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A
Allen Cobb
Inspiring
November 4, 2020
Answered

Alt+PgDn is BROKEN on Windows

  • November 4, 2020
  • 3 replies
  • 1730 views

Normally (and on the MAC), the user can press Alt/Opt+PgDn to center the next spread on the screen.

 

This is now broken on Windows. At least on the 2 PC's I use, both of which are up to date on Windows and Creative Cloud.

 

What happens now is that when the Alt key is released, a glyph is inserted into the text. And this causes the display to jump back so the insertion point is visible on screen.

 

Of course, if I'm not currently editing inside a text frame, the glyph doesn't appear, because there's no place for it to go.

 

This new problem prevents me from using Alt-PgDn and Alt-PgUp to navigate one spread at a time while I'm editing. For some reason, InDesign processes the navigation command (when NumLock is OFF) and thenprocesses the same keystrokes as if the NumLock were ON. 

 

Allen

 

This topic has been closed for replies.
Correct answer Allen Cobb

Let me simplify, then: Mapping combined-function keys depends on the hardware, driver and OS involved, and the number of even basic variations runs into the 100s. (Compact and laptop keyboards vary considerably in layout, combination of keys and 'function shift' methods.)

 

I'd suggest that it's more up to the user to select standardized components suitable to the job than it is up to the software house to automatically parse some very large number of alternate — I'd prefer to say 'non standard' — combinations.

 

Your choice seems to be to wait for Adobe to fix things your way, or buy a relatively inexpensive, superior solution for using ID effectively. But either way, I think it would serve you to recognize where the issues actually lie, here. (I say the same thing to people who want to do magazine layout on a 12-inch laptop or a tablet, so don't feel singled out.)

 

—


Thanks, James, for this workaround. But I'm asking Adobe to improve their software. Replacing my keyboards is not a "solution," since the problem still exists. It's a feature request, posted in that context.

3 replies

M
mostlycloudy
Participant
May 29, 2022

I can confirm this is still a bug in version InDesign 17.1.  Pressing Alt+PgDn on the keypad (with numlock off) inserts random characters (sometimes not even visible characters) into the document at the current insertion point. 

 

Adobe, please fix this issue as it has corrupted several books we are laying out for clients.  (They sometimes go to print with these random characters after a minor edit we made, and then we hear about it from them and have to pull the book. Embarrassing!)

    James Gifford—NitroPress
    James Gifford—NitroPress
    Legend
    May 29, 2022

    I am ass/u/ming this problem only occurs on laptops with a combined keypad. It doesn't happen, and I can't recall it ever happening on a full-size desktop keyboard, regardless of the state of NumLock.

     

    In which case, it has more to do with how laptop keyboard drivers interpret keystrokes than any feature or setting of ID. I have many apps that will interpret the keys as either arrows or numbers, in context of the immediate use, again regardless of NumLock. Not sure how to resolve with with InDesign.

     

    —

    A
    Allen CobbAuthor
    Inspiring
    May 29, 2022

    Sadly, this problem exists on any keyboard with dual-purpose number pad keys. Lots of keyboards lack dedicated PgUp and PgDn keys. All of the six computers I regularly use have no dedicated page keys, and only one of them is a laptop.

    It is very much an InDesign issue, because (a) it didn't exist with prior versions, and (b) Adobe has the means to fix the problem, which is hindering their users from getting the most out of their expensive app. It's not a big deal to fix this within ID, and any programmer familiar with the details of keyboard input can easily make it work like used to. For example, they could review the keyboard interrupt handler from earlier versions. This kind of code is pretty straightforward, but it relies on the programmer's complete attention to all the different logical conditions that may obtain during keystroke capture. No doubt it got broken by some programmer who wasn't paying attention to all the conventional use cases.

    TᴀW
    TᴀW
    Legend
    November 9, 2020

    (Not an answer to the question, but) I always change the shortcut for Next Spread and Previous Spread to the regular Page Up and Page Down keys (with no modifiers). Much more useful to turn spreads than to scroll the screen down a pageful, IMO.

    A
    Allen CobbAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 10, 2020

    Yes, @TᴀW ,I would do that, if my favorite keyboard had dedicated PgUp and PgDn keys. 

     

    But I didn't need to do that in prior versions of InDesign, where this bug wasn't present. InDesign was throwing away the redundant extended keycode after processing the navigation behavior. Since it's already processing a special key combination in the Alt+NumPad[NavMode] keystrokes, it's a simple matter to absorb the remaining spurious key event. Somebody probably just forgot to preserve the exact functionality when making some change in this area of the code.

     

    L
    Community Expert
    LaubenderCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 4, 2020

    Hi Allen,

    just tested Alt + PgDn with my German InDesign 2021 on Windows 10.

    No issue.With this key combination I can navigate to the next spread of my active document.

    FWIW: I use a laptop with a keyboard that has a num pad section where the PgDn key is located.

    Num lock is turned off.

     

    I "never" do this when text is selected.

    And you are right, something strange could happen, if text is selected.

     

    Regards,
    Uwe Laubender

    ( ACP )

    BobLevine
    Community Expert
    BobLevineCommunity Expert
    Community Expert
    November 4, 2020
    This is the key. Turn off the num lock if you're using the page up / page down keys or use the separate keys on the keyboard.
    A
    Allen CobbAuthor
    Inspiring
    November 8, 2020

    Thanks for responding, Bob. But yes, as I've described above, this problem exists with NumLock OFF. The behavior is completely different (and correct) when NumLock is turned on (i.e., it's supposed to enter an extended ASCII keycode, and it does).

     

    The problem does not exist on Macs. 

    The problem does not exist on PC kybds with the dedicated PgUp/PgDn keys. Only with the NumPad nav buttons (with NumLock OFF).

    The problem has not always existed, but I don't know when it began to occur.

     

    Thanks, Uwe, for testing this. I, too, don't do much navigation with text selected -- too easy to delete something. It's interesting that the problem doesn't happen with the embedded number pad on your laptop. My Logitech keyboards, at least three models, all have dedicated number pads, but some don't have additional, separate, PgDn/PgUp keys. My guess is that if the keystrokes could be captured at a low level, we would find that the embedded number pad does not emit an extended ASCII keycode after the Alt key is released, because an additional function key is required to invoke the embedded number pad.

     

    The essence of the problem is that InDesign used to throw away the spurious keycode, but now it honors it even though the number pad is in Navigation Mode (i.e., NumLock = OFF).

     

     

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