Desktop keyboard shortcuts don't work with conky

Support & Help Requests
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#1

This nags me tremendously. With conky started on the desktop, my desktop keyboard shortcuts no longer register. I need to open any kind of application window in order for them to start working again.

To be clear, anything that is defined under Preferences > Hardware > Keyboard Shortcuts, stops working, unless I have another window opened. Minimizing all windows and giving the focus back to the Desktop will also stop key presses from reaching Ubuntu-MATE. Windows must be opened and focus must stay away from the desktop so I can use my desktop shortcuts.

Now, I suspect Conky, of course. But I’ve been going through its documentation, trying to find what could possibly be causing this behavior and I just can’t find it. Please help.

#2

Eeek, I can identify with keyboard shortcuts going away. I think you’re right, it’s something in your conky config file. I’m both a big shortcut and conky user but… been using the same old config for years so not super up-to-date.

First thing comes to mind is make sure conky is forked to the background. Here’s my basic settings that may be involved. Maybe you’ll find something.

set to yes if you want Conky to be forked in the background

background yes

Create own window instead of using desktop (required in nautilus)

own_window yes
own_window_type override
own_window_transparent yes
own_window_hints undecorated,below,sticky,skip_taskbar,skip_pager

Use double buffering (reduces flicker, may not work for everyone)

double_buffer yes

fiddle with window

use_spacer right
use_xft yes

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#3

Perfect, @Bill_MI!

It was either background yes which was initially set to no (and conky being started with the & suffix), or own_window_type override which was set to background, that did the trick. Whichever, thank you! :slight_smile:

I also changed the startup script to include the -d daemonize option and removed that suffix. But that was after the problem was already solved.

1 Like
Running Conky Breaks Keyboard Shortcuts
How is that highlighting done?
#4

Fantastic!

Let me also reemphasize my config is very old. Not only is that Gnome2 Nautilus (instead of Caja) mentioned but it goes back well before Caja ever existed! :grin:

#5

New RPi3 owner and keen shortcuts and conky user trying out UbuntuMATE.
Same problem with kbd shortcuts only working once another window is opened on the desktop.
Solved thanks to this thread.
However, forking conky in the background did nothing for me.
What worked was setting own_window_type to override from normal.
Kudos to Bill_MI