The key combination "Command + Shift + \" can't be used because it's already used

martinewski

Hello folks.

After several problems arose in the last few weeks on my Mac, I decided on a clean install of macOS Monterey today.

After reinstalling 1Password and logging into my account, I can't set anymore the 'Show 1Password' and 'Fill Login or Show 1Password' to ⇧⌘\ and ⌘\ respectively.

1. I can set to other key combinations.

2. None of these combinations are used in any of the keyboard shortcuts in System Preferences.

3. Searching the web, I found this topic where the culprit is Alfred, which I do use. I've gone through every Alfred setting but I can't find anything. Quitting Alfred doesn't "release" the shortcut also. Both apps (1P & Alfred) had their settings restored from the previous install, so they have the same keyboard shortcuts they had working fine before.

4. Quitting every app I have installed doesn't work also. Setting the same keyboard shortcuts in other apps is allowed and work fine.

Any tips on how can I find what's going on in 1Password? :(

Thanks in advance.

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1Password Version: 7.9.2 (70902005)
Extension Version: Not Provided
OS Version: macOS 12.1

Jack.P_1P

Hi @martinewski:

I'm sorry you had to reset your Mac, I know how annoying that is. :( The good news is I'd be happy to help get your shortcuts up and running again!

This is something that we've been investigating, and haven't tied down just yet, but these steps do tend to get everything working again. Just as a note, this will clear all 1Password preferences, so any changes you've made will be set to default, as well as ensure you have your account password, as fingerprint unlock will be disabled.

1. If 1Password is running, right-click the 1Password icon at the top right of your macOS menu bar, and choose Quit 1Password Completely.
2. Open Finder and go to: ~/Library/Containers/com.agilebits.onepassword7/Data/Library
3. Locate Preferences and move it to Trash.
4. Go to: ~/Library/Group Containers/2BUA8C4S2C.com.agilebits/Library
5. Locate Preferences and move it to Trash.
6. Open Terminal and run the following command: killall cfprefsd
7. Open and unlock 1Password, and confirm that your default keyboard shortcuts are in place.

Let me know how that goes!

Jack

martinewski

Hello Jack. Even though one of the shortcuts is not the one I was used to use, it's one that works!

Thanks a lot for the workaround. :)

Ben

On behalf of Jack, you're welcome. :) If we can be of further assistance, please don't hesitate to contact us.

Ben

thebigdreamer

Hello there,

I've got the same issue on a brand new MacBook Pro 2021.

1Password is the first app I'm installing so no other third-party should be interfering.

I want to use cmd-$ to Show 1Password and option-cmd-$ to Fill login (e.g. invert the default behaviour).

However when I remove the default shortcuts and want to add cmd-$ to Show 1P, I get the same error popup.

Ben

@thebigdreamer

Cmd + $ is used by macOS itself, for taking screenshots. So, there is indeed a conflict there.

Ben

levymetal

I'm having a similar problem. For the past 10 years I've been using ⌥\ for the Fill Login shortcut. I've recently reformatted my machine, and 1Password no longer allows me to set this shortcut and gives a "The key combination ⌥\ can't be used!" error. I think this might occur because ⌥\ appears to be a shortcut for «, a character I'll never need a shortcut for.

Other apps will happily allow me to bind ⌥\, so I don't think MacOS prevents conflicting shortcuts from being bound. I think the issue is that 1Password will not allow the shortcut to be bound if it detects a conflict. Providing a warning is fine, but ultimately it should be the users choice to bind a shortcut (even if it has a conflict). Having to relearn 10 years of muscle memory is... painful.

It would be awesome if 1Password could allow advanced users to bind conflicting shortcuts (with a warning, of course).

thebigdreamer

@Ben thanks for the reply. But as @levymetal says, I was also using the same shortcut for 10 years (cmd + $) without any issue… and the ironic part is that the default shortcut set by 1P is the same, I’ve just tried to invert the two, not setting a different one!

I searched in Settings.app for a shortcut set to cmd + $, finding nothing.

Worth to mention that I only have this issue on my new M1 MacBook Pro and not on the old Intel one (both running the same latest macOS version).

Ben

@thebigdreamer

I searched in Settings.app for a shortcut set to cmd + $, finding nothing.

Cmd + $ is equivalent to Cmd + Shift + 4.

@levymetal

It would be awesome if 1Password could allow advanced users to bind conflicting shortcuts (with a warning, of course).

I tried making that argument but it's a non-starter; sorry.

Ben

thebigdreamer

Cmd + $ is equivalent to Cmd + Shift + 4.

Definitely not on my Swiss keyboard. 😉

I’ve never seen a system shortcut conflicting with cmd + $ ever before on this keyboard actually.

danco

Having a different keyboard can confuse things. US and UK keyboards have $ on the upper part of the 4 key, so $ is the same as shift-4

Whether AgileBits (or you) can change things for a different keyboard I leave to them.

thebigdreamer

Yes, this makes me think that 1P is checking shortcut conflicts based on the US keyboard only, which would be why I’m getting a warning even though the shortcut I want to use is not in conflict on my local Swiss keyboard.

Ben

I see where the thought comes from, but I confirmed with development that the check is not specific to US (or any other) keyboard layout. I wish I had a reliable way to be able to tell you what function / application is claiming the shortcut, but a good portion of this is a black box. The APIs available to us provide us with three bits of information:

• The key code
• The modifiers
• If the shortcut is enabled

even though the shortcut I want to use is not in conflict on my local Swiss keyboard

I'm afraid the APIs we have available to query to ask about this sort of thing are telling us that there is some sort of conflict, even if my initial assumption about which conflict it would be were inaccurate for your situation.

Ben

thebigdreamer

Thank you very much for the insight!

So I suppose there is an issue either in the latest version of macOS or a new shortcut (which actually does nothing…) specifically on new MacBook Pros.

I'll dig into this and let you know if I find anything.

Jack.P_1P

Hey @thebigdreamer:

Thanks for following up, and be sure to let us know if you are able to find anything!

Jack

hnbc1

I had the same issue for a while now: not able to set 'Fill Login or Show 1Password' to ⇧⌘\ or ⌘\. Following @Jack.P_1P's steps to reset preferences did not help.

macOS Monterey 12.4
1Password 7 for Mac
Version 7.9.5 (70905003)

Jack.P_1P

Hi @hnbc1:

Thanks for asking. As Ben mentioned, we're relatively limited on the actual APIs available to us when it comes to setting shortcuts, and if macOS tells us there's a conflict, we're unable to see what, if any, app is using those shortcut keys. If you quit all other apps and login items on your Mac, and try to set ⌘+\ as a shortcut in 1Password for Mac, are you able to then?

Jack

hnbc1

Thank you @Jack.P_1P for the advice. I tried completely quitting all other apps (even went into the activity monitor app to quit all suspicious processes), but no luck.

punit

Having a similar issues. Got a new laptop and trying to make my password fill shortcut cmd + shift + \ just as I had it on my old laptop.

• went through the deleting preferences steps that you outlined above Jack
• re-assigned show/hide tab overview in Safari to cmd + \ (to free up cmd + shift + \ in case that was the issue)
• went through all the steps here to even try to uninstall 1pw completely + reinstall!

Still, nothing's working and still getting the error that cmd + shift + \ is used by a system-wide shortcut.

Any guidance on what to do?

FYI on 1Password 7 running on MacOS 12.6

daskdjaskdjsad

I experienced the same issue when trying to set ⇧⌘\ and ⌘\ as shortcuts on my work machine (this doesn't occur on my personal).
My work around was to copy the preferences from my personal machine and paste them into my work machine.
@Jack.P_1P @Ben given this method worked, couldn't the 1password devs offer a bypass to the user that when agreed to, would force writing the keyboard shortcut to the preferences file?

clangrock

I ran into the same issue as well today. I had removed the ⌘\ shortcut to try something out and then wanted to re-assign it, but no luck. This is on an M2 MacBook Air. 1Password complains that the shortcut is already assigned, but that's not the case, as I can assign it within another app, and it's not showing up inside System Preferences. I'd appreciate if there was an actual solution to this problem.