How to disable Gnome ctrl+alt+down and ctrl+alt+up shortcut?

Question

There's a shortcut on Discord that enables you to switch between guilds easily. It's Ctrl+Alt+Up and Ctrl+Alt+Down.

The problem is that Gnome uses this shortcut for changing workspaces. I have two monitors so I don't use additional workspaces very often so I opened settings and looked for the shortcut so that I can disable it.

I found that apparently the shortcut to switch workspaces up and down is Super+Page Up and Super+Page Down and I couldn't find the Ctrl+Alt+Up or down shortcut anywhere else. It seems almost as if this shortcut isn't possible to change but I'm sure that's not the case, though I have no idea how to do that.

I disabled the workspace up and workspace down shortcuts (by using gnome tweak tool and hitting 'backspace' for the binding for each shortcut, and then clicking the 'Set' button -- this disables the shortcut altogether). This worked for me without having to use the dconf solutions listed below. — Troy Folger, Jun 30 '20 at 16:55
This can be done at `System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts > General` then modify `Show the window selection screen`. You can work out what the action that a shortcut carries out is called by making a custom shortcut using the same binding. It will warn you that you are replacing . — doliphin, Aug 09 '21 at 20:02

Christophe Roussy · Accepted Answer · 2020-07-06T08:54:46.083

68

In general this can happen because the OS (window system) has priority and intercepts this shortcut and stops propagation to your desired application. Solution: Removing the shortcuts using dconf-editor:

Open a terminal
sudo apt-get install dconf-tools (or dconf-editor)
Now run dconf-editor
in dconf-editor go to: /org/gnome/desktop/wm/keybindings/
Find switch-to-workspace-down, put ['disabled'] instead of default
same for switch-to-workspace-up
quit dconf-editor and you are done

I always have this problem when I want to use some Eclipse IDE shortcuts: https://bugs.eclipse.org/bugs/show_bug.cgi?id=321094

edited Jul 06 '20 at 08:54

answered Jan 29 '18 at 12:27

Christophe Roussy

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What is the difference between `[]` and `["disabled"]`, is it not the same ? – Christophe Roussy Feb 06 '18 at 08:26
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This should be the preferred answer. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Up + Ctrl+Alt+Shift+Down conflict with default common VSCode shortcuts. It took an hour to find this answer, then 2 minutes to fix it using Christophe Roussy's suggestion above. – VanAlbert Jun 12 '19 at 21:48
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On Ubuntu 19.10, there was no package called `dconf-tools`. I installed the package `dconf-editor` and everything else in this answer worked for me. – J. B. Rainsberger Dec 25 '19 at 13:54
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It honestly shocks me that this is still an issue, given that by default Gnome doesn't use vertical activities anymore. – Miguel Guthridge Sep 13 '22 at 08:14
Thanks so much, it worked perfectly as you might expect. – Manuel Martinez Apr 03 '23 at 22:46

score 24 · Answer 2 · edited Sep 16 '19 at 05:48

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Gnome Settings shows only Super key combination for switching workspaces; even gnome-tweak-tool is not helpful.

Anyway, you can still open dconf and edit the two related keys:

from

org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-to-workspace-up ['<Super>Page_Up', '<Control><Alt>Up']

to

org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-to-workspace-up ['<Super>Page_Up']

The same for the other key combination.

You can run these commands on the terminal:

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-to-workspace-up "['<Super>Page_Up']"
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-to-workspace-down "['<Super>Page_Down']"
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings move-to-workspace-up "['<Super><Shift>Page_Up']"
gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings move-to-workspace-down "['<Super><Shift>Page_Down']"

edited Sep 16 '19 at 05:48

Raza

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answered Sep 24 '17 at 14:11

mattia.b89

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unknown keyword: [Page_Up] – Johnystar Sep 24 '17 at 18:50
what are you saying? I don't understand – mattia.b89 Sep 25 '17 at 17:15
He's say that when he uses gsetting in the matter you described, it gives an error 'unknown keyword' (even though it shouldn't). I'm having the same issue and came across this thread. Got any ideas? I'm Ubuntu 17.10 Wayland. – thebunnyrules Dec 27 '17 at 23:43
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Well, in my case, I had screwed up the double quotes: writing ['Page_Down'] instead of "['Page_Down']" – thebunnyrules Dec 28 '17 at 00:43

score 8 · Answer 3 · answered May 25 '18 at 11:11

8

Since you have two monitors and don't need workspace, I will suggest to disable the shortcuts for "Move to workspace above/below":

Setting > Devices > Keyboard
search "workspace"
click on "Move to workspace above", press Backspace, press Set, done.

In fact, I disabled all shortcuts related to workspace...

answered May 25 '18 at 11:11

ys_sunshine

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The only answer that works without installing anything. Works on Ubuntu 18.04. – Prisacari Dmitrii Apr 09 '20 at 12:41
Then you can even add them again (Super+PgUp and Super+PgDn), and everything will work: Super+... combinations will do the job and ctrl+alt+arrow will be disabled – avtomaton Jul 01 '20 at 14:34
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Worked on Ubuntu 20.04.2 – Rodrigo Almeida Apr 02 '21 at 03:41

score 1 · Answer 4 · edited Jul 01 '20 at 15:21

You can do it purely from the settings. That app is not designed to show all enabled options in the dconf, but setting dconf values works correctly. So you should do the following:

Go to "Settings" -> "Keyboard Shortcuts" (or "Settings" -> "Devices" -> "Keyboard" for earlier versions)
Find "Navigation" -> "Move to workspace ..."
Click on it, press Super+PgUp (or PgDown), press "Set".

If it does not work, instead of step 3 remove shortcut by pressing Backspace and press "Set", then click on the item again and set Super+PgUp/PgDn, then press "Set".

score 0 · Answer 5 · answered Oct 13 '21 at 13:48

You don't need to install any additional package.

If you want to disable "Switch to workspace up/down" (in my case, it was conflicting with VSCode "Add Cursor Below/Above"), you can run following command.

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-to-workspace-up "['']"

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings switch-to-workspace-down "['']"

score 0 · Answer 6 · edited Dec 16 '21 at 02:50

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You can disable those keys in Ubuntu,

Settings > Keyboard Shortcuts >
SET (by click>backspace>enter):
- Move to workspace above=Disabled
- & Move to workspace below=Disabled

When you want to reset then there is reset option available also, so don't worry

edited Dec 16 '21 at 02:50

Greenonline

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answered Dec 15 '21 at 07:32

Dharmendrasinh Chudasama

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This seems to be basically the same as [ys_sunshine’s answer](https://unix.stackexchange.com/a/445977/80216) (from 3½ years ago). – G-Man Says 'Reinstate Monica' Dec 16 '21 at 03:43
Yes, but in easily understandable way (because of image) – Dharmendrasinh Chudasama Dec 16 '21 at 08:33

score 0 · Answer 7 · answered Feb 20 '23 at 12:07

I tried the selected answer but unfortunately, it didn't work for me.

I'm using Fedora 37 with Gnome 43 - Wayland at the time of writing.

What worked for me was to reassign the shortcut to the very same keys (despite being already the case):

Go to Settings
Go to Keyboard
Go to View and Customize Shortcuts
Look for Move to workspace on the left and click on it
Press Ctrl + Page Up or your preferred shortcut
Look for Move to workspace on the right and click on it
Press Ctrl + Page Down or your preferred shortcut

After that, the shortcuts are modified although we're using the same key bindings.

How to disable Gnome ctrl+alt+down and ctrl+alt+up shortcut?

7 Answers7