Extra combination key activated when Paste as plain text is activated.

[Gagan9841]

Microsoft PowerToys version

0.69.1

Installation method

PowerToys auto-update, Microsoft Store

Running as admin

Yes

Area(s) with issue?

Paste as Plain Text

Steps to reproduce

In my case, when I use the Win + Shift + V shortcut to paste anything from the web as plain text, it triggers the Windows and Shift key combination, which causes them to behave as if they were pressed together. For example, when I press the letter "A" during this activation, it selects all the text, and when I press the letter "T," it activates the Text Extractor function. To disable this behavior, I need to press the Win + Shift keys again.

in the video when the key after plain pasting the win + shift key remains pressed. The key is not pressed actually in the keyboard.

this is not the issue of keyboard i tried changing keyboard too.

issue.1.1.mp4

P.S. This combination doesn't activate when I press the Windows + Shift key combination.

✔️ Expected Behavior

Paste text as plain text while pressing the shortcut.

❌ Actual Behavior

Pasted text as plain text while pressing the shortcut but the win + shift key remains pressed.

Other Software

No response

[asheroto]

This is happening for me as well, but doesn't seem to occur all of the time.

It's like the combination key is "held" and not released after it's used.

So if I paste in some text in Edge/Chrome/Brave, and then type "o", it will open up my Favorites/Bookmarks. That's because my combination key is Ctrl+Shift+V, and the Ctrl+Shift is still thought to be pressed. So it's actually receiving Ctrl+Shift+O after I press Ctrl+Shift+V. It's not releasing it.

[tapp1993]

Can confirm the same is happening to me. I thought it was an issue trying to activate the shortcut with an AutoHotKey script.

[GitTCiz]

I also am running into this. the combo keys are being held and not released.

[petergullberg]

I have same problem, but with a twist. My issue, the problem only occurs when pressing right-ctrl-shift-v, the ctrl-shift is not "released". I use the release (0.71.0) for windows.

btw, love powertoys!

[TheJoeFin]

Is this still an issue on v0.74.1? /needinfo

[petergullberg]

I checked on my computer v0.74.1 (Win11):

• Left-ctrl-shift-paste works as expected. (have worked for a time now)
• Right-ctrl-shift-paste still is a problem, causes left shift to remain as "down", even though i didn't press it, and I have to press left-ctrl to release it.

[Gagan9841]

Is this still an issue on v0.74.1? /needinfo

Yes indeed it is.
I am facing the same issue even after the updates.

[GitTCiz]

@TheJoeFin - Yes it still is an issues.

Behavior hasn't changed from Gagan9841's original post.

Not that it matters much, but I switched the keys to Win + F20 since having ctrl or shift held was causing issues in documents. At least with the Win key held it generally is non-destructive

[dantek12345]

I am seeing the same issue too. Currently running v0.76.2 but has been happening for a few months now.
I use Ctrl + Win + V for Paste As Plain Text which works - but I find that the Win key is held down after pasting - so my next keypress does something unexpected eg. Win + M and minimises all my windows!
I have to press Win, Shift, Control keys to release them.
Doesn't happen every time though - but probably 1/3 - 1/2 of the time - enough to make it really annoying and frequent enough so that I've got into the habit of doing my paste and then pressing Win, Shift, Control every time!
Is anyone else getting the same thing?

[petergullberg]

Doesn't happen every time though - but probably 1/3 - 1/2 of the time

Is there a difference between left or right ctrl-shift-v? For me it's only right-ctrl-shift-v that causes issues, so every time I use this, I have "re-learned" to always press left ctrl after a paste... :(

[dantek12345]

Doesn't happen every time though - but probably 1/3 - 1/2 of the time

Is there a difference between left or right ctrl-shift-v? For me it's only right-ctrl-shift-v that causes issues, so every time I use this, I have "re-learned" to always press left ctrl after a paste... :(
I'm using Left Ctrl + Windows key - so seems to be both - not just the right Ctrl key. Seems to be more the Windows key that gets stuck down for me.

[asheroto]

For me it was left and right. I generally only used left and it occurred with that most of the time.

I just had to disable PowerToys 'Pate as plain text' until this is resolved. :-/

[TheJoeFin]

/bugreports will be helpful to see what all of your exact settings are and if there are any interactions between other utilities like Keyboard Manager, or the global keyboard hook.

[dantek12345]

Here's mine:
PowerToysReport_2024-01-09-22-50-41.zip

[dantek12345]

This issue has been automatically marked as stale because it has been marked as requiring author feedback but has not had any activity for 5 days. It will be closed if no further activity occurs within 5 days of this comment.

This isn't "stale" - I've provided the "Report Bug" information requested and have not had a reply. Has anyone looked into this yet? Do you need any more information from me?

[TheJoeFin]

Looks like it got cleaned up.

[asheroto]

bump

[TheJoeFin]

@asheroto can you provide a bug report, I am looking to see if there are any common links between the commenters here.

[dantek12345]

Marked as stale again - bump

[asheroto]

@TheJoeFin sure thing, I had it turned off but have turned it back on. I will test it over the next few days and report back with a bug report when the issue occurs again.

Also this is related to #29227,

[asheroto]

It took a few days for me to confirm this is still happening. The tricky part is that it doesn't happen all of the time. It happened once or twice, and I wasn't sure if it was me hitting the wrong key or not. But it just happened this morning and I'm 100% sure it wasn't me.

I pressed Ctrl+Shift+V (my activation shortcut) into the GitHub text area and then tried to scroll up, but it started zooming out. It thought I still had Ctrl held when I did not. Had to tap Ctrl to let it release. (key was not physically stuck) I took a bug report, then attempted the same action with Ctrl+Shift+V into the GitHub text area - same problem. So definitely a glitch. I'm not sure how/why it gets triggered.

I did delete unneeded files from the bug report for privacy/security reasons, but I'm pretty sure it has everything you need. If you need a file that's missing please let me know. Nothing in the logs stick out to me, but maybe you see something I don't!

PowerToysReport_2024-01-27-04-01-16.zip

I might also note that I use the PowerToys Run tool with Alt+Space as the activation key and never have an issue with it coming up or sticking keys.

The stuck key is application agnostic, it happens in all applications.

[dantek12345]

Bump - this is still happening. Very frustrating! Ctrl+Win+V holds Ctrl key down so subsequent keypresses trigger unintended actions.

[mgrandi]

i think this is manifesting as double pastes sometimes, i keep hitting +shift+v and ctrl+1 to paste as plain text and it pastes the text twice

[turribeach]

Impacted by this for weeks until I figured out what it was. It's so annoying and disruptive it's almost criminal Micro$oft has not fixed it. It looks like it's due to a conflict with Sticky Keys (see #27612). I disabled all the Sticky Keys options on my Win11 system and it seems good now. Others please test and report. Sticky Keys is a dumb concept anyway so good riddance from my point of view!

[NeilN1]

@turribeach Maybe don't dump on an accessibility feature needed by many, many disabled people.

[tibmeister]

Sticky Keys is not enabled for me on multiple systems, and I can replicate the issue easily every time.

[petergullberg]

On the latest powertoys (v0.82.1), the CTRL-LEFT-SHIFT-V seems to be working now, while CTRL-RIGHT-SHIFT-V have stopped working.
FYI, it seems that word 365 have implemented CTRL-SHIFT-V...

[PedroGdiaz]

Same issue has persisted for a long time. Any progress on resolving this? It's such a valuable tool!

[dantek12345]

This is giving me serious problems! I use Advanced Paste in literally everything I do as I generally want to paste plain text so I press this hundreds of times a day. But I'm getting problems with keys getting stuck down at least half of the time - so that's maybe 50 times or more a day.
Is this affecting everyone else as much or is it just me?

I use Ctrl + Win + V as my key combination. What does everyone else use?
I've tried other key combinations but I need something that's easy to switch between Ctrl + V and Special Paste ands I have clashes with other applications using other combinations using V - eg. Ctrl + Shift + V seems to be what Windows + Word are moving towards - but it is also used in Outlook as a keyboard shortcut to move an email - which I use a lot - and while you used to be able to edit Outlook keyboard shortcuts, that has been removed for reasons only known to Microsoft...
So I'm stuck with Ctrl + Win + V using Advanced Paste - but that gives me this issue - where the Win key gets stuck down and then the very next key I press does something unexpected - such as minimising all windows etc - which is driving me mad!

Any have any suggestions on how I avoid this while keeping a keyboard shortcut for paste plain text which works in all apps? Or could some brilliant dev pick this up and fix it for me please!?

A possible feature request which would help too - and might be a very useful feature anyway - is application-specific exceptions - so eg. could set a keyboard shortcut for Advanced Paste - but have a list of apps (window titles) that it wouldn't work in - so if I'm in my main Outlook window (not a new email - e.g. window title "Inbox*" - then Advanced Paste would pass the keypress through to Outlook instead?

[GitTCiz]

Not that it matters much, but I switched the keys to Win + F20 since having ctrl or shift held was causing issues in documents. At least with the Win key held it generally is non-destructive and much easier to know it is being held.

[asheroto]

Not that it matters much, but I switched the keys to Win + F20 since having ctrl or shift held was causing issues in documents. At least with the Win key held it generally is non-destructive and much easier to know it is being held.

F20? Must be a huge keyboard! ;-)

I stopped using Advanced Paste because it's not reliable. Started using a simple AutoHotkey script to handle it and have had no issues. Hoping this gets resolved sometime in the future, though.

[ethanfangg]

/dup #33773

[microsoft-github-policy-service]

Hi! We've identified this issue as a duplicate of another one that already exists on this Issue Tracker. This specific instance is being closed in favor of tracking the concern over on the referenced thread. Thanks for your report!

[dantek12345]

This is still an issue. Not sure why this issue was closed and moved to the other one as this one was created first and has much more information. But moving over to the new issue instead here:
Advanced Paste causing shortcut keys to "stick" (problem since Paste as Plain Text) #33773 - #33773