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Every install of TP has worked fine until I installed on a Thinkpad R61, core 2, with xp sp3. All other programs on this machine with keyboard shortcuts are working fine.

All keyboard shortcuts in TP are now gone. The menu activation system that begins with Alt key still functions, but all associated shortcuts that begin with Ctrl button are non-functional. The menu items that usually list the keyboard shortcut instead list a comma (,). Custom shortcut creation is also broken.

I tried disabling and enabling the 'Show keyboard shortcuts on menus' setting but that did not fix the problem. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling the keyboard driver. I googled, searched the forums, and called Lenovo support. No answers.

any ideas?

This is just a random thought, I have no experience with ThinkPads.

You may have done this already, but check Configure/Preferences/Editor, look at the Keyboard compatibility. There is a choice there for IBM, but you may want to go with TextPad.

Thanks for your reply.

I tried every permutation of Configure/Preferences/Editor/keystroke setting and it did not fix the problem.

This is a bummer problem because I depend on and use TextPad all day long. I had a lot of commands and recorded macros mapped to shortcuts and not having them pretty much renders the program useless.

I'll keep lookin' for an answer and will post if found.

Keyboard shortcuts are stored in CUSTOM.BND file in the TextPad \User\ directory. Can you copy from another installaton or backup of your previous installation?

Search this forum for BND, will find similar questions that may help you out, give you some ideas.

Thanks for replying,

I did try copying a working custom.bnd to the problem computer. I then tried copying every file in the folder with custom.bnd. I tried uninstalling TP and removing all files related to TP (didn't go to registry), and reinstalling.

I uninstalled and reinstalled 5.0.3 and 5.2. BUT... I installed 4.7.3 and now the keyboard shortcuts work!

Hopefully I can find out more about this problem with the newer versions and will post if I find something.

Could the thinkpad have a modifier key? I know on my MBP, by default the function key is on so F1 would control monitor brightness instead of Fn+F1 as one would think by looking at the icons on the board. Inverting it is a setting within the "control panel."

Perhaps something similar is hijacking the ctrl key on the thinkpad?

I looked for a modifier key, dabbled in the accessibility settings, and looked around in the BIOS. Can't find anything to pin this problem on. I am currently thinking that the ThinkPad drivers for keyboard and mouse are not up to snuff. I've had flakey keyboard and mouse behavior from other Thinkpads, just nothing as debilitating as the one I'm having now. I dock and undock the computer daily, and I think the system does not handle the switching gracefully.

The keyboard shortcuts come and go as they please, and the Alt and Ctrl keys have a mind of their own. The other computers work well, are stable, and TextPad is beautiful on them. For now, I'm off the laptop as my main office computer. All is well. Thanks!