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I find the single key capture of ALT key very annoying as it interferes with keyboard shortcuts in other applications. E.g., Libreroffice Writer. There are many references to ALT key related issues, but I found no resolution for disabling it in Ubuntu 18.04. My goal is to be able to use ALT in keyboard shortcut combinations and have them actually work.

dualexl
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    Don't release the Alt key. Press the Alt key together with whichever other key you need. – DK Bose Mar 30 '19 at 16:17
  • Just curious: what is a single press on Alt doing? I do not see that on my system. – vanadium Mar 30 '19 at 17:46
  • I know how to create and use keyboard shortcuts. The problem is that certain combinations don't work. e.g., CTL-ALT-up arrow in Libreoffice. I suspect because Ubuntu 18.04 captures ALT. I'm trying to find a way to make ALT useful in LibreOffice. – dualexl Mar 31 '19 at 20:08
  • @vanadium, I don't use Ubuntu now, but IIRC, the Unity desktop of some years ago responded to pressing just Alt by displaying the HUD. – DK Bose Apr 02 '19 at 01:48
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    @DKBose Not sure at all if current question is about Unity. Reading the comment by dualtext, I see the interference between Ctrl+Alt+Up in LO to move a paragraph up, and the same combination to switch workspaces in gnome shell. Question is utterly unclear and based on a "suspicion" that Alt is "captured", which is not the case. The issue is probably that globally defined shortcuts override application specific shortcuts. – vanadium Apr 02 '19 at 07:04
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    @dualtext Please be more specific, provide a few examples of things that do not work as you expected, and confirm the desktop environment you are using. If it is the default desktop of Ubuntu 18.04, then you are using Gnome Shell. If you upgraded from older Ubuntu versions, you may still be using Unity. – vanadium Apr 02 '19 at 07:09
  • I apologize for lack of clarity. I'm using Ubuntu 18.04.02. Fresh install so Gnome 3.28. Problem is Ctrl+Alt+arrow keys not working in LO. In both Gnome Tweaks and System keyboard shortcuts though I disabled interfering shortcuts, but @vanadium indicates I have not. Away from machine now, will investigate further upon return. Is there some tool to reveal who owns a keyboard shortcut sequence at a given application/scope? Thanks! – dualexl Apr 03 '19 at 13:48
  • https://askubuntu.com/questions/1041914/something-blocks-ctrlaltleft-right-arrow-keyboard-combination?rq=1 discusses my problem and the issue with finding these overrides. My search for this problem missed this discussion as my keywords didn't seem to match. – dualexl Apr 03 '19 at 13:55

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