Struggling with a keyboard shortcut bug since 6 years

Dorico
1

Hello,

I am writing regarding a persistent keyboard shortcut bug in Dorico that has been affecting me since I first started using the software six years ago. Despite numerous updates and changing computers, the issue has remained unresolved.

I believe the problem is related to the Canadian French keyboard layout I use on Mac.

The bug manifests as follows: randomly and unpredictably, certain shortcuts in Dorico suddenly stop working because letters are treated as lowercase. I’m not sure how else to describe it. For example, the Jump Bar shortcut “J” will stop functioning unless I press Shift first, followed by “J.” Another example : unexpectedly, I have to press Shift and the desired note letter in note-entry mode instead of the letter only. This causes significant interference with other shortcuts. In these instances, popovers requiring actual Shift shortcuts fail to work. I’ve unintentionally activated Insert Mode countless times, or typed a series of shortcuts thinking the Jump Bar was open when it wasn’t.

To resolve the issue, I have to manually switch my keyboard to English and then back to French. Thankfully, I’ve set up a Mac shortcut to do this quickly. Sometimes I need to perform this operation several times per minute because the bug occurs so frequently. Other times, it’s less disruptive. Notably, Dorico is the only software where I experience this issue—everything else, including other notation software or DAWs, works perfectly fine.

I understand I may be the only one facing this bug. A few years ago, another Canadian French-speaking user mentioned they had never encountered this problem. I know the developers have many other priorities, but I’m reaching out to the community for help as I’m growing increasingly desperate.

Additionally, with Finale being phased out, more educational institutions are adopting Dorico, including the one where I teach (I personally advocated for its adoption). I’d like to better understand the nature of this bug to prevent it from becoming a broader issue in the future.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what this problem might be?

With all my best regards,

Francis

2

Which version of macOS are you running?

Just to be clear, you’ve experienced this problem on more than Mac?

Have you tested the problem in a brand new user account, in order to rule out “local” factors?

3

3 posts were split to a new topic: Shortcut to start playback from start of flow

4

I don’t suppose it will tell us anything much, but just on the off-chance it does, the next time you experience this problem, please make a note of the precise time, and do Help > Create Diagnostic Report, then attach the resulting zip file here. Maybe, just maybe, we will be able to see something in the logs that gives us a clue what could be going on.

5

I have a Swiss french keyboard layout but have no issues with the Dorico key commands. The only situation where I did have a few issues of key commands is when using a midi controller with an own script for key allocation at the same time in Logic Pro. Deconnecting it solved the issues.

6

Thank you for your feedback!

This bug has been occurring from 2018 to the present, across all the different macOS versions, and on two different computers: a 2018 iMac and a 2019 MacBook Pro. I’m now on macOS Sonoma.

I have diagnostic file that I created when I noticed the U shortcut to break a tie stopped working. I can’t attached it because it is too heavy (5 mb).

I’ve attached my key commands XML file. Could this issue be caused by some unusual custom shortcut I’ve configured?

keycommands_fr.json.zip (1.3 KB)

I definitely should try working a few hours on a new user account. I don’t remember: are applications shared across different users?

All the best,

Francis

7

Applications are indeed shared across different user accounts, but you will find that Dorico is not activated when you run it for the first time under a new account. However, you’ll be able to sign in to SAM with your Steinberg ID and activate it, and it will not count as an additional activation, because it’s on the same hardware.

I don’t see anything that leaps out at me in your key commands file, but I have no experience of using a French-Canadian OS, so I’ve no idea what affordances are in place for that locale. Are there any OS-level features for things like latching the keyboard into a different mode in order to make it easier to type diacritics, or similar?

8

I dont think so, a French-Canadian keyboard works quite normally