Overridden default Windows hotkeys not restored after remapping hotkey in PasteBar

[radian21]

Explaining the behavior:

The user sets a system OS hotkey in PasteBar so that Ctrl-v will show/hide the main app window. This hotkey in Windows is mapped to "Paste" by default and the action to remap it in PasteBar overrides this Windows mapping.

The user realizes this and remaps the hotkey in PasteBar to Ctrl-Shift-v. Now, that hotkey opens the main app window. However, the Ctrl-v hotkey is now orphaned and not restored to its default "paste" action in Windows. The orphaning of the hotkey and its lack of default restoration is the issue in the app.

Consider what happens if Shift-v (or `shift-) is remapped in PasteBar. The user can no longer capitalize that character when typing text.

This is bad. PasteBar options:

• Prevent the user from being able to remap default Windows hotkeys
• Warn the user that a remap will overwrite default behavior (be careful)
• Provide a nuclear option to restore all keyboard hotkeys to system defaults.
• (Best solution) Track the former hotkey behavior before remapping in PasteBar and restore that behavior when the hotkey combination is no longer mapped in PasteBar.

[kurdin]

@radian21 Thank you for reporting, I'll take a look at this issue, but I think it's obvious that you should not change Windows default system hotkeys and use something else and yes, you can restore default hotkeys behavior by deleting keys combination you set in the user preferences os its easy to restore it back to system defaults.

Thanks for the detailed explanation — that’s very helpful.

You’re right that the current behavior can effectively “orphan” a default Windows shortcut like Ctrl+V after it’s remapped in PasteBar, and that’s not ideal. I’ll review how PasteBar handles global hotkeys so we can improve this and avoid breaking important system shortcuts.

Right now, you can restore the default Windows behavior by deleting the custom key combination you set in PasteBar’s preferences. Once that mapping is removed, the original system behavior for that shortcut is restored.

Your suggestions make a lot of sense and I’ll keep them in mind as I work on improving this. Thanks again for taking the time to write this up.

[gakselrod]

Love PasteBar! Just found it today. First and most important thing I wanted was to map global hotkeys to it. I struggled to get it to work... I tried setting the quick paste window to option+v (MacOS Tahoe 26.1) but that wouldn't take - it kept just typing √ when I typed option+v. I left the other one blank. Through some trial and error, I finally got it to work with Cmd+Shift+V. Some theories:

1. After recording the desired hotkey, clicking "Set" with the mouse may not have the same effect as pressing enter. Pressing enter seemed to work more reliably...
2. I had to quit and restart PasteBar to get it working.
3. It might only work if both hotkeys are set.

I didn't want to undo it once I finally got it working, so I wasn't able to narrow down the exact repro steps, but hopefully this helps! And thank you again for the great app!

[gakselrod]

Unfortunately the hotkeys have stopped working and I can't get them going again :(

[kurdin]

@gakselrod I can't not detect what current hotkey your OS already using or not, this is not possible, only way is to try different combinations and see if it available or not in your OS. Usually CTRL + CMD + V should work for open quick paste window and CTRL + CMD + P to open close main PasteBar window. Try to reset all keys again, restart PasteBar and it should be working.

[gakselrod]

@gakselrod I can't not detect what current hotkey your OS already using or not, this is not possible, only way is to try different combinations and see if it available or not in your OS. Usually CTRL + CMD + V should work for open quick paste window and CTRL + CMD + P to open close main PasteBar window. Try to reset all keys again, restart PasteBar and it should be working.

You're right... changing to other ones did make it work. But I just installed Maccy and set Cmd+Option+V as its shortcut and it worked... so there must be a way to hook into that shortcut. I checked my keyboard settings and can't for the life of me finding anything else mapped to it.

[kurdin]

@gakselrod maybe you need to disable Maccy's hotkey that you set for Cmd+Option+V ? I can check tomorrow on my Mac but I think I use CTRL + CMD + V and CTRL + CMD + P without any problems. I'll test and let you know.

[gakselrod]

I didn't have it installed until just before I sent that last message. I was just pointing out that it seems to work, and it's open source, so you can reference what they're doing to see how it works.

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On Mon, Dec 1, 2025, 11:04 PM Sergey ***@***.***> wrote: *kurdin* left a comment (PasteBar/PasteBarApp#317) <#317 (comment)> @gakselrod <https://github.com/gakselrod> maybe you need to disable Maccy's hotkey that you set for Cmd+Option+V ? I can check tomorrow on my Mac but I think I use CTRL + CMD + V and CTRL + CMD + P without any problems. I'll test and let you know. — Reply to this email directly, view it on GitHub <#317 (comment)>, or unsubscribe <https://github.com/notifications/unsubscribe-auth/AAN2ZXYO3HKQ6KTBW5DCQOT37UTYNAVCNFSM6AAAAACL4RULDCVHI2DSMVQWIX3LMV43OSLTON2WKQ3PNVWWK3TUHMZTMMBQGMZDKNBSHA> . You are receiving this because you were mentioned.Message ID: ***@***.***>