Disable all keyboard shortcuts in Electron.js

Question

I am trying to disable all keyboard shortcuts in my electron.js app.

I tried the following ways (spoiler alert: they didn't work):

globalShortcut.unregisterAll()

and

globalShortcut.register('Alt+CommandOrControl+A', () => {
    console.log('not allowed')
  })
  globalShortcut.register('Alt+CommandOrControl+B', () => {
    console.log('not allowed')
  })
  globalShortcut.register('Alt+CommandOrControl+C', () => {
    console.log('not allowed')
  })
  globalShortcut.register('Alt+CommandOrControl+D', () => {
    console.log('not allowed') // and so on
  })

(i did this ^ for all the keys (from A to Z, 1 to 9, etc). By the way, all of the code I tried I put into the app.whenReady() function.

Well, none of this worked. I saw a lot of articles with other more abstract ways, but they didn't work either. I actually tried searching for an npm package too, but I didn't find any that would solve my problem.

I just need to completely disable all keyboard shortcuts from my electron app. Is there any other way (that actually works)?

not sure if best solution but what if you intercept [before-input-event](https://www.electronjs.org/docs/api/web-contents#event-before-input-event) and preventDefault when the alt key is true — pushkin, Sep 27 '21 at 15:25
How would i do that? Can you write an answer with all the details? — SCRACX, Sep 27 '21 at 16:18
@pushkin so can you please write an answer with more details? — SCRACX, Sep 28 '21 at 13:18

Muhammad Taif Khan · Answer 1 · 2021-10-02T13:22:00.787

1

Here is simple solution ::

app.on('browser-window-focus', function () {
    globalShortcut.register("CommandOrControl+R", () => {
        console.log("CommandOrControl+R is pressed: Shortcut Disabled");
    });
    globalShortcut.register("F5", () => {
        console.log("F5 is pressed: Shortcut Disabled");
    });
});

app.on('browser-window-blur', function () {
    globalShortcut.unregister('CommandOrControl+R');
    globalShortcut.unregister('F5');
});

You can disable all the shortcuts by registering while the window is focused and unregister when blur.

See this question right here Disable reload via keyboard shortcut electron app

EDIT : disable all shortcuts globalShortcut.registerAll(accelerators, callback) accelerators String[] - an array of Accelerators. callback Function Registers a global shortcut of all accelerator items in accelerators. The callback is called when any of the registered shortcuts are pressed by the user.

globalShortcut.unregisterAll() Unregisters all of the global shortcuts.

edited Oct 02 '21 at 13:22

answered Sep 30 '21 at 19:35

Muhammad Taif Khan

21
1
4

Thank you! This is working! But is there any way of doing this for all keys bulk? So I don't have to do it manually... – SCRACX Oct 02 '21 at 11:15
There is not a specific single function or method to disable all the shortcuts. But you can use the registerAll and unregisterAll methods the same way as disabling single shortcut. – Muhammad Taif Khan Oct 02 '21 at 13:21
I tried it and it doesn't work... I guess ill just use your method for all shortcuts – SCRACX Oct 04 '21 at 11:12

Disable all keyboard shortcuts in Electron.js

1 Answers1