Ctrl Key triggers window update when Accordance window not in focus

[postiffm]

Accordance 14.0.7, Windows 11, two screens.

Accordance info window is open so if I hover over a word, it displays info about the word.

If I then press Ctrl, Accordance displays more information. That's cool.

But if I switch to my Word document and start typing my sermon notes, whenever I hit Ctrl+S, or Ctrl+anything, or Ctrl by itself, the Accordance window updates and shows the additional vocabulary information. When I release Ctrl, the info window changes back to what it was before. It is distracting to say the least.

 

It would be nice if by default or there were an option to turn off this behavior. In the "off" mode, Accordance would ignore Ctrl when it is pressed while ANOTHER application has focus. When Accordance is off to the side, IOW, it should not be spying on my key presses to another application!

 

Thanks for listening,

Matt

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I don't have two screens, but I'll test it on my Windows machine and see if I get a similar issue on one screen.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

This isn't happening on my single-screen setup, so hopefully someone with multiple monitors can chime in.

 

I would double-check to ensure Word has "focus" when using keystrokes. If Windows is giving "focus" to Accordance when you're performing keystrokes in Word, it could be routing the keystrokes to Accordance.

[Erhard]

Windows 11, 3 monitors

when I am in Word and press CTRL, the instant details info changes as well. On mine it changes what is in the instant details from a LSB Bible verse to ESV. It seems to depend a bit on where the cursor leaves Accordance as well as to what if anything is displayed. Regardless, when in working in Word, Accordance should not be responding to key strokes.

[Lawrence]

On my Windows 11 setup, Accordance responds to 'ctrl' even when the Accordance window is not in focus.

It's probably been doing this since I started using Accordance (early Accordance 13).

 

I agree that this ought not to happen. It's impressive, but Accordance shouldn't be monitoring the keyboard when its window is not in focus.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

I'll see if someone here has a multi-monitor setup that can test this. Thanks for the feedback!

[Gary Raynor]

Yes, this happens for me as well, but the info panel is only changed whilst the ctrl key is pressed when released it reverts back. Tested it with NA28 Greek.

Cannot test with a floating instant details window as it disappears when another app has focus.

 

 

[Lawrence]

9 hours ago, Nathan Parker said:

I'll see if someone here has a multi-monitor setup that can test this. Thanks for the feedback!

 

I can confirm that if a Greek word is in the instant details panel when the cursor is clicked into another application's window (e.g. Chrome), pressing 'ctrl' changes the Instant Details panel in Accordance to the BDAG entry on a laptop's built-in monitor with no external monitors plugged in, as well as on external monitors in a multi-monitor configuration. (Windows 11)

[postiffm]

I confirm that it also consistently happens if both windows are on a single screen side-by-side. You do not need two monitors to reproduce the behavior.

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Good to know. Thanks!

[Lawrence]

@Nathan Parker

 

On reflection while using the 'feature', this is a usability issue. When browsing in the Greek, I sometimes want Instant Details to show either the parsing or BDAG. I might be editing a document while doing this, and if I hover over the word in Accordance, I can keep the keyboard focus on my document for typing while pressing <ctrl> to toggle the Instant Details panel. This is desirable behaviour, even though it is somewhat troubling that any application is 'snooping' on whatever I'm typing.

 

This snooping is just one step away from key-logging, which is a significant security risk.

 

It might be better for Accordance to do away with reading the keyboard when the app is not the focus, and replace the functionality with a two-panel window to show both parsing and BDAG (or other resource) at the same time. I understand this will require more screen real-estate so it's only useful for those with larger monitors, but this can be mitigated by retaining the <ctrl> toggle as an option (and only when focus is given to the app).

[Dr. Nathan Parker]

Sounds good. I'll chat with our teams about the importance of resolving this issue.