Cannot create custom keyboard shortcuts

What Happened?

When trying to "Add Shortcut" under the "Custom" tab, an entry is added that is disabled. However, it cannot be assigned to a keyboard shortcut, "Set New Shortcut" closes the pop-up menu without allowing me to set the shortcut.

Steps to Reproduce

1. Navigate to Custom tab,
2. "Add Shortcut" for any application in the selection menu or a custom command,
3. Click "Set New Shortcut" to try and set the shortcut.

Expected Behavior

The text "Enter New Shortcut..." should appear and allow me to enter the desired shortcut, like under the existing entries on the other tabs. The text doesn't appear.

OS Version

8.x (Circe)

Session Type

Classic Session (X11, This is the default)

Software Version

Latest release (I have run all updates)

Log Output

No logs are produced.

Hardware Info

Framework Laptop 13

[zinga666]

Still an issue in elementary OS 8.1 with the "Secure Session" (Wayland) - for both, applications chosen from the list and custom commands.

I wanted to apply the Wayland workaround for Ulauncher and hence needed a custom keyboard shortcut for triggering ulauncher-toggle.

I found a workaround:

Edit: After a reboot the workaround doesn't work anymore - i.e. the shortcuts don't cause any action. :-(

Edit 2: Now it works again. There must have been something off with my custom keyboard shortcut mappings (Windows/Workspace stuff) because when adding another test user (and not modifying the keyboard shortcut mappings) adding the custom shortcuts worked. So, I reset all keyboard shortcut mappings and then the custom added shortcuts worked (even still after modifying the keyboard shortcut mappings of Windows/Workspace actions again).

• add the applications/commands as needed via the settings app
• use dconf-editor to configure the corresponding keyboard shortcuts (see below)

Install dconf-editor if needed: sudo apt install dconf-editor.

Open dconf-editor.

Navigate to /io/elementary/settings-daemon/applications/application-shortcuts (e.g. copy/paste it to the search field).

The Custom value field contains the string which needs to be modified, e.g. for the dconf-editor app and ulauncher-toggle command for me it looked like this:

[(0, 'ca.desrt.dconf-editor.desktop', {}, []), (1, 'ulauncher-toggle', {}, [])]

and I modified it to

[(0, 'ca.desrt.dconf-editor.desktop', {}, ['<Super>d']), (1, 'ulauncher-toggle', {}, ['<Ctrl>space'])]

to launch

• dconf-editor via Super+D and
• ulauncher-toggle via Ctrl+Space

Some notes:

• Meta keys are <Alt>, <Shift>, <Super>, <Control> (or <Ctrl>)
• Space key is space
• <Alt>space and <Super>space don't work for the custom apps/commands (which annoys the hell out of me)

[o-alquimista]

I suppose this is the same problem I'm seeing.

Menu item "Set New Shortcut" displays "Enter new shortcut..." for a split second, but ends up cancelling it.

However, it does work if you click on the "Disabled" label (or the currently assigned shortcut).

2026-01-18.13-25-23.mp4

[davidjenner]

Hi, there! I wanted to set up 'Ctrl + minus' and 'Ctrl' + plus' to decrease and increase font size. I was able to set this minus, when setting the increase, it ends up being 'Ctrl + equals' every time. I also think this shortcut should be set by default, not something to set manually for added accessibility.