DELETE key cannot be assigned

[NFG]

I downloaded a 10-day (Windows) trial of Photo yesterday, so I assume it's the latest version.  I'm trying to customize the key shortcuts to my preference, and I'm slowly getting my head around the weirdisms in there (like the UNDO which is always labeled "undo <last thing you did>" which is wildly misleading for a basic UNDO function...)  Ahem, I digress.

I cleared all the commands because finding a conflicting key is a massive PITA.  But deleting all removes the DELETE key function, whatever or wherever it is.  And I can't re-assign the DELETE key, pressing that key does not fill in the key binding.  

So, I guess, a bug?  An oversight?

So in summary:  you can erase the delete key functionality with 'clear all shortcuts' but you can't re-apply the delete key to anything, so the only way to remove content is ^X, which obviously fills the clipboard when I may not want that.  And if there's a 'delete' function which I could use a different key for, I can't find it.

1. Am I overlooking a way to re-assign DELETE?

2. Is there a DELETE function I can't find?

3. Feature request: maybe if I can't ADD delete, don't let me REMOVE it.  =)

4. Feature request: if there's a conflict, help me RESOLVE it, don't just tell me I have more work to do and send me off searching for tiny text in a tiny window with 3,000 options...

 

[Ron P.]

@NFG

As far as I know, the Delete key modifier can not be reassigned. Look at the Layer Menu. It should have the Delete command, also when right-clicking on a Layer.

[R C-R]

4 hours ago, NFG said:

4. Feature request: if there's a conflict, help me RESOLVE it, don't just tell me I have more work to do and send me off searching for tiny text in a tiny window with 3,000 options...

If there is a conflict, do you get the yellow warning triangle next to the shortcut in the Keyboard Shortcuts preferences? If there is, do you not get a pop-up list of the other shortcuts using the same keys if you hover the mouse pointer over that triangle?

Also, what do you find misleading about the "Undo <last thing you did>" item in the Edit menu? It is a common feature of many apps besides the Affinity ones & AFAIK it works the same way in all of them.

[walt.farrell]

3 hours ago, R C-R said:

Also, what do you find misleading about the "Undo <last thing you did>" item in the Edit menu? It is a common feature of many apps besides the Affinity ones & AFAIK it works the same way in all of them.

The problem isn't in the Edit menu, but in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog in Preferences. Perform some undoable action. Then go to the Keyboard Shortcuts and look at the label for the Undo action. It will show "Undo <whatever that action was>", which is an odd thing to have in that dialog, though it does make perfect sense in the Edit menu itself.

[R C-R]

34 minutes ago, walt.farrell said:

The problem isn't in the Edit menu, but in the Keyboard Shortcuts dialog in Preferences. Perform some undoable action. Then go to the Keyboard Shortcuts and look at the label for the Undo action. It will show "Undo <whatever that action was>", which is an odd thing to have in that dialog, though it does make perfect sense in the Edit menu itself.

Thanks. Now I see what the OP meant -- it should just say "Undo" in the preferences, & likewise for "Redo." But at least on my Mac, sometimes for both it does add an <action> of some kind (& not always the last one actually done). But other times it does not add anything, so it is a pretty obscure bug.

I don't know if anyone has reported it in the bugs forum, but I suppose it should be logged if not.

[NFG]

14 hours ago, R C-R said:

If there is a conflict, do you get the yellow warning triangle next to the shortcut in the Keyboard Shortcuts preferences? If there is, do you not get a pop-up list of the other shortcuts using the same keys if you hover the mouse pointer over that triangle?

Yes, but that only tells me a problem exists, it doesn't help me resolve it.  There's seemingly hundreds of items in the keyboard config menu, spread around between six personas and thirty five sub sections, and the search function is a wee bit less than useful.

When hovering over a warning icon, an option to 'clear others' could be offered, or better, the functions and their shortcuts could be listed, allowing me to clear them, or change them, without breaking away from what I'm doing.  At the very least let me jump to that other one and take the interruption of the task at hand.  

 

[walt.farrell]

2 hours ago, NFG said:

or better, the functions and their shortcuts could be listed

That part is at least done. The conflicting function is listed. (You already know the shortcut; you just assigned it to the one that gave you the yellow triangle.)

 

2 hours ago, NFG said:

Yes, but that only tells me a problem exists, it doesn't help me resolve it.

The intended action for the user is, I think, to change the new shortcut that was just typed
It is, of course, possible that the user would rather change the other one, or delete it, and I agree that Serif could make that easier by enhancing the dialog.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, NFG said:

Yes, but that only tells me a problem exists, it doesn't help me resolve it. 

It tells you all of the items that have been assigned the same shortcut. Most people seem to find that helpful in resolving conflicts.

1 hour ago, NFG said:

There's seemingly hundreds of items in the keyboard config menu, spread around between six personas and thirty five sub sections, and the search function is a wee bit less than useful.

The shortcuts are organized in part by which menu they appear in, on a per Persona basis. So for example, for the Photo Persona the second popup is File, the third Edit, & so on. In the File section, the first item is the first item on the File menu, the second is the second, & so on. The Tools & Miscellaneous sections in each Persona are organized alphabetically, since those items are not menu items.

When the same function is available in more than one Persona (like Undo) or for several different tools (like making brushes larger or smaller), for maximum flexibility they be assigned either globally ("Apply to all") or on a per Persona or per tool basis, although I think for consistency most users opt to use the same shortcut across all Personas or tools when possible. So it is isn't usually hundreds of different shortcuts to manage.

[NFG]

15 minutes ago, R C-R said:

It tells you all of the items that have been assigned the same shortcut. Most people seem to find that helpful in resolving conflicts.

Hey user, <obscure function you've never heard of> is already using this key.  

Now what?  Where is it?  What does it do?  There's no point of reference, there's no hint, there's -nothing- except a warning slash invitation to DIY.  Somehow.

I don't need or want to 'manage' hundreds of shortcuts.  I need to manage ONE, and I don't know what or where it is.  Thanks though, friend, for assuring me that 'most people' can do this, that makes me feel really good.  

[R C-R]

8 minutes ago, NFG said:

Hey user, <obscure function you've never heard of> is already using this key.  

The Help menu is useful for finding things you have as yet not heard of.

[NFG]

My friend, I am sure there are countless lengthy workarounds you can teach me, but I am suggesting a way to make it better.

[R C-R]

1 hour ago, NFG said:

My friend, I am sure there are countless lengthy workarounds you can teach me, but I am suggesting a way to make it better.

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