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 Peggy,

    Peggy Peggy Aug 11, 2011 10:00 AM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 8 (38,947 points)
    Applications
    Aug 11, 2011 10:00 AM in response to Martin S Taylor

    Have you installed a third-party utility such as Better Touch Tool? If you have, you need to do one of two things - update BTT to a Lion-compatible version (if there is one) or use the BTT preferences to exclude the iWork apps.

     

    Peggy_sig.png

  • by Martin S Taylor,

    Martin S Taylor Martin S Taylor Aug 11, 2011 12:07 PM in response to Peggy
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Aug 11, 2011 12:07 PM in response to Peggy

    I thought it might be Better Touch Tool, so the first thing I tried was uninstalling it. (Actually that was the second thing I tried. The first thing was trying a different keyboard!)

     

    Anyhow, BTT is no longer running, and neither is Typinator, the other possible culprit.

     

    Sadly, the problem remains.

     

    MST

  • by KOENIG Yvan,

    KOENIG Yvan Aug 11, 2011 1:39 PM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 8 (41,790 points)
    Aug 11, 2011 1:39 PM in response to Martin S Taylor

    Try to run Pages in an other User Account.

     

    This test will tell if the wrongdoer is in your account or if it's in the huge set of files shared by every accounts.

     

    Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) jeudi 11 août 2011 22:38:34

    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

     

    To be the AW6 successor, iWork MUST integrate a TRUE DB, not a list organizer !

  • by Martin S Taylor,

    Martin S Taylor Martin S Taylor Aug 15, 2011 6:32 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Aug 15, 2011 6:32 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

    Nope, the problem is still there in every account.

     

    MST

  • by Jellyfilled Studios,

    Jellyfilled Studios Jellyfilled Studios Sep 12, 2011 8:11 AM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 1 (5 points)
    Sep 12, 2011 8:11 AM in response to Martin S Taylor

    I've also noticed this problem in particular with Pages and Numbers since installing Lion. At first I thought it was my wireless keyboard and I changed the batteries. I noticed that if I press the power button on the wireless keyboard the Command-V, Command-P and Command-X will work but fails again later.

     

    I'm wondering if anyone with wired keyboards have this problem too.

  • by fruhulda,

    fruhulda fruhulda Sep 12, 2011 9:49 AM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 6 (15,126 points)
    Sep 12, 2011 9:49 AM in response to Martin S Taylor

    If the problem is only with iWork apps I would uninstall them. Restart the computer and install iWorks again.

  • by PeterBreis0807,

    PeterBreis0807 PeterBreis0807 Sep 12, 2011 2:59 PM in response to Jellyfilled Studios
    Level 8 (35,830 points)
    Mac OS X
    Sep 12, 2011 2:59 PM in response to Jellyfilled Studios

    What "power button on the wireless keyboard"?

     

    Have you replaced or recharged the batteries in your wireless keyboard? Or have something else interferring with its signal?

     

    Peter

  • by Martin S Taylor,

    Martin S Taylor Martin S Taylor Sep 14, 2011 1:59 AM in response to PeterBreis0807
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Sep 14, 2011 1:59 AM in response to PeterBreis0807

    No, I don't use a wireless keyboard and I get this problem with both of the wired keyboards I own. I really don't think it's a hardware problem.

     

    MST

  • by Steve Self,

    Steve Self Steve Self Sep 15, 2011 7:45 AM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 1 (15 points)
    iCloud
    Sep 15, 2011 7:45 AM in response to Martin S Taylor

    Yes, I too have this issue.  Wired Apple keyboard. No additional typing assist apps. If I click outside the Doc on the desktop, then back in I can type again.  This almost always happens with the backspace and delete key. Never with characters.  Very annoying. Hoping an update will fix it...

  • by Martin S Taylor,

    Martin S Taylor Martin S Taylor Sep 15, 2011 8:30 AM in response to Steve Self
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Sep 15, 2011 8:30 AM in response to Steve Self

    When you find that a key won't work, try waiting for 30 seconds and see if it works then. (This isn't meant to be a practical solution, just a way of narrowing down the cause!)

     

    MST

  • by krzysztofp,

    krzysztofp krzysztofp Oct 10, 2011 1:04 AM in response to Martin S Taylor
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 1:04 AM in response to Martin S Taylor

    I have the same problem with MacBook Pro. I tested the keyboard problem with another 2 Macs in my company with osx 10.7.1 (MacBookPro, white MacBook) and all have the same problem with Keynote and Pages.

    I do not use 3rd party utilities, tried another account, another keyboard layouts, reinstaling iWork - no effect.

    I use Polish language system - is it possible it cause the problem?

     

    Krzysztof

  • by KOENIG Yvan,

    KOENIG Yvan Oct 10, 2011 1:31 AM in response to krzysztofp
    Level 8 (41,790 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 1:31 AM in response to krzysztofp

    krzysztofp wrote:

     

    I have the same problem with MacBook Pro. I tested the keyboard problem with another 2 Macs in my company with osx 10.7.1 (MacBookPro, white MacBook) and all have the same problem with Keynote and Pages.

    I do not use 3rd party utilities, tried another account, another keyboard layouts, reinstaling iWork - no effect.

    I use Polish language system - is it possible it cause the problem?

     

    Krzysztof

    A localization oddity was already reported with the Polish Pages's version so your problem may be related to that.

     

    May you describe exactly which shortcuts fails ?

    I don't know your language but knowing exactly the shortcuts to test, I would be able to run the system in Polish and try to apply the "odd" shortcuts.

     

    If I may reproduce the problem, I would file a bug report.

     

    Yvan KOENIG (VALLAURIS, France) lundi 10 octobre 2011 10:31:19

    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 1:49 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan
    Level 1 (0 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 1:49 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

    The most irritating is cmd-c and cmd-v because I use it often... but generally problem is with whole keyboard. Sometimes it stops and I have to switch to other application (through cmd-TAB - it always works) and back then it works.

     

    Krzysztof

  • by Martin S Taylor,

    Martin S Taylor Martin S Taylor Oct 10, 2011 1:58 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan
    Level 1 (24 points)
    Oct 10, 2011 1:58 AM in response to KOENIG Yvan

    Well I'm using British English, and I get the problem too. So it's not just a Polish problem.

     

    MST

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