/ Chat key does not work after tabbing out

[riles_jan (pcfreethinker)]

A workaround for this issue is tapping ALT after tabbing back in. You’ll have to do this every time you tab out, but it’s better than using the button.

When using the regular ROBLOX Player (this bug does not affect the Microsoft Store version), the / key will not work after tabbing out. This started sometime earlier today. Seemingly, the bug only affects some players - a lot of my players have told me they’re experiencing it too, however others are not reporting the issue at all. This issue affects all games, having tested it myself.

This happens every single time I tab out of the game and requires me to rejoin to fix it.

• Press alt + tab to switch to another window
• Reopen the Roblox player window
• You can no longer / to start typing in chat

Currently using Windows 10 Pro 64-bit.

The < and > buttons do not work either. Chat itself works fine when opened from the button.

EDIT - This seemingly affects all users. I’ve asked those who weren’t reporting the issue to ALT+TAB out - they were then affected by the issue.

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As mentioned by @Xiousa in the first reply, this issue seems to be related to / caused by:

Modifier keys like Ctrl get stuck when the Roblox window loses focus

Hey there, I’ve known about this issue for a while, but I now realize it’s a bug from Roblox, not me. Held-down modifier keys can get stuck “pressed” when the player window loses focus, and don’t get “released” when the window refocuses. This causes issues when typing in input boxes. For example, if you type the letter a when Ctrl gets stuck, the entire message will erase except for the letter a. For me, this issue happens extremely frequently, and I’m not sure how I’m triggering it. This L…

[inHeadspace (Jeni)]

@phat_monky

The < and > buttons do not work either.

Functionality for these keys has been removed as per Release Notes for 402

As for the main issue, probably related to Modifier keys like Ctrl get stuck when the Roblox window loses focus — alt key gets “stuck”, chat bar probably doesn’t open chat if you’re holding down a modifier key.

[Quinnicious]

Also experiencing this issue. It is extremely annoying.

Sometimes, the entire chat windows disappears. The only way I’ve figured to get it back is if I click in the approximate area of the text box.

[swagmoneyoffline (Offline)]

Easy fix is to hold down alt and / while tabbed into Roblox for a second. You’ll have to do this every time you tab out/in, but it’s the best we have for now.

[ProspektNova (Prospekt)]

Fix 2: Use Alt+Shift to change from keyboard language X to language Y, and then repeat and change back to X. I use a Croatian keyboard and switching back’n’fourth with the English keyboard fixed the issue, very annoying tho.

[riles_jan (pcfreethinker)]

For now, just tapping alt after tabbing back in seems to work. Definitely linked to the post @Xiousa posted.

[tyridge77]

Experiencing this in our game, very frustrating and losing players from it

[Valindra]

This is such an annoying bug!

You have to press either ‘‘Ctrl’’ or ‘‘Alt’’ again while in Roblox app to fix it!
The chat should pop again after doing that! xoxo

[SilvaLucifer]

Yeah, that’s pretty annoying. I almost died in Rogue Lineage bc. i couldn’t open the chat and talk to a person LOL.

[itsme_Xyloto]

this is an absolute nightmare for games that rely on quick communication.

[BlueTechnician]

I’m having the same issue, but it’s only with the forward slash key ‘/’ I can’t open chat… I can open it when I join a game, if I alt tab or leave the window and come back to the game later, my the issue happens where I can’t open chat using ‘/’ I am forced to click into the chat box… It’s very annoying especially with how I have to rejoin the game.

[GoldyyDev (Goldy)]

Can reproduce. Windows 10 Pro, i7-7th Generation. pressing alt again seems to solve it temporarily

[DeanNoobLeader (funny_gaming)]

Ive also noticed that you cant tab out sometimes

[Automationeer (Eleanor)]

Can repro 100%. Very annoying bug.

Can someone in DevRel please escalate this?

[Operatik]

Issue not reproducible at MacOS end, tested and there was absolutely no issue here. I believe this is only affecting Windows 10 users as far as I know.

[Xan_TheDragon (Xan)]

I can get this to occur on Windows 7 as well, so I don’t think it’s an OS input pipe issue, at least not one exclusive to Win10.

I can confirm the ideas that say modifier keys are getting stuck when the player window goes out of focus. Pressing alt in-game and releasing it resolves the issue.

[itsme_Xyloto]

its been 7 days and this issue is still not fixed, the social aspect of roblox is one of its greatest, this bug is hurting playercounts and user interaction, can we get an eta on when this bug is going to be fixed?

[x5tb]

Hi, @phat_monky I’ve noticed this and I didn’t know what it was, Thanks for helping me to figure out what it really was .

[EmperorDitto (ditto)]

I’ve been having the same issue and it’s extremely annoying especially when I’m on trade hangout or games that rely on players talking to one another, I really hope Roblox fixes this.

[Collect1ve]

Can verify that I’m getting the same issue, can somebody shine some light on this?