Question / Help HotKeys stopped working with an update of OBS

[T_I_T_U_S]

ACTUAL SOLUTION (hopefully for you too)
After days of looking through forums, and doing stupid permissions things that were not the problem, I decided one last time to try different key commands.
I found out that key commands with 'command', 'option', 'control', and 'shift' do not work.
For whatever reason, key commands have to be ONLY letters, ex: Q, D, M, (etc.).
Before, I was doing 'shift' 'command' Y for a hotkey, but this does not work. Any hotkey with in that format will not work.
USEABLE HOTKEYS, that I know of
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
Q
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
NOT USABLE HOT KEYS, that I know of
anything with SHIFT
anything with COMMAND
anything with OPTION
anything with CONTROL


Thanks,
Titus

M1 macbook 13", apollo Twin interface, A kind heart

I'd also like to note, if any scenes or sources are highlighted, hot keys will not work. Just click off to the right or left of your stream square thingy.

 

[H-G]

I'd also like to note, if any scenes or sources are highlighted, hotkeys will not work. Just click off to the right or left of your stream square thingy.

Thanks for that! I can confirm that hotkeys work if no scenes or sources are highlighted, and keys are assigned without a modifier (shift, cmd, etc.) on a M1 Macbook Air.

 

[CycloneGU]

I have just recently run into my hotkeys mysteriously not working, myself. What I have found I had to do was go to the settings and reconfirm my hotkeys, where I was using Ctrl-Alt-Num5 as my record combo. Turns out it didn't work for a day or two, I went to reset it, it worked for about six or seven videos on the 21st, then everything I attempted to record for two days literally failed to even start. I have to use these kinds of combinations because the game in question assigns literally almost every key on the keyboard some kind of function, so just switching to a letter key is not ideal at all. While I could assign it to a key I do not use the function for, I can slip and hit that function by accident and literally end my video. So I would like to know whether this is going to be fixed anytime soon.

This is on a PC as well, not on a Mac.

 

[CycloneGU]

I have just recently run into my hotkeys mysteriously not working, myself. What I have found I had to do was go to the settings and reconfirm my hotkeys, where I was using Ctrl-Alt-Num5 as my record combo. Turns out it didn't work for a day or two, I went to reset it, it worked for about six or seven videos on the 21st, then everything I attempted to record for two days literally failed to even start. I have to use these kinds of combinations because the game in question assigns literally almost every key on the keyboard some kind of function, so just switching to a letter key is not ideal at all. While I could assign it to a key I do not use the function for, I can slip and hit that function by accident and literally end my video. So I would like to know whether this is going to be fixed anytime soon.

This is on a PC as well, not on a Mac.

Apparently editing is not allowed after time passes, so I'll post an update, My shortcut immediately stopped working this evening after I reset it earlier today. I have changed my shortcut to the - key, because I feel I have no choice but to try something basic and don't think - does anything important in my game. After an options check, I should be good to go, but I would REALLY like to know if this will be fixed. (Granted, 5 does a center view thing with my camera anyway, so I was probably wise to dump that key.)

 

[togume]

Confirming that hotkeys don't work on 26.1.2 on macOS + M1. I've tried everything in this thread and can't get it to work. Without this functionality, using OBS is quite limited for me. For now, I've switched to another tool and hoping that this can get resolved.

FYI on the Github issue where this is being discussed (not much activity, IMO): https://github.com/obsproject/obs-studio/issues/4126

 

[evns]

WHAT IS WITH THIS. This seems like super-basic functionality. Just updated to V27, hotkeys still don't work. Helpity-help.

 

[lyonkyng]

Just wanted to say that this thread is over a year old and this bug still exists. When I'm streaming from my Mac the hotkeys just stop working. The only way I can get them to work again is to restart OBS. Obviously, this is not feasible when we are already live. I'll be looking into the problem more after my partner's streams are over to see if I can find a more permanent solution.

 

[LJensen]

MAC USERS: (SOLUTION)

You have to reapply the permissions to the app. The OBS.app listed under Input Monitoring, Accessibility, etc. is not the literal app itself. It’s a shortcut of sorts. Read on:

Mac is weird. I already had OBS listed under the required security permissions and the hotkeys still weren’t working. However when I first downloaded the app I noticed that the app “shortcut” and the app itself were two different entities. I had already pinned the app to my dock, but when I opened it, another OBS icon popped up next to it in the dock. So I deleted the old one and pinned the one that popped up... And that is where this solution’s inspiration came from. If this doesn’t work, I’m dumbfounded, cause I tried everything in these responses as well.

Quick note:
I have had all sorts of issues setting up OBS through my iMac Pro using an Apollo X6 audio interface... everything from setting up the audio correctly to getting screen capture to work, and even this exact problem with hotkeys. I’ve found fixes to them all. Here’s what I did for hotkey universal usage, and there are only three major steps that I will go over in detail... Also, I don’t know if this happens with other apps as well, but just because your Security & Privacy says your OBS app has permissions doesn’t mean it’s actually allowing those permissions to the app itself. Give this a try. Believe me, I know it’s weird but it worked magically when I did this.

Make sure you can access “Applications” in Finder

Open up Finder and see if there is a tab on the left side called “Applications”. If it’s already there, you can skip this step. Otherwise, do the following:

• Open Finder if it’s not already open.
• Click the Finder tab at the top-left of the screen, and open Preferences.
• Click the Sidebar tab at the top if it’s not already selected.
• Check the box next to Applications.

(You can follow the same steps to hide it again if you don’t like having it on your Finder all the time. I personally hide it. Just come back and uncheck if desired.)

Reapply permissions within Security & Privacy

• Open System Preferences.
• Click Security & Privacy.
• Navigate to the Privacy tab.
• In the list of options on the left, click Input Monitoring.
• In the box to the right, you should see the sources that your Mac permits to use input monitoring. If OBS is already listed within the box on the right, there is no need to delete it, but we are going to replace it with the TRUE application.
• Click the lock at the bottom of the window and enter your password if prompted (If it’s already unlocked, skip this step).
• Click the “+” at the bottom of the list of apps.
• When the window pops up, click Applications. If your left bar is hidden, idk lol, look for it.
• Scroll down the list until you find OBS.app and double-click it.
• It will look as if the list hasn’t changed. However, the re-application of permissions to the app itself was just completed. And though it had the same name as the other OBS.app that was previously listed, it wasn’t targeting the app itself that you run. It was targeting some pseudo-shortcut like version of the app that acts as a run command for the app. It’s strange, I don’t fully understand why this happens either.
• Repeat these steps for the Accessibility tab.

Feel free to do the same for all of the other things OBS uses.

Now check to see if your hotkeys work both inside and outside of OBS. If they do, gratz! I’m just as baffled as you are! If they still don’t work, you may need to verify that your options are set correctly within OBS. Other people have suggested this in previous replies, but just in case you missed it:

Verifying OBS Hotkey Settings

• Open OBS.
• Click Settings.
• Click the Hotkeys tab.
• Scroll to the bottom of the list and check the current setting for Hotkey Focus Behavior. It should be set to “Never Disable Hotkeys” unless you have specific needs and know what you’re doing.

If this doesn’t work, I’m truly lost, because I tried everything else, but once I re-set the permissions for OBS, the hotkeys worked beautifully.

My setup:
- iMac Pro
- Apollo x6 Audio Interface
- Manley Ref-C Microphone
- Razer Kiyo

This fix worked for me! Thank you so much!!!

 

[deepakdahiya]

June 27, 2021


None of the above-mentioned answers worked for me. Hotkeys used to work, but now they don't.
Sadly the OBS team choose to ignore this bug

 

[deepakdahiya]

Hi! Same problem here, but I think I found out when exactly the problem occurs.
It seems to me that shortcuts stop working from the moment I focus on some password field in the browser.

I was recording a video and every time I focused on the password field it would stop working immediately.

Still don't know how to solve this issue, but at least now I know when the problem occurs.

Oh my god. Brother, you have no idea how much you have helped you. GOD BLESS YOU!!!!!!!! I FUCKING WASTED LIKE 24 hours on this shit. I cant thank you enough. THANK YOU

 

[Nicool]

hi guys, I have installed OBS yesterday on my Macbook Pro 2013, running Mac OS Catalina. Indeed the Hotkeys wouldn't work, however I noticed I just had to shutdown and restart OBS (after having changed my Hotkeys) and then they would work.

 

[terblin]

I am having the same issue, on restarting OBS on Mac and re-entering hotkeys one time was able to get it working again, then when I clicked on starts virtual cam it stopped working (hotkeys) and then stopped virtual cam and they were still not working, restrated OBs and tried re-entering a hot key and not none are working.

 

[tomachi]

That's strange. If you try and set new hotkeys, do they fail to work too?

Yeah I'm on Linux. Zorin OS 16. Obs-studio from snap installed via Gnome Software. I wonder if it was due to my doing something inside Gnome-Tweaks.
obs-studio 27.1.3 1276 latest/stable snapcrafters -

 

[johnathansmith1969]

It looks like it works only if OBS is the last app clicked on!

 

[aldoan87]

This SOLUTION worked for me, I hope it helps!

 

[itsmaheshkariya]

This is a Bug Actually for mac users : If you decide to pause video for long time it will stop working after few minutes for that only option is to restart your OBS. No need to restart machine. Even don't need to change the hot keys. I have updated version and tried every possible way to get rid of it. I have seen all permissions and Advance option as well

 

[pedroddvale]

MAC USERS: (SOLUTION)

You have to reapply the permissions to the app. The OBS.app listed under Input Monitoring, Accessibility, etc. is not the literal app itself. It’s a shortcut of sorts. Read on:

Mac is weird. I already had OBS listed under the required security permissions and the hotkeys still weren’t working. However when I first downloaded the app I noticed that the app “shortcut” and the app itself were two different entities. I had already pinned the app to my dock, but when I opened it, another OBS icon popped up next to it in the dock. So I deleted the old one and pinned the one that popped up... And that is where this solution’s inspiration came from. If this doesn’t work, I’m dumbfounded, cause I tried everything in these responses as well.

Quick note:
I have had all sorts of issues setting up OBS through my iMac Pro using an Apollo X6 audio interface... everything from setting up the audio correctly to getting screen capture to work, and even this exact problem with hotkeys. I’ve found fixes to them all. Here’s what I did for hotkey universal usage, and there are only three major steps that I will go over in detail... Also, I don’t know if this happens with other apps as well, but just because your Security & Privacy says your OBS app has permissions doesn’t mean it’s actually allowing those permissions to the app itself. Give this a try. Believe me, I know it’s weird but it worked magically when I did this.

Make sure you can access “Applications” in Finder

Open up Finder and see if there is a tab on the left side called “Applications”. If it’s already there, you can skip this step. Otherwise, do the following:

• Open Finder if it’s not already open.
• Click the Finder tab at the top-left of the screen, and open Preferences.
• Click the Sidebar tab at the top if it’s not already selected.
• Check the box next to Applications.

(You can follow the same steps to hide it again if you don’t like having it on your Finder all the time. I personally hide it. Just come back and uncheck if desired.)

Reapply permissions within Security & Privacy

• Open System Preferences.
• Click Security & Privacy.
• Navigate to the Privacy tab.
• In the list of options on the left, click Input Monitoring.
• In the box to the right, you should see the sources that your Mac permits to use input monitoring. If OBS is already listed within the box on the right, there is no need to delete it, but we are going to replace it with the TRUE application.
• Click the lock at the bottom of the window and enter your password if prompted (If it’s already unlocked, skip this step).
• Click the “+” at the bottom of the list of apps.
• When the window pops up, click Applications. If your left bar is hidden, idk lol, look for it.
• Scroll down the list until you find OBS.app and double-click it.
• It will look as if the list hasn’t changed. However, the re-application of permissions to the app itself was just completed. And though it had the same name as the other OBS.app that was previously listed, it wasn’t targeting the app itself that you run. It was targeting some pseudo-shortcut like version of the app that acts as a run command for the app. It’s strange, I don’t fully understand why this happens either.
• Repeat these steps for the Accessibility tab.

Feel free to do the same for all of the other things OBS uses.

Now check to see if your hotkeys work both inside and outside of OBS. If they do, gratz! I’m just as baffled as you are! If they still don’t work, you may need to verify that your options are set correctly within OBS. Other people have suggested this in previous replies, but just in case you missed it:

Verifying OBS Hotkey Settings

• Open OBS.
• Click Settings.
• Click the Hotkeys tab.
• Scroll to the bottom of the list and check the current setting for Hotkey Focus Behavior. It should be set to “Never Disable Hotkeys” unless you have specific needs and know what you’re doing.

If this doesn’t work, I’m truly lost, because I tried everything else, but once I re-set the permissions for OBS, the hotkeys worked beautifully.

My setup:
- iMac Pro
- Apollo x6 Audio Interface
- Manley Ref-C Microphone
- Razer Kiyo

Thank you. Reapplying the permissions worked for me.
As mentioned in this thread, combinations with special keys (such as the command key) do not work. It seems we have to go with letters and numbers only.

 

[hargitay]

This is the same problem windows users have also.
I have in the settings "never disable hotkeys" but as soon I have OBS Studio in active window some of the hotkeys stop working.
And if a activate a another application, all Hotkeys start working again.
Also if i use my Streamdeck I need to activate another application to ensure all Hotkeys to work.
Very frustrating...

I had the same issue on Ubuntu 22.04 I switched from wayland to Xorg, and everything's fine. https://linuxconfig.org/how-to-enable-disable-wayland-on-ubuntu-22-04-desktop

 

[csselement]

Hi! Same problem here, but I think I found out when exactly the problem occurs.
It seems to me that shortcuts stop working from the moment I focus on some password field in the browser.

I was recording a video and every time I focused on the password field it would stop working immediately.

Still don't know how to solve this issue, but at least now I know when the problem occurs.

I noticed hotkeys stop working after I start the stream. Starting a stream submits a password to the streaming platform.. so perhaps there is some sort of security trigger that blocks keys if a password is requested.

 

[Aage]

I'd also like to note, if any scenes or sources are highlighted, hot keys will not work. Just click off to the right or left of your stream square thingy.

Thanks a lot!
It seems to do the trick!
Finally something that worked.
It has driven me crazy! :)
I´ve tried root, superuser, a bunch of different keyboards.
I started to suspect that the OS was the problem, yes.

My main use is recording, and the ability to pause / unpause seamlessly is the most important feature for me.
I have discovered that start / stop recording and pause / unpause demands a toggle key for my part.
So the solution for me is to start and stop recording manually,
and assign the pause / unpause to the NUM LOCK key on my wireless key pad.
That works well enough for me.
Thanks again!