Backspace doesn't work in Visual Studio - visual-studio-2010

I keep getting a very annoying problem in Visual Studio. When I try to delete some text by pressing backspace it doesn't work. Why is this? What is going on? Sometimes I have to close and open Visual Studio to make this problem go away but I just tried that right now and it didn't work. Backspace works in Notepad in case you are wondering.

In Visual Studio go to:
Tools
Options
Environment
Keyboard
Find "Edit.DeleteBackwards" command.
In "Use new shortcut in:" dropdown select "Text Editor".
In "Press shortcut keys:" click backspace so it would show "Bkspce"
Click "OK".
Backspace should start working for you again.

This seems to happen to me when I open a solution and there are files already open. I used to close the files, then close and re-open the solution to fix it, but now I just hit Alt + Enter.
Here is the blog where I found this trick.

I solved this issue resetting keyboard mapping scheme.
Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard -> Reset.

A quick fix for me is to simply open any menu from the menu bar. Once the menu is closed the non-character keys start to work again.

Except for the above methods.
You should also check the shortcut key settings:
File -> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts -> 'Then check the item: deleteLeft'.

I get this from time to time in VS2010 as well and simply just using the mouse to change tabs/files seems to always fix it now. Nothing more.

This method is working at 100%.
Go to "File-> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts" and search for deleteLeft and add keybinding "Backspace".

Odd that this is still an issue even in VS 2019. Both the backspace and delete keys didn't work. Quick fix, I just ran the project and it seemed to give it the kick it needed.

All I did was exit visual studio and restart it.None of the above options worked for me.

In my case the problem was the "When" Condition in "File-> Preferences -> Keyboard Shortcuts".
I removed "textInputFocus && !editorReadonly" and it works now as expected.
I'm looking forward to the side effects ;).

Try resetting your Visual Studio Settings
Go to :
All Program > Visual Studio 20xx > Visual Studio Tools
Run Developer Command Prompt for VS20xx as Administrator and this command:
devenv.exe /resetsettings

A quick work-around for me is locking the pc (Windows+L) and logging in again.

You can reset keyboard mapping scheme like this
Options => Environment => Keyboard then select (Default) in the comboBox and click Reset button and then Ok button to confirm
Visual studio 2019 : Keyboard mapping sheme
Tested in Visual Studio 2019

This problem happened for me when I used a different version of resharper at home and then took that project to my employment. Backspace works for me now after I deleted the bin and obj and resharper directories.

I have this problem after I install Vim, uninstall Vim Backspace works fine.

When this issue has happened to me, I've found that hitting delete or backspace is unresponsive only within a portion of my code. This portion happened to be some code that I've pasted in from the internet somewhere.
To fix this issue, I cut out the recently pasted problematic code and then pasted it into a text editor like Notepad++. Then copying and pasting that same code out of the text editor and back into Visual Studio fixed the problem.

Using Visual Studio Community 2019 (16.4.3)
I just searched this issue because I could click in my document, type, et cetera, but I could not use backspace, delete, ctrl+z, or the arrow keys.
Opening the "File" menu, I noticed the Save option referred to a different file. I checked that file and found that all of the keys that seemed not to work were actually editing that other file.
Switching between the file in half-focus and the file I intended to edit worked and, luckily, undo was able to fix the file I unknowingly butchered.
If you wound up here, check your "File" menu to make sure the correct file is referenced, since the fix is quick and easy to try.

Just had this exact issue (along with 'Enter', 'Ctrl+X', 'Ctrl+C', 'Ctrl+V', 'Ctrl+Z' keyboard mappings seemingly doing nothing) in the latest VS preview version below:
Microsoft Visual Studio Professional 2022 (64-bit) - Preview
Version 17.2.0 Preview 6.0
The fix for me was to move to another tab (I had multiple open) use the backspace key which worked fine, then move back to the original tab with which it wasn't working, save the file (as it had outstanding changes) and then I found backspace and all other shortcuts then worked!
I can only think that VS got in a locked (to keyboard mappings) state for that particular tab.
A few notes on this:
I knew it wasn't a keyboard issue as I was able to use those
keys/mappings fine in other apps.
I found closing and reopening VS didn't work.
Also resetting the keyboard mappings (through Options menu as others have described) didn't work.
I had multiple tabs open.
Resharper was disabled.

I just had this happen in one instance of Visual Studio 2022, caused by the debug settings editor window being open in another instance of Visual Studio 2022 in the background where I couldn't see it.
Closing that window resolved it.

I've had this issue for a long time. I'm not sure what causes it, but Alt + Enter works.
The extensions that I'm running include AnkhSVN, MySQL Tools, and Productivity Power Tools.

Related

Visual Studio 2013 Debug keyboard shortcuts are not working

I just got a new computer with Windows 8 and installed Visual Studio 2013 on it and now I have an issue with debugger shortcuts - I run application in a debug mode and it breaks at the first break point but when I try going further line by line, F10 does not work from the keyboard - only VS Debug menu. Anything I am missing?
P.S. The issue was the function key. It needs to be turned on in order to use F keys
On Lenovo laptops, there is a shortcut to disable the Fn key automatically running the default Windows shortcuts.
Hit the Fn key and the Esc key at the same time to toggle the "Hot Key" default.
Hope this works for other Laptop brands since this is an easy shortcut for newer Lenovo laptops.
Please follow the instruction here, though it talks about visual studio 2010 it should help you to analyze the problem. it may be solved with the steps described there and if not, please let me know...
Why does F10 (step over) in Visual Studio 2010 not work?
Update Adding the answer from the source in case the link will be removed:
In the Options.Keyboard page, please select "Debug.StepOver" from the command listbox, and then put focus to the "Press shortcut keys" textbox and press F10, click Assign button to re-assign shortcut, does it work?
You can also try to run Visual Studio under safe mode, which will
prevents all third-party VSPackages from loading when Visual Studio
starts; if the issue disappear under safe mode, you may consider
checking your installed add-ons or VSPackages.
Second, to log all activity of Visual Studio to a log file for further
troubleshooting, please use the /Log switch, and post the log file
content here, so we can do more investigation on it.
If this feature works well before, and suddenly behave abnormally, it
usually indicate that some files or configurations of Visual Studio
installation is corrupted or missed, you can:
Restores Visual Studio default settings by using "Devenv.exe
/ResetSettings" command. Please backup your settings before restore to
default settings.
Repair/reinstall Visual Studio;
To repair Visual Studio In the Add or Remove Programs dialog box,
select Visual Studio then click Change/Remove.
I resolved my issue and wanted to post an answer in case anyone is looking for it. Enabling function key does not require any complicated solution, it can be enabled by changing settings in:
Control Panel -> Hardware and Sound (Category) -> Windows Mobility Center -> Adjust Commonly Used Mobility Settings
Look Under Function Key Behavior and change the dropdown value to "Function Key" to enable Fn key.
To disable it, select "Multimedia Key" 
See: http://elena-sqldba.blogspot.com/2015/05/how-to-enable-function-key-on-windows.html
Also check 3rd party software. In my case I had Camtasia Recorder open and minimized, which apparently intercepts the F10 input (thanks, TechSmith)
I had the same problem. My solution was a bit different and can apply to any key. My F10 key was not working. After unplugging the keyboard and plugging it back in did not fix the problem, I twisted the keyboard like an ice cube tray and the F10 key started working again.

Resharper 8 - Quickfix shortcut Alt+Enter gone

In Visual Studio 2012/2013, I want to reassign the Alt+Enter ↵ key combination to the "Quickfix" (triggering the menu from the light bulb) because it is not working anymore. I can't. I have tried the following (I am aware that some of the suggestions refer to VS 2010 and older R# versions):
Tried to change manually in Tools - Options - Keyboard: the former ReSharper_QuickFix entry is gone, see ReSharper_QuickFix gone
Tried Resharper_AltEnter as suggested in What is the name of the ReSharper's Quick Fix command - nothing, no shortcut
Switched back and forth settings in ReSharper -> Options -> Keyboard & Menus as described in Resharper Alt Enter not working - nothing
Switched back and forth settings in ReSharper -> Options -> IntelliSense -> General as also described in Resharper Alt Enter not working to no avail
Tried other suggestions from the same page
Sledgehammer approach: run devenv.exe /ResetSettings - nope
Search SO and the web up and down - found nothing
I have not yet had the nerve to re-install R# or even VS.
How can I get a standard set of R# keyboard shortcuts into Visual Studio? I'd gladly wipe out everything that is there just to get back my Alt+Enter Quickfix..
Please try this:
remove all mapping for Alt+Enter ↵ shortcut here Tools | Options | Environment | Keyboard (to find out mapped actions, press Alt+Enter ↵ in "Press shortcut keys" field and look at the list in "Shortcut currently used by" dropdown);
After removing:
Type ReSharper_AltEnter in "Show command containing" field;
Select "Text Editor" in "Use new shortcut in" dropdown;
Press Alt+Enter in "Press shortcut keys" field | Assign;
Select "XAML UI Designer" in "Use new shortcut in" dropdown;
Press Alt+Enter in "Press shortcut keys" field | Assign;
They changed the name of this shortcut to Resharper_AltEnter.
I had the same problem. I'd upgraded to VS Professional 2013 (update 3) about a week ago. I then installed Resharper and was re-tooling a few projects with Resharper for a few days. All was going well, then things went haywire. I tried all the suggestions in this post and elsewhere. This included un-installing and re-installing resharper. Un-installing and re-installing VS. Nothing seemed to be fixing it
Until at some point I tried what turned out to be the fix: uninstalling a couple of the R# extensions: Resharper.ExternalAnnotations, Nuget Support for Resharper and Resharper Razor Plugin.
Not sure which was causing the issue. But things seem to be working normally now.
I also went further and installed the latest ReSharper 8.2.3 - https://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/download/
Things are still ok [crossing fingers].
I have NOT installed any R# extensions. I will try to figure out which was the offending extension after I have had a few days of rest for this issue. So, in retrospect, it seems this problem started after I installed some offending R# extension.
https://www.jetbrains.com/help/resharper/Code_Analysis__Quick-Fixes.html
Merge Visual Studio Light Bulb actions into ReSharper bulb - set checkbox in R# settings

ReSharper 5.1 can't navigate to a type from anywhere

I'm running Visual Studio 2010 (10.0.40219.1 SP1Rel) with ReSharper 5.1 (5.1.3000.12). Recently, it seems as though ReSharper has completely lost the ability to navigate to a type.
Here are some actions I can take in the UI that now do nothing:
Right-click on type name in code
editor and select "Go To
Declaration"
Right-click on type name in code
editor and select "Go To
Implementation"
R# "Go to type" (Ctrl-T)
In the R# "Find Results" window, double-clicking a type
Here are some actions that still work:
Double-clicking an item in Solution Explorer
Opening a file from VS Command Window
I've completely uninstalled Visual Studio, then reinstalled it with SP1, and ReSharper 5.1, and I still have the same problem.
I'm assuming there's some kind of configuration open that I've done that is disabling the ability to navigate to a type with ReSharper, I just can't figure out what it is.
Any advice would be much appreciated.
I just experienced this problem. None of the previous suggestions worked for me unfortunately, but I managed to resolve it:
Go to Resharper -> Options
Under Keyboard Shortcuts, temporarily switch to a different scheme than the one selected
Press 'Apply Scheme' button then press Save
hen repeat, but this time select the scheme you actually want and press 'Apply Scheme'
Hopefully that fixes it!
I am using VS 2010 SP1 (same as you)
Delete the Resharper temp files in the same location as your solution file. The folder name will be something like _ReSharper.SomeSolution
Failing that, try one of the R# nightly builds here altho it should work with your current config.

Ctrl+' (Apostrophe) Refactor! binding doesn't work when Notepad++ is open?

This is a really odd one that has been annoying me for some time, I use CodeRush and Refactor Pro at home and at work, since the switch to Visual Studio 2010 I have been unable to use the keyboard shortcut (Ctrl+') for the Refactor/CodeRush context menu:
For a long time I blamed VS2010 or CodeRush/Refactor! Pro for the issue and just worked round it with the mouse. At some point in time I realised that if Notepad++ was open the shortcut key didn't work.
Depending on what type of file is loaded in Notepad++ alters the effect; for example, if I have an XML/HTML/XAML file open a tag and all of it's children are removed.
I have just tried Notepad++ v5.8.6 with some source files opened and IDETools 10.2.4 in Visual Studio 2010, Windows 7 and everything seems to work fine - the CTRL+' shortcut works as expected. Probably you might want to change the shortcut to something similar like CTRL+1 in the DevExpress\Options\IDE\Shortcuts options page.

F12 no longer works in Visual Studio

This is driving me crazy. Ever since I installed ReSharper 4, F12 no longer seems to work. If you look at the all the ReSharper short cuts in the Goto sub menu Declaration doesn't have any assigned!
The only way I can go to declaration is by using Alt and ` and then selecting Declaration.
I have tried un-installing and re-installing ReSharper with no luck, I have also, in ReSharper option asked it to use the default Visual Studio Key Bindings but that doesn't to work either.
Interestingly, when I do use Alt and ` I actually get two entries for the Declaration option.
Has anyone come across this problem?
I am using Visual Studio 2005 SP1.
I ran into the same issue and resolved it by first resetting my Visual Studio keyboard mappings:
Tools > Options > Keyboard > Reset
Then going into the ReSharper options and applying the scheme:
Resharper > Options > Visual Studio Integration > Apply Scheme
Update:
For VS2017 onwards:
Tools > Options > Environment > Keyboard > Reset
For Resharper 2017.2:
Resharper > Options > Environment > Keyboard & Menus > Keyboard Shortcuts > Apply Scheme
I have had a few occasions where Resharper and Visual Studio keybindings got mixed up and I had problems sorting them out.
If it is only one or two bindings you care about then you can change them by going to the
Tools->Customize->Keyboard menu option.
For ReSharper 8 and Visual Studio 2012:
Tools > Options > Keyboard > Reset
Then going into the ReSharper options and applying the scheme:
Resharper > Options > Environment > Keyboard & Menus > (Select Visual Studio under Keyboard Shortcuts) > Apply Scheme > Save
I had this problem and it was resolved by following the steps described in the picture:
Open Visual Studio Tabs on the path: Tools>>Options>>Keyboard
Open Visual Studio Tabs on the path: Resharper>>Options>>Keyboard & Menus and Do the following:
And Then Reopen the path above and do the following:
Finally, close the Visual Studio and open it.
I had this issue in VS2015 using Resharper 9.1.3, I tried Ryan's answer but it still didn't work.
After doing the steps Ryan outlined, I clicked F12 where Resharper asks What do you want to do?, I select Use Visual Studio commands. Still doesn't work.
Tools > Options > Keyboard > Select ReSharper.ReSharper_GotoNextHighlight from command list box
Change Shortcuts for selected command to F12 (Text Editor), click Remove and OK.
After this it works!
Try simple way to enable it, press Fn + Esc key of the keyboard.
It is possible that you have enabled Fn mode (Blue Keys) on your keyboard which overrides default behavior of functional keys including F12.
I had the same problem with VS2013 and Resharper 9. I have a code like this:
gridList.Method1();
gridList.Method2();
I then right-click on any of gridList and click Find Usages (or just use Shift+F12) but it says "Usages not found" even though it is just one line away! Sometimes VS restart would help, sometimes it wouldn't. It looks like clearing the cache of Reshaper helps though: Resharper -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Clear Caches. This needs VS to be restarted, but then it started working as expected.
My problem was that I couldn't use the command "Alt + F12" when trying to "peek definition" in Visual Studio. I found out through another forum-thread that it was Nvidia's GeForce Experience that overrides some of the "Alt" shortcuts and uses them for their functionalities with screen recordings etc.
What solved it for me, was going into the GeForce Experience settings and switch off the use of in-game overlay:
Alternatively, if you want to use the overlay, you can just change the short cut commands.
For ReSharper Ultimate 2017.3.3 and Visual Studio 2017:
Tools > Options > Tools > External Sources > Default Visual Studio Navigation > Save
I ran into this problem after an organizational change that caused my windows profile to change. I tried the solutions listed above, but nothing seemed to work.
Here is how I fixed it (brute force worked!)
NOTE: Steps listed are for VS 2012 and ReSharper 7.1.3
Uninstalled Re-Sharper
Exit visual studio, ensure the process devenv.exe is no longer there in the running processes (was there in my case and I had to do a "End Process Tree" from Task Manager)
Fired up VS 2012, and from the menu Tools -> Options -> Environment -> Keyboard selected Visual C# 2005 (or any other setting you love) and pressed Reset
Shutdown VS again (and ensure devenv.exe has been killed in Task manager)
Re-installed re-sharper
Best of luck!
These steps solved it for me:
Uninstall keyboard in Device Manager
Re-insert your keyboard usb
"Web Essentials"
Add or update visual studio "Web Essentials" You can find it at:
Menu>>Tools>>Extensions and Updates
I hope this will save your time. It worked for me.
ReSharper added a crap 'good' new thing that they now call a feature: Smart Go To Declaration. As dumb as it may sound, it comes enabled by default: crap 'good'.
The feature is described on the link provided from here but honestly at least it should've keep it disabled, not reinvent the wheel. It also tells you how to disable that crap 'good' feature.
Sometimes it has noting to do with Visual Studio at all. Be sure your keyboard has its function key setting of the keyboard itself to send the F12 function to Visual Studio. It is an easy thing to miss.
I had just installed Pulover’s Macro Creator and F12 was set as the global hotkey to pause a macro. It was intercepting the keypress before it had a chance to get to VS.
Solution is to change that hotkey to something else. I chose Ctrl-F12. The input box is on the top right of the Pulover window.
Update 2020. I had the same problem and also tried a lot of ways, but that was still didn't working... [VS 2015, ReSharper 2019.3.1]
But, like Andrius said:
Resharper -> Options -> Environment -> General -> Clear Caches. This needs VS to be restarted, but then it started working as expected.
Summary is: (try steps above) + Resharper..-> Clear Caches + VS restart. Hope this will be useful

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