Option to "Minimize to tray" using Alt+F4
If I close main 1Password window using ALT + F4, it closes the app and I lose my 1Password credentials. This is very annoying behavior IMO, since most (if not all) Windows apps treat "Minimize to Tray" to mean ALT+F4 will respect that behavior. Is there a workaround available with a keyboard (and not having to click with a mouse) or use ALT + N + N (too annoying & lengthy)
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In my quick survey of the supported browsers in Windows 8.x (Desktop mode), Alt+F4 completely closes Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. It doesn't minimize them at all, and I can't seem to find an Alt sequence that does. (Alt, N, N has no effect that I can detect.)
Can you help me replicate the behavior you're seeing in other programs?
Thanks!
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I think they meant Alt+Space, N which minimises the window.
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Ah, thanks! I'd totally "spaced" that shortcut. ;)
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In my quick survey of the supported browsers in Windows 8.x (Desktop mode), Alt+F4 completely closes Internet Explorer, Chrome, Firefox, Safari, and Opera. It doesn't minimize them at all, and I can't seem to find an Alt sequence that does. (Alt, N, N has no effect that I can detect.)
Can you help me replicate the behavior you're seeing in other programs?
Thanks!
oops. Sorry I meant ALT + SPACE + N as you guys figured out
DBRown, one thing to point out is that none of the aforementioned apps have "taskbar mode". Other apps that use the tray have the feature of "close to tray". Is this possible with 1Password?
This is not a dealbreaker, just wondering if it's possible.
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EventGhost (primary example of an app that needs to be run in the background)
Chrome (has tray option)
Opera (although I'm not sure about the post-Chrome era opera, the older one did)
There are others, but my brain is fried from work :(
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Thanks!
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@DBrown VLC Media Player is another example that springs to mind.
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I can't find anything in Chrome about "minimize" or "system tray", and "notification" hits in their help have nothing to do with minimizing.
I'm trying to find out whether Alt+F4 works differently when such an option is enabled than when it is disabled. That would seem to be a problem, to me. Personally, I'd rather know that Alt+F4 always had the same effect.
In 1Password for Windows, Alt+F4 is the shortcut for File > Exit (quit the main program, regardless of how the System Tray option is set), and Alt, spacebar, N is the accelerator for clicking the "minimize" button (leave the program running but minimize the window, whether to the task bar or system tray).
That consistency and predictability seems entirely desirable, to me.
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I think that's the problem. Most apps, iirc, don't use Alt-F4 but something like Ctrl+Q. Alt+F4 is usually tied to the Window menu > Close option which is not always considered synonymous with app exit which is what the file menu does
I agree, that as it stands right now, having Alt+F4 tied to the File > Exit command makes it impractical to treat them differently. I would argue that that is a bad choice of shortcut. My personal opinion would be to change the File > Exit shortcut and then make Alt+F4 behave as if you clicked the window's close button.
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"That consistency and predictability seems entirely desirable, to me."
It depends on how you think about it. Some programs are like accessories: we use them to accomplish some task, then we're done and we want them to exit ("to save resources"). Other programs are like services: we want them always running quietly in the background to do some ongoing task, and from time to time we call them to the foreground when we need to interact with them. "Close to an icon in the notification area" captures this behavior for programs of the second class. For these programs, we want them to remain running in the background because we really want their services to be ongoing. Yet, to reduce our cognitive load, for all programs we want a single "go away" operation. To do the right thing, "go away" should kill programs from the first class, and merely hide programs from the second class. For mouse-oriented users, clicking [X] means "go away". For keyboard-oriented users, Alt+F4 is the "go away" command.
Now in the case of the 1Password app, I suggest that it is more like the services kind of program. We want it to stay alive in the background so that it can maintain the vault locked/unlocked state. Ctrl-\ is one way we bring it to the foreground to do a specific job. (I'm speaking at the functional level, ignoring the particular implementation architecture of app, helper, and plugin.) Clicking on the padlock in the notification area is the way we call it to access the full functionality.
When the user says to the 1Password app "go away," what is the intention? Does it mean "lock the vault and forget my master password until I want 1Password services again in the future"? I say no, this is not the intention. The intention is merely "remove the 1Password window from my screen", i.e., close to an icon in the notification area.
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I would argue that that is a bad choice of shortcut. My personal opinion would be to change the File > Exit shortcut and then make Alt+F4 behave as if you clicked the window's close button.
Perfectly stated. I vote for this!
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When the user says to the 1Password app "go away," what is the intention? Does it mean "lock the vault and forget my master password until I want 1Password services again in the future"? I say no, this is not the intention. The intention is merely "remove the 1Password window from my screen", i.e., close to an icon in the notification area.
Exactly guys! Wow, I am glad there are more articulate people than me in this thread :). Beautifully stated!
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Thanks for the feedback, everyone!
We're always looking for ways to improve 1Password, and this is all "food for thought."
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If you are looking for a way to present the option to users, you can do something similar to what KeePass is doing:
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Just to add another little nugget to this, if you click on the window menu (top left NC area) you get the standard window menu including Restore, Move, Resize, Minimize, Maximize and Close.
Interestingly, the Close option is labelled Alt+F4 but it behaves, correctly, as if you'd clicked on the Close button at the top right of the NC area.
So you now have two options, both shortcut by Alt+F4 doing completely different things.
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@RichardPayne What do you suggest? Remove the Alt+F4 shortcut from File > Exit..?
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I think Brian G's post is the best alternative. I would say that this ALT+F4 behavior is among the only aggravating interface quirks that 1PW on Windows has.
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Brian G's example from KeePass shows clear behavorial preferences (more explicit and clear than the current 1Password settings), in particular, "[x] minimizes main window instead of terminating the program" but it doesn't specify what Alt+F4 does.
I think that Alt+F4 should always take exactly the same action as clicking [x], and recognize that with the current 1Password behaviors this may either close the window or kill the app depending on the user's preferences settings. In post 12 above I argued that neither one should kill the app, but that's another issue.
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I think Brian G's post is the best alternative.
I love and respect KeePass but that Options window is way too complicated. I really do not want to introduce another setting for this.
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What do you suggest? Remove the Alt+F4 shortcut from File > Exit..?
Historically File > Exit was Ctrl+Q, however, having just had a look around the Windows 7 standard utilities, the File > Exit option now seems to be lacking a shortcut. So yes, I'd say remove the Alt+F4 shortcut from File > Exit and handle it for Window > Close instead.
If you're running the systray option then fully exiting the app is not going to be a common thing to do so making the user mouse click the menu is no big deal. If the systray option is off then closing the window with Alt+F4 will still cause an application quit so no change there.
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@RichardPayne I have removed the Alt+F4 keyboard shortcut. To be included with #524. Thanks!
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I have removed the Alt+F4 keyboard shortcut. To be included with #524.
@svondutch I hope you mean you have reassigned Alt+F4 to Window > Close as @RichardPayne suggested, rather than completely disabling all actions on Alt+F4.
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I hope you mean you have reassigned Alt+F4 to Window > Close as @RichardPayne suggested, rather than completely disabling all actions on Alt+F4.
I was hoping the OS would take care of it from here...
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did you test it? :stuck_out_tongue:
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did you test it?
@RichardPayne now why would I do that? :smile:
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I was hoping the OS would take care of it from here...
Indeed. Apologies for my blunder, @svondutch.
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