Ctrl+B not working as a shortcut for making text bold in all applications

Hello there

Recently, the ctrl+b shortcut for making text bold in all applications that support it stopped working.

So I looked in the plasma keyboard shortcut settings, and I found that it was mapped as “Add bookmark” under “navigation”.

So I disabled it, and that made no difference. Interestingly though, I’ve been able to map it to a custom command (notify-send "control-b") and pressing ctrl+b executed the specified command.

I’m not sure about how I should go about debugging this issue. I would appreciate any help on the issue. Thank you.

inxi -Fazmy:

System:
  Kernel: 6.1.105-1-MANJARO arch: x86_64 bits: 64 compiler: gcc v: 14.2.1
    clocksource: tsc avail: hpet,acpi_pm
    parameters: BOOT_IMAGE=/boot/vmlinuz-6.1-x86_64
    root=UUID=9886546f-ae3a-4aab-81df-ddabe968e18a rw quiet apparmor=1
    security=apparmor resume=UUID=a46ed8d6-e836-4387-aa4a-1f017fdbc8ec
    udev.log_priority=3
  Desktop: KDE Plasma v: 6.0.5 tk: Qt v: N/A info: frameworks v: 6.5.0
    wm: kwin_x11 with: krunner vt: 2 dm: 1: LightDM v: 1.32.0 note: stopped
    2: SDDM Distro: Manjaro base: Arch Linux
Machine:
  Type: Laptop System: LENOVO product: 80TU v: Lenovo ideapad 310-14IKB
    serial: <superuser required> Chassis: type: 10 v: Lenovo ideapad 310-14IKB
    serial: <superuser required>
  Mobo: LENOVO model: Torronto 4C2 v: NO DPK serial: <superuser required>
    part-nu: LENOVO_MT_80TU_BU_idea_FM_ uuid: <superuser required>
    UEFI-[Legacy]: LENOVO v: 3JCN31WW date: 07/17/2018
Battery:
  ID-1: BAT0 charge: 0 Wh condition: N/A/30.0 Wh power: 0.7 W volts: 2.9
    min: 7.4 model: SMP L15M2PB2 type: Li-poly serial: <filter> status: charging
Memory:
  System RAM: total: 20 GiB available: 19.44 GiB used: 9.15 GiB (47.1%)
  Message: For most reliable report, use superuser + dmidecode.
  Array-1: capacity: 32 GiB slots: 2 modules: 2 EC: None
    max-module-size: 16 GiB note: est.
  Device-1: ChannelA-DIMM0 type: DDR4 detail: synchronous unbuffered
    (unregistered) size: 4 GiB speed: 2133 MT/s volts: curr: 1 min: 2 max: 2
    width (bits): data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: Micron
    part-no: 4ATF51264HZ-2G3AZ serial: N/A
  Device-2: ChannelB-DIMM0 type: DDR4 detail: synchronous unbuffered
    (unregistered) size: 16 GiB speed: 2133 MT/s volts: curr: 1 min: 1.35
    max: 2 width (bits): data: 64 total: 64 manufacturer: Samsung
    part-no: M471A2K43BB1-CRC serial: <filter>
CPU:
  Info: model: Intel Core i7-7500U bits: 64 type: MT MCP arch: Amber/Kaby Lake
    note: check gen: core 7 level: v3 note: check built: 2017 process: Intel 14nm
    family: 6 model-id: 0x8E (142) stepping: 9 microcode: 0xF6
  Topology: cpus: 1x cores: 2 tpc: 2 threads: 4 smt: enabled cache:
    L1: 128 KiB desc: d-2x32 KiB; i-2x32 KiB L2: 512 KiB desc: 2x256 KiB
    L3: 4 MiB desc: 1x4 MiB
  Speed (MHz): avg: 3500 min/max: 400/3500 scaling: driver: intel_pstate
    governor: powersave cores: 1: 3500 2: 3500 3: 3500 4: 3500 bogomips: 23209
  Flags: avx avx2 ht lm nx pae sse sse2 sse3 sse4_1 sse4_2 ssse3 vmx
  Vulnerabilities:
  Type: gather_data_sampling mitigation: Microcode
  Type: itlb_multihit status: KVM: Split huge pages
  Type: l1tf mitigation: PTE Inversion; VMX: conditional cache flushes, SMT
    vulnerable
  Type: mds mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: meltdown mitigation: PTI
  Type: mmio_stale_data mitigation: Clear CPU buffers; SMT vulnerable
  Type: reg_file_data_sampling status: Not affected
  Type: retbleed mitigation: IBRS
  Type: spec_rstack_overflow status: Not affected
  Type: spec_store_bypass mitigation: Speculative Store Bypass disabled via
    prctl
  Type: spectre_v1 mitigation: usercopy/swapgs barriers and __user pointer
    sanitization
  Type: spectre_v2 mitigation: IBRS; IBPB: conditional; STIBP: conditional;
    RSB filling; PBRSB-eIBRS: Not affected; BHI: Not affected
  Type: srbds mitigation: Microcode
  Type: tsx_async_abort status: Not affected
Graphics:
  Device-1: Intel HD Graphics 620 vendor: Lenovo driver: i915 v: kernel
    arch: Gen-9.5 process: Intel 14nm built: 2016-20 ports: active: DP-1,eDP-1
    empty: HDMI-A-1,HDMI-A-2 bus-ID: 00:02.0 chip-ID: 8086:5916 class-ID: 0300
  Device-2: NVIDIA GM108M [GeForce 920MX] vendor: Lenovo driver: nvidia
    v: 535.183.01 alternate: nouveau,nvidia_drm non-free: 545.xx+ status: current
    (as of 2024-06; EOL~2026-12-xx) arch: Maxwell code: GMxxx
    process: TSMC 28nm built: 2014-2019 pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 4
    link-max: gen: 3 speed: 8 GT/s bus-ID: 03:00.0 chip-ID: 10de:134f
    class-ID: 0302
  Device-3: Chicony EasyCamera driver: uvcvideo type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-4:3 chip-ID: 04f2:b57d
    class-ID: 0e02 serial: <filter>
  Display: x11 server: X.Org v: 21.1.13 with: Xwayland v: 24.1.2
    compositor: kwin_x11 driver: X: loaded: modesetting,nvidia dri: iris
    gpu: i915 display-ID: :0 screens: 1
  Screen-1: 0 s-res: 3520x1080 s-dpi: 97 s-size: 926x284mm (36.46x11.18")
    s-diag: 969mm (38.13")
  Monitor-1: DP-1 pos: right model: 185W_LCD_TV built: 2000 res: 1920x1080
    hz: 60 dpi: 36 size: 1360x768mm (53.54x30.24") diag: 793mm (31.2")
    ratio: 16:9 modes: max: 1360x768 min: 640x480
  Monitor-2: eDP-1 pos: primary,left model: BOE Display 0x0698 built: 2015
    res: 1600x900 hz: 60 dpi: 132 gamma: 1.2 size: 309x173mm (12.17x6.81")
    diag: 354mm (13.9") ratio: 16:9 modes: 1366x768
  API: EGL v: 1.5 hw: drv: nvidia platforms: gbm: drv: nvidia
  API: OpenGL v: 4.6.0 compat-v: 4.6 vendor: intel mesa v: 24.1.6-arch1.1
    glx-v: 1.4 direct-render: yes renderer: Mesa Intel HD Graphics 620 (KBL GT2)
    device-ID: 8086:5916 memory: 9.49 GiB unified: yes
  API: Vulkan v: 1.3.279 layers: 1 device: 0 type: discrete-gpu
    name: NVIDIA GeForce 920MX driver: nvidia v: 535.183.01 device-ID: 10de:134f
    surfaces: xcb,xlib
Audio:
  Device-1: Intel Sunrise Point-LP HD Audio vendor: Lenovo
    driver: snd_hda_intel v: kernel alternate: snd_soc_skl, snd_soc_avs,
    snd_sof_pci_intel_skl bus-ID: 00:1f.3 chip-ID: 8086:9d71 class-ID: 0403
  API: ALSA v: k6.1.105-1-MANJARO status: kernel-api with: aoss
    type: oss-emulator tools: alsactl,alsamixer,amixer
  Server-1: JACK v: 1.9.22 status: off tools: N/A
  Server-2: PipeWire v: 1.2.2 status: active with: 1: pipewire-media-session
    status: active 2: pipewire-alsa type: plugin tools: pw-cat,pw-cli
  Server-3: PulseAudio v: 17.0 status: active tools: pacat,pactl
Network:
  Device-1: Realtek RTL8111/8168/8211/8411 PCI Express Gigabit Ethernet
    vendor: Lenovo driver: r8169 v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s lanes: 1
    port: 4000 bus-ID: 01:00.0 chip-ID: 10ec:8168 class-ID: 0200
  IF: enp1s0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros QCA9377 802.11ac Wireless Network Adapter
    vendor: Lenovo driver: ath10k_pci v: kernel pcie: gen: 1 speed: 2.5 GT/s
    lanes: 1 bus-ID: 02:00.0 chip-ID: 168c:0042 class-ID: 0280
  IF: wlp2s0 state: up mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-1: br-37efcdca7a46 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-2: br-7a6a17384ce3 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-3: br-f41b16f7a7ca state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-4: docker0 state: down mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-5: enp0s20f0u1 state: unknown speed: -1 duplex: half mac: <filter>
  IF-ID-6: vboxnet0 state: down mac: <filter>
  Info: services: mld, NetworkManager, sshd, systemd-timesyncd,
    wpa_supplicant
Bluetooth:
  Device-1: Spreadtrum Infinix SMART 6 driver: rndis_host v: kernel type: USB
    rev: 2.0 speed: 480 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 2.0 bus-ID: 1-1:8 chip-ID: 1782:5d31
    class-ID: 0a00 serial: <filter>
  Device-2: Qualcomm Atheros driver: btusb v: 0.8 type: USB rev: 2.0
    speed: 12 Mb/s lanes: 1 mode: 1.1 bus-ID: 1-7:5 chip-ID: 0cf3:e500
    class-ID: e001
  Report: ID: hci0 rfk-id: 2 state: up address: <filter> bt-v: 4.2 lmp-v: 8
    status: discoverable: yes pairing: yes class-ID: 6c010c
Drives:
  Local Storage: total: 1.13 TiB used: 855.64 GiB (74.1%)
  SMART Message: Unable to run smartctl. Root privileges required.
  ID-1: /dev/sda maj-min: 8:0 vendor: Kingston model: SA400S37240G
    size: 223.57 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s
    tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 0102 scheme: MBR
  ID-2: /dev/sdb maj-min: 8:16 vendor: Western Digital
    model: WDS100T2B0A-00SM50 size: 931.51 GiB block-size: physical: 512 B
    logical: 512 B speed: 6.0 Gb/s tech: SSD serial: <filter> fw-rev: 00WD
    scheme: GPT
Partition:
  ID-1: / raw-size: 202.18 GiB size: 197.95 GiB (97.91%)
    used: 122.23 GiB (61.7%) fs: ext4 dev: /dev/sda1 maj-min: 8:1
Swap:
  Kernel: swappiness: 60 (default) cache-pressure: 100 (default) zswap: yes
    compressor: zstd max-pool: 20%
  ID-1: swap-1 type: partition size: 21.38 GiB used: 36.2 MiB (0.2%)
    priority: -2 dev: /dev/sda2 maj-min: 8:2
Sensors:
  System Temperatures: cpu: 58.0 C pch: 47.5 C mobo: N/A
  Fan Speeds (rpm): N/A
Info:
  Processes: 313 Power: uptime: 15m states: freeze,mem,disk suspend: deep
    avail: s2idle wakeups: 0 hibernate: platform avail: shutdown, reboot,
    suspend, test_resume image: 7.76 GiB services: org_kde_powerdevil,upowerd
    Init: systemd v: 256 default: graphical tool: systemctl
  Packages: 2934 pm: pacman pkgs: 2921 libs: 541 tools: pacseek,pamac,yay
    pm: flatpak pkgs: 13 Compilers: clang: 18.1.8 gcc: 14.2.1 alt: 12 Shell: Zsh
    v: 5.9 running-in: konsole inxi: 3.3.35

It only works in the wysiwyg kind of document editing applicatons - it is not an overall GUI changing thing.

E.g. in firefox ctrl+b is the bookmarks menu

What are you trying to achieve?

And please - no screenshots - no-one reads screenshots - text is what we do - not a facebook stream

Do not post images or screenshots as part of your topic. The forum is a technical forum not an image gallery.
Forum Rules - Manjaro

1 Like

It make text bold in libreoffice writer and the online version of MS word and the post editor in wordpress (online), and wrap selected text with ** in the obsidian local app, and in the discord web app, etc. However, now the ctrl+b shortcut doesn’t work with any of those applications/webapps.

I want the ctrl+b shortcut to behave as expected.

I apologise. I will replace the screenshots with text.

Shortcuts are defined inside the applications.

If I use libreoffice with danish interface the shortcut for bold text is ctrl+f because bold text is fed text in danish language.

So I reckon some applications may rewrite the shortcut based on what is normal for the interface language in question.

I just tested with libreoffice writer (english interface) - no issues - and this is Plasma as well.

So I am thinking that one or more configuration file has haywired - and the only reasonable method of verifying this is to create a second user - logout and login as the second user - then test the applications in question.

4 Likes