How can I restore default keyboard shortcuts?

Question

I have customized some of the shortcuts in System ▸ Preferences ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts.

How can I restore individual shortcuts to their default settings? I do not want to reset all of the shortcuts, just a few of my choice.

I need to reset the "Workspace switcher" shortcut, but cannot find where the setting is. — To Do, Dec 16 '12 at 17:36
@ToDo I'd recommend opening a new question about that. That keyboard shortcut isn't currently designed to be customizable, so solutions are going to be a little ugly. — ændrük, Dec 16 '12 at 22:19

score 41 · Accepted Answer · edited Feb 23 '21 at 01:22

It looks like the way keyboard shortcuts are implemented has slightly changed for Ubuntu 13.04

The shortcut settings are saved in the following locations (may be different for 12.10):

org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings
org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys
org.gnome.shell.keybindings
org.compiz.integrated

You can find these in the dconf-editor application, then using the "Set to Default" button to reset each desired entry. dconf-editor can be installed at the command line with sudo apt-get install dconf-tools.

Otherwise, you could also try resetting any one of the locations by using the following command in the terminal:

gsettings reset-recursively <insert location>

E.g.:

gsettings reset-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys`

The gsettings reset-recursively org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.media-keys worked only for the media keys, but sadly not for the volume up/down keys. I also tried all the locations above, but neither of them worked. I am using Linux Mint. Any suggestions? — Luca Steeb, Aug 01 '15 at 12:12

score 13 · Answer 2 · edited Jan 14 '21 at 20:39

They key bindings stored in the gconf database, but they aren't all in the same place unfortunately.

However, you can get a list of all the key bindings gconf keys by looking in the files located in /usr/share/gnome-control-center/keybindings/.

For example, /usr/share/gnome-control-center/keybindings/01-desktop-key.xml contains the list of keys for all the shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts lists under Desktop.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<KeyListEntries name="Desktop">
  <KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/help"/>
  <KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/calculator"/>
  <KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/email"/>
  <KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/www"/>
  <KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/power"/>
  <KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/screensaver"/>
  <KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/home"/>
  <KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/search"/>
</KeyListEntries>

Once you know the key name you can restore it to its default value.

For example, let's say you want to restore the shortcut to launch the calculator,

screenshot

Simply run:

gconftool -u "/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/calculator"

screenshot

This does not seem to work for Ubuntu 12.10. – ckhatton Jan 20 '13 at 22:32 — ckhatton, Jan 20 '13 at 22:32
On linux mint 'gnome' can be substituted with 'cinnamon' – ThorSummoner Jan 27 '16 at 21:55 — ThorSummoner, Jan 27 '16 at 21:55

score 8 · Answer 3 · edited Feb 11 '17 at 05:14

8

gsettings reset-recursively  org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings

edited Feb 11 '17 at 05:14

muru

197,895
55
485
740

answered Feb 17 '14 at 20:29

peb

121

score 7 · Answer 4 · answered May 11 '11 at 18:50

7

Building DoR's answer, this simple script, typed at the command line, will reset all shortcuts:

cd /usr/share/gnome-control-center/keybindings
for entry in $(grep KeyListEntry * |cut -d'/' -f2- |cut -d'"' -f1); do
    echo $entry
    gconftool -u "/$entry"
done

answered May 11 '11 at 18:50

Peter Howe

171

I get a bunch of errors like these Error unsetting/'': Bad key or directory name: "/'": '' is an invalid character in key/directory names -f2- – zengr Mar 08 '13 at 01:07

score 5 · Answer 5 · answered Dec 15 '10 at 19:23

5

You can't. But you can see what are default values if you press help and click Section 1.2 ― Keyboard Skills and then on the right you have a list of key grous:

Global Shortcut Keys
Window Shortcut Keys
Application Keys
Access Keys

regards

answered Dec 15 '10 at 19:23

danizmax

2,750

As @danizmax suggestion see the default keys and put them back... – karthick87 Dec 15 '10 at 19:35

score 3 · Answer 6 · answered Oct 09 '17 at 12:06

3

On Ubuntu 17.10 (in the new settings window):

Choose Settings > Devices > Keyboard, then Reset All...

answered Oct 09 '17 at 12:06

Jacob Vlijm

83,767

score 1 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 15 '18 at 08:45

dconf dump + load mass export and restore

Dump them all to a file:

dconf dump / >~/.config/dconf/user.conf

Open that file on a text editor and select the settings that you care about:
```
editor ~/.config/dconf/user.conf
```
If you use Vim, you will want this syntax highlight.

You will soon ask yourself what is <Primary>.
If you don't know the name of the setting, but know how to modify it from a GUI like unity-control-center, run:
```
dconf watch /
```
and then modify them. The exact setting will then appear on the terminal.
When you want to restore those settings, run:
```
dconf load / <~/.config/dconf/user.conf
```
Git track the config file to never lose it. https://github.com/andsens/homeshick is my current favorite method.

Tested on Ubuntu 15.10.

score 1 · Answer 8 · answered Jun 29 '13 at 10:36

In Ubuntu 13.04 it's looking like a lot of the shortcuts can be found at org->gnome->settings-daemon->plugins->media-keys. I was able to reset my volume buttons with it and I didn't even need to look up the default values as there's a reset button.

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Sep 22 '11 at 00:48

1

Here is something I discovered by accident:

Open gconf-editor (press Alt+F2 and type in gconf-editor).

Find the setting you want to reset. I found several places they are located:

Apps > gnome_settings_daemon > keybindings
Apps > metacity > global_keybindings
Apps > metacity > window_keybindings

There may be others.

Right click on the setting, and click 'Unset Key'. This will restore it to the default setting.

answered Sep 22 '11 at 00:48

Joe Rothrock

11

1

Has this actually worked for anyone? Do you need to restart for this to take effect? Just tried this and this doesn't work for me... didn't want to rate this unless you do actually need to restart first. – hazrpg May 13 '12 at 21:10
1

I cannot find those locations in Ubuntu 12.10. – ckhatton Jan 20 '13 at 22:30

score 0 · Answer 10 · edited Jan 11 '13 at 21:55

0

This worked for me without restarting Ubuntu or Gnome Desktop. I had tried using "Shutter" for screen capture, and it changed some hotkey bindings for PrintScreen and Alt+PrintScreen. After uninstalling Shutter I needed to restore the hotkey settings that it had changed. I was able to change my hotkey bindings for those keys by running gconf-editor (from a terminal window) and then changing settings in both of these places:

apps->metacity->global_keybindings
apps->metacity->keybinding_commands

I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Gnome Desktop 2.30.2

edited Jan 11 '13 at 21:55

Oyibo

1,919

answered Jan 11 '13 at 21:31

DavidBooth

71

1

In Ubuntu 12.10 those locations are not there. So between versions 10.04 and 12.10, the locations must of changed. – ckhatton Jan 20 '13 at 22:29

score 0 · Answer 11 · answered Mar 11 '17 at 17:38

0

Use the dconf editor then go to org.gnome.desktop.wm.keybindings. Anything that is bold has been modified and you can click on Set to Default on the lower right for those entries.

answered Mar 11 '17 at 17:38

puerile

111

How can I restore default keyboard shortcuts?

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