45 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

    If this hypothesis is true how to explain that cmd-c does not work but mouse with choosing "copy" from menu works OK?

     

    Krzysztof

  • by KOENIG Yvan,

    KOENIG Yvan Oct 11, 2011 3:27 AM in response to krzysztofp
    Level 8 (41,790 points)
    Oct 11, 2011 3:27 AM in response to krzysztofp

    If it's not the Autosave task which stop temporarily the process, you must search wich is the extraneous piece of software which plays the fool.

     

    I baught Lion one week after it's delivery and since, I use Pages and Numbers at least half a day.

    Everything behave well.

    But as I am always playing safe,

    I installed the system on a blank HD then added only iWork and worked this way during three weeks.

    Doing that, I'm sure that iWork apps are behaving flawlessly on Lion.

    Given that, Apple isn't responsable of every third party products which you may have installed.

     

    Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) mardi 11 octobre 2011 12:27:02

    iMac 21”5, i7, 2.8 GHz, 4 Gbytes, 1 Tbytes, mac OS X 10.6.8 and 10.7.0

    My iDisk is : <http://public.me.com/koenigyvan>


    Please : Search for questions similar to your own before submitting them to the community

     

     

  • by fruhulda,

    fruhulda fruhulda Oct 11, 2011 3:35 AM in response to krzysztofp
    Level 6 (15,126 points)
    Oct 11, 2011 3:35 AM in response to krzysztofp

    Has anyone yet tried uninstalling iWork or Pages and install it again??? It has solved other problems with iWork and Pages for people on Lion.

  • by Steve Self,

    Steve Self Steve Self Oct 11, 2011 9:55 AM in response to fruhulda
    Level 1 (15 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 11, 2011 9:55 AM in response to fruhulda

    Yes. I did that and it did not fix the bug.

    Reinatalling did not fix my situation.

    And I do not have any hacks or odd system fixes running.

     

    S

  • by Martin S Taylor,

    Martin S Taylor Martin S Taylor Oct 11, 2011 10:00 AM in response to Steve Self
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Oct 11, 2011 10:00 AM in response to Steve Self

    Steve, where are you based? Are you in the USA, using American English?

     

    It seems to me that most of us having problems aren't using the standard keyboard set, but if you are, then that will help to narrow the problem down.

     

    MST

  • by Steve Self,

    Steve Self Steve Self Oct 11, 2011 11:04 AM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 1 (15 points)
    iCloud
    Oct 11, 2011 11:04 AM in response to Martin S Taylor

    Yes, USA, standard American English keyboard.

  • by planetfinder,

    planetfinder planetfinder Oct 15, 2011 3:43 PM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 15, 2011 3:43 PM in response to Martin S Taylor

    I'm having the same or a similar problem. I was hoping that the latest update to OS X would fix this but it may be worse than before the update. I'm using a 17 MP Pro and the problem occurs on the laptop keyboard or an external full size wired aluminum keyboard. Very frustrating.

  • by Jellyfilled studios2,

    Jellyfilled studios2 Jellyfilled studios2 Oct 15, 2011 4:31 PM in response to PeterBreis0807
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 15, 2011 4:31 PM in response to PeterBreis0807

    On the right side of the wireless keyboard there is a power button. I've replaced the batteries and the problem still happens.

     

    I've seen that others have this problem with wired kb. It does "act" like the keyboard has gone to sleep or something because pressing the power button on the side has an instant affect of making the keystrokes work again. But it comes back.

     

    I've seen somewhere else where someone said maybe the mac is busy with cache or something and I don't think that's the case because cut/paste will work instantly if you use the mouse and select the menu options. They just don't work from the keyboard.

     

    I've also had instances where no keystrokes respond when I'm using Numbers. Not just the CMD keys but anything I type.

     

    It's very frustrating with it's apparent irregularity but there is no doubt pressing the power button instantly resolves each occurrence for me.

  • by Jellyfilled studios2,

    Jellyfilled studios2 Jellyfilled studios2 Oct 15, 2011 4:43 PM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 15, 2011 4:43 PM in response to Martin S Taylor

    this thread thinks it has a solution...

     

    command+c doesn't work ~ Snow Leopard

     

    I didn't have VoiceOver turned on but as the article suggested I turned it on and back off again.

     

    I tested it out in Pages and didn't have a problem just now but this has been such an intermittent issue that I think it will take a few days to know for sure if this fixed it

  • by Martin S Taylor,

    Martin S Taylor Martin S Taylor Oct 16, 2011 1:47 AM in response to Jellyfilled studios2
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Oct 16, 2011 1:47 AM in response to Jellyfilled studios2

    I'm in the same position. I turned VoiceOver on and off again and gave it a quick test in Numbers. No problems, but it is very intermittent so I'm reserving judgement.

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