Weird keyboard locks in IntelliJ IDEA (delete & arrow keys, etc.)

Question

While working in IntelliJ IDEA, the keyboard occasionally locks in a way that delete or < > ^ keys don't work properly anymore, in a way that delete doesn't do anything anymore, and the arrow keys scroll the entire source code / editor section.

I don't know if I am accidentially some kind of shortcut, but the only way I can get it back to normal again is closing and re-opening the IDE, which is annoying of course.

I'm on Mac OS X Lion, latest IntelliJ IDEA CE (11.1.1), but also had it before with the previous versions.

Answer 1

Check idea.log (Help | Reveal Log in ...) for exceptions. If you see PSI/document inconsistency before reparse there, then you are probably affected by this bug.

If there are other exceptions not related to this bug, please send the log to JetBrains technical support.

Answer 2

This answer on superuser.com worked for me:

ibus-daemon -rd

Answer 3

Just turn off Vim Emulator from Tools like this picture:

Answer 4

I am new to IntelliJ, and had the same problem of deleting by delete. But I just realised that IntelliJ is actually mimicing the keys in Vim.

For example, when some text is highlighted, pressing d deletes the text, pressing y copies (yanks) it, pressing p pastes (puts) it, and pressing i enters the editting (insert) mode.

For navigation, Ctrl+f navigates to the next screen, Ctrl+b navigates to the previous screen, and Shift+g navigates to the end of the file.

All are same as in Vim.

Answer 5

I faced same issue,

Environment:

IDEA 14.1.4 on Ubuntu Gnome 15.04

Solution :

I work with default keymaps, but some reason default keymap was not working. Hence I removed 'IdeaVim' plugin and restarted the IDE, everything works fine now. File > Settings > Plugins and look for the plugins.

Answer 6

There is a an open issue in jetbrains youtrack for intellij idea that recommend two solutions:

1. Keyboard input may be unlocked by restarting IBus daemon ("ibus-daemon -rd" from a console).
2. IBus can be disabled for IDEA by unsetting env. variable XMODIFIERS (e.g. "XMODIFIERS= idea.sh"), but ability to input national characters in IDEA will be lost.

I have used the second one and fixed my problem.

Answer 7

I have the same issue periodically, which is a pain because IntelliJ takes so long to load in the first place, then I need to close it and start all over again!

I don't have "PSI" anywhere in my IntelliJ logs. I'll be sending my logs off to IntelliJ; hopefully they can fix this ASAP as it is a major time waster!

Other things I've tried:

• Changing the current keymap - arrow keys don't work in any keymaps
• Closing and reopening just the project - issue persists until IntelliJ itself is closed and reopened.
• Trying other keys - It seems like Ctrl and Command are completely ignored by the IDE once it gets in this state. Of course, all the text entry keys still work, so you can type, just can't change cursor position using anything but the mouse and menu bar. In a pinch, one could work like this for a short period of time, but that would entail a significant masochist streak!

Answer 8

You may need to update your plugins. They can cause strange behavior if they are out of date.

http://www.jetbrains.com/idea/webhelp/installing-updating-and-uninstalling-repository-plugins.html

Answer 9

I had the same issue when upgrading to IntelliJ 14.1.4. If you have the IdeaVim plug-in installed, try disabling it. That worked for me. Reference

Answer 10

If you do ibus restart, you'll get a qwerty keyboard. For french users, you can do :

ibus restart; sleep 1; ibus engine xkb:fr::fra 

I suppose you can change fr::fra by ru or us:dvorak:eng

Answer 11

In my case backspace didn't work but only in terminal. I fixed it by going

Preferences -> Terminal -> Check "Override IDE shortcuts"

Answer 12

Ran into this same issue on Windows 10. You can try closing the IDE from the Task Manager manually. Do this when the IntelliJ is not operational i.e. when IntelliJ Idea is starting, but the screen is not open yet.

Answer 13

I had the same problem before. First, you need to check if there is a 'VIM emulator'. If so, try disabling it, that should suffice. If the problem persists, try contacting the support in the help section on the menu bar.

Answer 14

Same problem for me today. My solution was to unplug and plugin the usb keyboard on my MacBook. Hope it helps.

Answer 15

Ubuntu 18.04.02
Idea (Ultimate) 2019.2

Had the same problem. Keyboard all of a sudden stopped recognizing arrow keys and backspace. Non of the solutions above would work.
What did work -- was switching the Boot SDK back to the old trusty Oracle 1.8 (I was running on JB 9).

How-To:

• Help->Find Action
  search for JDK. select Switch Boot JDK and pick an 8 or an 11 version of java. restart

• If you do not have a local 8 or 11 java JDK installed. I only had the issue with 9, both 8 and 11 work fine.
  search for action SDK, select "Get JB SDK from Bintray" and pick the latest available 11 or 8 as you prefer ...

Good Luck,
Nick

Answer 16

In my case, it was something different. I got this weird behaviour after I entered my licence credentials to Idea. I suppose it created a new Jet Brains user's account for me with an ability to sync IDE settings enabled by default. My suggestion that it has overridden my setting (including keyboard bindings) with some default ones created by Jet Brains.

Fortunately, I had previously set up my Settings Repository on Github. I rolled back to my old settings pressing File -> Settings Repository -> Override Local.

The issue was on macOS in Database editor.

Answer 17

1. Go to the most recently opened IntelliJ instance
2. Check if the cursor has become stuck in that project's terminal window
3. no? check all other open IntelliJ instances

Answer 18

Workaround for unresponsive keyboard on Ubuntu 20.04

From : https://youtrack.jetbrains.com/issue/IDEA-23472

1. Go to IDE "Help | Edit Custom VM options..."
2. Add -Drecreate.x11.input.method=true to a new line
3. Restart IDE

Answer 19

The easiest way to fix this is to disable your VIM Emulator which you will find in the bottom right corner in your in.IDEA. That should do it