Hotkeys Not Binding

Bug reports
1

I am essentially having the same issue as the post called “1.5.8 Hotkeys Failing to Bind” but the solution at the end did not work for me. I created a hotkeys.json file, but that did nothing. I can paste information into the .json file and that will change things, but I cannot change/add hotkey binds in Obsidian itself.

Steps to reproduce

  1. Go to vault settings
  2. Go to Hotkeys Page
  3. On any Hotkey, press the Plus icon to add a Key binding
  4. With the “Press Hotkey…” Button showing, press literally any key/key combination

Did you follow the troubleshooting guide? [Y/N]

Yes

Expected result

I expected to assign a custom key binding to any Hotkeys listed in the menu.

Actual result

The “Press Hotkey…” box remains highlighted and no key inputs are registered until I press the escape key.

Environment

SYSTEM INFO:
Obsidian version: v1.8.10
Installer version: v1.8.10
Operating system: Darwin Kernel Version 24.5.0: Tue Apr 22 19:53:26 PDT 2025; root:xnu-11417.121.6~2/RELEASE_X86_64 24.5.0
Login status: not logged in
Language: en
Insider build toggle: off
Live preview: on
Base theme: adapt to system
Community theme: none
Snippets enabled: 0
Restricted mode: on

RECOMMENDATIONS:
none

Additional information

I just installed Obsidian today. Only added two community plugins and tried to add a hotkey for one of them, which didn’t work. Followed all steps in troubleshooting (removed community plugins, etc.) which didn’t work. Also, as mentioned above, adding the hotkeys.json file didn’t work. Editing the file itself changes things, but I cannot edit from within Obsidian itself.

2

You didn’t mention if you tried using any of the hotkeys, just adding them, so here’s what I got.

Try these:

  1. Disable Restricted Mode in Settings → Community plugins. Then restart Obsidian.
  2. Check macOS Input Monitoring: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Input Monitoring. Make sure Obsidian is allowed.
  3. Test a fresh vault: move or rename your .obsidian folder and relaunch. If hotkeys work, it’s a config issue.

Best of luck to you.

3

I disabled restricted mode, added Obsidian to Input Monitoring, and tried a new vault. Unfortunately none of these worked. I tried using one of the default hotkeys (command+1,command+2 to switch tabs), and these did work.

Fiddled around with a few things and figured out that the only way I can edit hotkeys is if I press the command button before any other entry. Nothing else is able to be inputted. This is with Input Monitoring on, but I don’t know if that really changed anything.

Edit: Along with the command key, I can also apply option, control, and fn keys, which can then be followed by (generally) any key. Unfortunately, nothing else seems to work. (My intended hotkey originally was Shift+D.)

4

Or wait… facepalm. Is it that this is a feature, not a bug? Shift+D likely can’t be a keybind because you have to write capital D… my bad. Let me know if these aspects are on purpose. I’ll change the categorization of this post ASAP. Not thinking straight.

5

Yeah, Shift+D isn’t allowed as a hotkey, for the reason you said.

It would probably be good if Obsidian said that when someone tried it. I don’t know if there is a feature request for that yet.

6

Yeah, makes sense. That would be a nice feature to have—I got kind of thrown off when it looked like I couldn’t type anything in (as shown above, my complete bad). I’ll put in a feature request, since I think it would be useful—at least for people like me, haha.

1 Like