ESC key will not work in Revit but works everywhere else

[Anonymous]

So we are having a problem with revit where the esc key does not work but it works everywhere else.  It is not an adobe product as we do not use those programs.  Any ideas?

[jb.reinert]

didn't work

[jb.reinert]

Since the only option for me is to close and restart just to have this issue occur minutes or at best hours after restarting, I've added a shortcut key for MD, directly under the escape key for when this occurs (`). The tilde/grave accent key is now equal to the escape key. It's hard to believe Autodesk hasn't found a solution to this, but hopefully this is helpful to others experiencing the same issue. To add a shortcut key, go to the File drop down, select Options, User Interface tab, Keyboard Shortcuts: Customize. From there find and select Modify (MD), type the grave accent key(`) and then click Assign to assign the new shortcut. 

[RSomppi]

Please see message #60.

[RobDraw]

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@jb.reinert wrote:

It's hard to believe Autodesk hasn't found a solution to this

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How do you expect them to find a solution if it cannot be recreated? It's very difficult, if not impossible, to trouble shoot random.

[drosenthalUQMVQ]

reported you - get off the thread if you don't have a helpful response

[RobDraw]

Hello?! Is your thread helpful?

What did you report me for? Did I offend you?

[Todd.BarryFDJ8P]

What about the delete key?

[sdurkee_sa]

Here is what we have found on our computers. This won't apply to everyone, but hope this helps someone at Autodesk track this down. We will also send this info to Enscape. See the link in message 60 for an explanation of some of these tests.

Issue:

1. Open Project 1 and run Enscape.
2. Open Project 2 and edit a family.
3. Select "Load into Project and Close" and select Project 1 to load it into.
4. [Esc] key stops working.
5. [Delete] key stops working ([Tab] key still works for us).
6. Properties palette stops updating when items are selected. Selecting the Properties dialog updates the Properties palette.
7. Filter in the lower right-hand corner doesn’t update number of items and won’t open but the Filter command in the Ribbon works.

Checked:

• Keyboard driver is up-to-date.
• Video Card driver is one month old.
• Revit 2022 is up-to-date.
• Keyboard shortcut “MD” does cancel the selection but does not enable the [Esc] key.
• [Alt+Esc] switches between windows or programs in the order that they were opened and has no effect on this issue (not sure why this was in the list).
• “Right-click | Cancel” does cancel the selection but does not enable the [Esc] key.
• “[Alt] | A | MO” has no effect (also don't know why this was in the list).
• Opening “File | Options” dialog has no effect.
• This project was just opened, there is no text that was last edited to select.
• Starting a new project had no effect.
• Saving or syncing had no effect.
• Closing other open apps (Chrome, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat, Photos, Windows Explorer) had no effect.
• Closed Revit and reopen to get [Esc] to work again.

[sdurkee_sa]

Did more testing of different scenarios. Nothing we tried maintains or restores normal functionality of [Esc], [Delete], Properties, and Filter other than restarting Revit.

One change to the process that seems to avoid the issue is to select "Load into Project" instead of "Load into Project and Close". 

Old joke:

Patient: "Doctor, it hurts if I do this."

Doctor: "Don't do that."

[JL.FCG]

I have come across this issue in the past, and have found that 9 times out of 10 there is a pop up somewhere.

Usually a Revit Add-in.

However, there have been Windows pop-ups that have also interfered with my Revit - so i would open task manager and close all programmes apart from Revit to see if it makes a difference, because in my case - it takes a lot longer to open a Revit Model than it would Outlook, or Windows Folders.

[ian.withersMKBGW]

I too have this issue.  Its only just started but it'll start doing it about an hour into my revit session...every friggin day, 10 times a day.  It takes 20mins or more to open my model, so a re-boot is out of the question.  ALL shortcut commands and the escape key and delete keys just stop working.  I have to right-click and select delete, or select the modify command from the ribbon.  This is infuriating.  I am running 2021.1.5.  My laptop keyboard and my steelseries are both having the same issue, so its not the drivers.

[ian.withersMKBGW]

Sorry, update its happening on my revit 2023 version as well... I run both 2021 and 2023 for different projects.

[ian.withersMKBGW]

I get the issue even when not editing families.

[RobDraw]

It seems this problem is impossible to troubleshoot any further. The causes are many and so are the solutions.

[jb.reinert]

@ian.withersMKBGW, I also run revit 2022 and 2023 for different projects and the problem is consistent and has been for a year despite updates etc....it is extremely frustrating, but if you follow the directions below to add 'an additional escape key' as a shortcut key it will lessen your frustration immensely. (You can see this in message 13 above).

"Since the only option for me is to close and restart just to have this issue occur minutes or at best hours after restarting, I've added a shortcut key for MD, directly under the escape key for when this occurs (`). The tilde/grave accent key is now equal to the escape key. It's hard to believe Autodesk hasn't found a solution to this, but hopefully this is helpful to others experiencing the same issue. To add a shortcut key, go to the File drop down, select Options, User Interface tab, Keyboard Shortcuts: Customize. From there find and select Modify (MD), type the grave accent key(`) and then click Assign to assign the new shortcut."

[Lance.Coffey]

@jb.reinert thank you for the tip about using a keyboard shortcut as an alternative to the Esc key. I've added this to the article along with @sdurkee_sa's info that when editing families (while Enscape is loaded) using the Load into Family option instead of Load into Family and Close helped prevent the issue from showing up.

It sounds like the issue @ian.withersMKBGW is seeing is different from prior reports, as all shortcut commands are affected. Ian, can you confirm that all Keyboard Shortcuts are affected when this is happening and have you gone through the steps from the article linked above?

[ian.withersMKBGW]

Yes, I can confirm that all shortcuts stop working including MD.
I am then forced to use only the buttons on the ribbon or right click to pull up some more options. This happens in both 2023.1 and 2021.
I have tried all of the above proposed solutions. Obviously restarting works...for a bit, but I am using some pretty large models on ACC so restarting takes significant amounts of time.

[RobDraw]

That sounds like you are losing the connection to the shortcuts file.

[Lance.Coffey]

On the prior troubleshooting:

• Can you confirm that a system restart is required to clear the behavior (not just restarting Revit)?
  • If restarting Revit clears issue, did you see any change in frequency when disabling add-ons?
  • If restarting the system is required to clear the issue, did you see any change in frequency when putting Windows into a simplified startup environment?

Regarding the connection to the Keyboard Shortcuts file that @RobDraw mentioned, have you tested exporting/importing your shortcuts when this is happening (also if your shortcuts file is stored on a network/cloud location, try copying it locally)?

[sdurkee_sa]

Three different coworkers reported the issue with [Esc] and [Delete] keys not working in Revit 2022 today. None of these were related to the Family editing issue. The only workaround that brought [Esc] and [Delete] back in Revit was closing and reopening Revit.