microsoft / microsoft/PowerToys

Support for Temporarily Disabling Key Mappings and Reusing Keys Across Multiple Configurations

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Needs-Triage Product-Keyboard Manager
Dominant language
C
Stars
139k
Forks
8.6k
PR merge metrics
PR metrics pending

Description

### Description of the new feature / enhancement

Please add a feature that allows users to temporarily disable a specific key mapping. This would enable users to reuse the same key for a different mapping without losing the original configuration.

By doing so, users can preserve the logic of their previous mappings and easily switch between them, instead of having to delete and recreate mappings each time.

Image

Image

### Scenario when this would be used?

1) Suppose I remap the Print Screen key to Alt + Print Screen. This would allow me to capture only the currently active window (i.e., the main screen without the taskbar).

2) Additionally, I want the option to remap the Print Screen key to Windows + Print Screen, which captures the entire screen, including the taskbar.

This is one example of how such a remapping workflow could be useful.

### Supporting information

_No response_

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

No files, tests, or entry points are named. Start by locating the Keyboard Manager implementation and its key-mapping configuration, then determine how temporarily disabling one mapping and reusing its key across configurations should be represented and switched; done means both example Print Screen mappings can be preserved and selected without recreating them.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
c
Domain
desktop
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Quiet
Clarity
Needs clarification
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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