Arrow keys stopped working in Finder

I always use the left and right arrow keys to open and close folders in Finder, but for some reason they have stopped working. Anyone know how to fix this?

Apparently, you're not looking in the right place. Double-click on your HD Desktop icon, assuming that you've set the Finder's preferences to show HDs, Users->username->Library->Preferences.
After moving it, click on the Desktop and select Finder->Preferences from the menu bar.

Similar Messages

Arrow keys stop working?

I've seen multiple posts recently about arrow keys stop working. This just happend to me however i found the solution.
Hold down all four (4) arrow keys and a menu will pop up.
Then select charcters by clicking (i believe) the right arrow.
Hope this helps.

Hi Ken,
Thanks for posting in MSDN forum.
Since the issue is more relate to the end-user, I'd like to move it to Excel IT pro forum.
The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other partners who read the forums regularly can either share their knowledge or learn from your interaction with us.
Thanks for your understanding.
Regards & Fei
We are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time. Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.
Click
HERE to participate the survey.

Why after i update my left and right arrow keys stop working

my left and right arrow keys stoped working after i updated to Mavericks now the dont work

Hello ccombs2014,
It sounds like 2 of your keys are not working after updating to Mavericks. I found this section of an article for you to help troubleshoot this issue named:
One or more keys on the keyboard do not respond
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1381
Some keys don't work as expected
From the Apple menu, choose System Preferences.
From the View menu, choose Speech.
Click the Text to Speech tab.
If "Speak selected text when the key is pressed" is enabled, the key or key combination set to speak text cannot be used for other purposes or used to type text--click Set Key and change it to a less-commonly used key combination (try to use modifier keys such as Shift, Command, Option, and Control). Or, disable the "Speak selected text when the key is pressed" option.
Click the Universal Access pane in System Preferences, click the Keyboard tab.
Make sure that Slow Keys is turned off. With Slow Keys on, you need to press a key for a longer period of time for it to be recognized.
In the Universal Access pane, click the Mouse tab, and make sure Mouse Keys is turned off. With Mouse Keys enabled, you cannot use the Numeric Keypad to enter numbers--instead the keypad moves the pointer (cursor). (There is an option to enable Mouse Keys with five presses of the Option key; you may want to turn that option off to avoid accidentally enabling it.) If Mouse Keys is enabled and you are using a keyboard with no numeric keypad or Num Lock function, see Unable to type while Mouse Keys is enabled in Mac OS X.
If the function keys on the top row of the keyboard are not working as expected, see Mac OS X: How to change the behavior of function keys.
If the issue persists, use Keyboard Viewer to help isolate the issue:
Click the Language & Text pane (Mac OS X v10.6) or International pane (Mac OS X v10.5.8 or earlier) in System Preferences.
Click the Input Sources tab (or Input Menu tab in Mac OS X 10.5.8 or earlier).
Click the Keyboard & Character Viewer "On" checkbox to select it (click the Keyboard Viewer "On" checkbox in Mac OS X 10.5.8 or earlier).
From the Input (flag) menu, choose Show Keyboard Viewer.
If the keyboard is connected and detected by Mac OS X, the keys you type will highlight in the Keyboard Viewer window. Open TextEdit (or any text application), and try to type something using the keys that were previously not responding to see if they highlight in Keyboard Viewer.
Start from the Mac OS X Install Disc, choose Terminal from the Utilities menu and test the keys which were previously not working. If the keys work while started from the Install disc, then the keyboard itself is working correctly. Use Mac OS X: How to troubleshoot a software issue to isolate the software issue that may be causing the keys to not respond.
Thank you for using Apple Support Communities.
All the best,
Sterling

Sometimes my arrow keys stop working in Firefox; has anyone else seen this? Any ideas on what could be causing this?

Fairly often when I'm using Firefox I'll suddenly find that the arrow keys have stopped working. I could be typing something in a text box and using the arrow keys to navigate the cursor, or I could be using the arrow keys to scroll a page up / down, or anything else, or trying to arrow down through the menu bar selection. It doesn't matter; the arrow keys are completely ignored everywhere within the Firefox program -- except for one case: If I press and hold an arrow key long enough for the auto-key-repeat to kick in, then the arrow key will be recognized and the appropriate response will be performed -- but only rapid-fire, and only for as long as I hold down the arrow key.
When this problem occurs, it's only within Firefox. When I switch over to any other programs that happen to be running, the arrow keys behave normally.
The problem happens often, but not necessarily every time I run Firefox.

I'm having the same problem. I tentatively blame the Adobe Reader plugin. In the current browsing session, the problem occurred when I opened a PDF. As soon as I disabled the Adobe Reader plugin, it went away. I've disabled the plugin and I'll see how things go. I'm running FF7.0.1 on WinXP SP3 with Adobe Reader 10.1.1.33. (I can confirm I'm not accidentally enabling Caret Browsing.)

Why do arrow keys stop working with type in CS6

I searched this issue and found many forums discussing the topic, but no solution. When using PS CS6, the arrow keys randomly stop working when navigating around in text. This is extremely frustrating. Per other discussions, and my experience, there doesn't seem to be a constant trigger. Saving the PS file when it happens SEEMS to fix it - at least temporarily. It's been happening off and on since I upgraded.
Adobe reps (they're say "employee") monitoring the photoshop.com forums suggested the fix is to close all other apps. No one works that way. Chrome (or other browsers) were speculated to be the cause. but I just had this happen without any browser open.
Any insight would be greatly appreciated. It's the simple things that cause the most frustration.
Sysytem details:
CS6 upgrade form CS5 Premium
Lion 10.7.4 / 16G / i7 Intel
Safari / Chrome
MS Office
Mac Mail
FontAgent Pro

Nobody suggested that closing other apps was fix - that was just a test to determine which apps were causing problems with event handling that prevented Photoshop from correctly handling the key events.
And if there were already posts on this topic, why did you create a new topic on the same thing?

Arrow keys stopped working in excel

The arrow keys on the keyboard that came with my new iMac have suddenly stopped working in Excel for moving between cells. They will only scroll the page up and down and left to right. Surely I have just inadvertently changed some setting. But, I have no idea how to change it back because I have no idea what I may have changed! Help!

Eric!!!! I thought all this time that nobody answered my question. And there it was, all the way back in October of 2011. I guess I thought someone would knock on my door and tell me my question had been answered.
Thinking all was for naught, I plugged in my PC keyboard and fixed the problem and then unplugged it.
Anyway, the keystrokes you suggested work wonderfully AND I am awestruck by the link you suggested. I want you to know, I googled the problem and read everything I found and not one person ever mentioned the Mac keystrokes for accomplishing "F-14".
You are the King. Actually, if you can answer the question I just posted in Airport Express, I'll be your personal slave. (It's called, "Murder on the Airport Express....")
My Airport Express doesn't extend my Wireless Network.

Excel arrow keys stop working (NOT SCROLL LOCK)

Excel Office Pro Plus 2013 on windows 7 64 bit.
This has happened since I loaded it.. older excel never has this issue on same host.
When I am working in a spreadsheet and moving around with arrow keys.. they stop working randomly.
It is NOT scroll lock... I can turn scroll lock on and off no effect.
IF I change to another tab then back to the same tab .. the arrow keys work again!!!
This happens in many spreadsheets... seems like the larger they are the worse it it.. VERY annoying and makes it unusable!!
I have all the latest patches and have rebooted .. this has been going on since I loaded excel.. I was hoping a patch would fix it..
but it keeps happening randomly...
ANY ideas?
-Ken

Hi Ken,
Thanks for posting in MSDN forum.
Since the issue is more relate to the end-user, I'd like to move it to Excel IT pro forum.
The reason why we recommend posting appropriately is you will get the most qualified pool of respondents, and other partners who read the forums regularly can either share their knowledge or learn from your interaction with us.
Thanks for your understanding.
Regards & Fei
We are trying to better understand customer views on social support experience, so your participation in this interview project would be greatly appreciated if you have time. Thanks for helping make community forums a great place.
Click
HERE to participate the survey.

Down Arrow key stopped working and the Shift 2 for "@" stopped working?

Only had the MacAir for a Month.
Other arrow keys work fine. then the Shift 2 "@" won't work now.
What the route for fixing this problem

Hi BGreg,
Thanks for your speedy reply! That document is useful however how do I get the keycap off, as it only explains how to get the keycap back on. Again I've had a look for info pertaining to getting the key off and haven't found anything, does anyone know where this document is?
As a side note was in a store today looking at the latest 17" macbook pro. Soooooo nice. Think it might be time for an upgrade next year!

All Letter Keys Stop Working

this has happened to me twice this week. and i don't know what is causing it.
i will be in the middle of working and all of a sudden all the letter keys stop working (i.e. i can't type anything)
However, the mouse still works, the arrow keys still work, the modifier keys still work... it's just the letter keys that stop working.
A simple Relaunch of Finder seems to do the trick, but i'm just curious how this problem is happening...
Any info on this would be great!
Thanks!

What system is this on?
It sounds like you're activating the numeric keypad that's overlayed on the standard keyboard. If this is a PowerBook or MacBook it's toggled by pressing the F6 key on the keyboard. When it's on (the key lights up), all the letter keys are disabled and only the keys with the subscript numbers and math operators are active.

Right shift and arrow up stop working

hi all,
I own apple aluminium usb keyboard with numkeys. Yesterday I leave my computer (I use mac book pro) and my external keyboard was working. Today morning I come to computer, and right shift and arrow up stops working. I checked how to clean keyboard (I remove up arrow and clean it), but nothing helps. It seems as hardware problem (oh yes, I restarted computer, and also tried kb in other computer).
Anybody knows how are keys connected, my question is, if right shift and up arrow are on the same cable. Is there way how to dissasemble this keyboard and fix it ? I am out of warranty and I really need these 2 keys.
Thanks for any help.

hi,
I am trying to multi-select some items in a JList by
holding Shift key down and the arrow keys (Up, Down)
but I failed and could not figure out what is problem.
Anybody knows how to that? Sample code is really
needed. Thanks.
JrabiAre u sure u want to use the shift key and not the ctrl key.
Also ensure that the JList selectionModel is set up for multiple selection and not single selection
eg.
m_list.setSelectionMode(ListSelectionModel.MULTIPLE_INTERVAL_SELECTION);
where mylist is a JList;

My "9-o-l-." keys stop working after startup, and spreading! ahh help?

My "9-O-L-." keys stop working after startup and my arrow keys too.
Sometimes when I start up the keys will work for a bit then one by one stop functioning and then randomly work every so often, then it seems to "spread" to the right shift key, and sometimes the "8-I-K-," keys.
Around the same time when this all began my Battery completely stopped working too, does this have anything to do with it? I've reset my PRAM and no luck.
I'm planning on replacing the keyboard, will that fix the problem? or is it something deeper?
Thanks in advance!
-Andrew

I assume you've rebooted? Can you control the computer well enough to make a new account and log into it? Doubt this will fix it but maybe. The keyboard may need replacing but it might also be that the cable has worked loose so that some of the wires have disconnected but not all. Sounds like a trip or call to Apple is in order.

Navigation keys stop working

I downloaded Digital Editions from the Adobe site. After 30 or 45 minutes the navigate keys stopped working. (all arrow keys, page up, page down) What must I do to restore operation? Windows XP with SP-3, Looks like Digital editions 1.7.2.1131

This is a known problem with ADE (and it's been ongoing for a while, and I've never been able to track it down). Unfortunately the only workaround is to quite ADE and to restart.

Brightness keys stopped working; won't restart or shut down

A couple days ago my brightness and volume keys stopped working. I thought restarting my computer (i also needed to restart it to install a software update) would fix this problem but then realized my Mac won't go to sleep, restart, or shut down. Any ideas on what I should do? Thanks for the help!

Sounds like you'll have to, then...
"Try Disk Utility
1. Insert the Tiger Mac OS X Install disc, then restart the computer while holding the C key.
2. When your computer finishes starting up from the disc, choose Disk Utility from the Installer menu. (In Mac OS X 10.4 or later, you must select your language first.)
Important: Do not click Continue in the first screen of the Installer. If you do, you must restart from the disc again to access Disk Utility.
3. Click the First Aid tab.
4. Select your Mac OS X volume.
5. Click Repair. Disk Utility checks and repairs the disk."
http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=106214
Then Safe Boot , (holding Shift key down at bootup), run Disk Utility in Applications>Utilities, then highlight your drive, click on Repair Permissions, reboot when it finishes.
(If perchance you cant Find your Install Disk, at least do the Safe Boot part above).

Some keys stopped working for one user account

Dear all,
since a while (I can't say since when exactly) some of the keys stopped working: left control, left shift, and the tab key. In the beginning the caps lock didn't work as well, but it was my own setting. All other then the three listed work OK. As described in some KB articles I checked all settings for universal access, localisation, keyboard, mouse, and keyboard-shortcuts (all standard). I completely disassembled the keyboard (aprox. 50 screws!) cleaned it and checked the connections between the keys on the printed circuit. Everything looks good. Then my wife told me that she does not have the problem and indeed, in other user accounts it is all working OK. It means that it should be a setup problem in my profile. The keyboard viewer is showing every activated (pressed) key, but not the three that are not working - which is only consequent. When I disable the caps-lock then the keyboard viewer doesn't show this key being pressed either. My conclusion is that there must be a keyboard filter below the application level. Now I'm stuck.
Help appreciated!
Cheers,
Kurt.
Message was edited by: killtheclock

Yup, odds were against me choosing the right item on the first go
Log back into your problem account.
Here's the whole litany for thoroughly checking your home folder. It's not as daunting as it looks.
1. Go to Users/yourname//Library/Fonts - drag this folder to the desktop.
• Restart and test your applications.
• If they work start adding the fonts back few at a time.
( Likely suspects are Times RO, Helvetica Fractions and Times Phonetic, also if you do not use Classic you can trash the classic fonts.) If not, put your Fonts folder back.
2. Check Preferences Thoroughly;
• Go to ~(YourHome/Library/Preferences drag this folder to the desktop.
• Restart and test your applications.
• If this works, save the old preferences folder somewhere else or on disk, name it "old prefs" .
** Note: A very important file is the "com.apple.Mail.plist" preference file located in the Preferences folder which contains all email account settings and general mail preferences (hold this one and replace if your problem is not with Mail).
You'll have to go through some of your System Preferences and apps to set the preferences back to how you like them. (Or if you have the time and inclination, "cherry pick" through until you find the problem one or two.)
3. Check Permissions Inside Home Folder
• Navigate to YourHome/Library.
• Get Info (Command - i) on folders for apps you are having problems with.
• Open the "Ownership & permissions" disclosure triangle.
• Make sure you are the owner, with "read and write" access.
• Click on "apply to all"
• If this is correct, open the "Applications Support" folder and do the same procedure (Command+I) for the folders with the names of the applications you are having trouble with.
(Note:The reason to check this is because repairing permissions with Disk Utility doesn't touch permissions inside your home folder.)
4. Navigate to YourHome/Library/Caches and drag this folder to the trash, then log out and back or restart. There is no need to replace this folder.
-mj

Arrow keys not working on CS2 64 bit system

Recently purchased a new computer with 64 bit system 4meg ram. I installed CS2 and everything seems to be working except the arrow keys and the control +/- features. Arrow keys are working in other programs like word and publisher. Any suggerstions?

I had the same issue on one machine but not another, so I compared the Photoshop install directories and found that (among other things) Tw10122.dat was different between the two. My only guess is that the version we have is localized to a different country, and this is causing the issue. Perhaps a common pirated version is also localized to a different country and that's why this issue is common among pirated versions, even though ours are not pirated.
...Or maybe they are and we just don't know it! Either way, replacing this file with my other version fixed it for me and maybe it will for you, too. Here's what to do:
Close Photoshop (if opened)
Navigate to your Photoshop install directory. This is c:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\ by default on x64 systems or c:\Program Files\Adobe\Adobe Photoshop CS2\ on x32.
Find Tw10122.dat and rename it to Tw10122.dat.bak.
Download my attached Tw10122.dat to your install directory.
Launch Photoshop and test it.
If the issue persists, or anything else seems wrong with Photoshop, restore your old Tw10122.dat by deleting mine and renaming Tw10122.dat.bak to its original filename. Please let us all know if this works for you.

Arrow keys stopped working in Finder

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