Keyboard input stops working after invoking Alfred

[ahecht]

A strange one, but has persisted across many updates of both Alfred and Mac OS, so figured I'd post in case someone can help figure out what's going on.

 

Summary:

After invoking Alfred and doing some search or command (opening an app, using calculator, etc), my keyboard no longer functions until I use the App Switcher (Cmd-Tab) to change apps back and forth. After that everything is fine. It seems to also affect my trackpad, though in that case clicking works, but only after clicking twice. Same workaround: if I switch to a different app and then back again, all is well until the next time.

 

Notably, this only happens on one of two Macs which are configured very similarly AND appears to happen only in my main user account. I created a new user and initial tests didn't show the issue. The obvious answer would be to start from scratch with a new user on this machine, but hoping I can find and fix the configuration issue instead of spending most of a week on that project!

 

- Happens anytime, after invoking Alfred from anywhere

- Can replicate reliably, every time I invoke Alfred

- Alfred 4.3.2 [1221] (though this has been happening for a while, across various updates)

- 27" late 2014 iMac running Mac OS 11.2.1 (again, has been happening across updates, including before upgrading from Catalina to Big Sur, but in all cases I keep my Mac up-to-date with latest releases)

- only happens in one user account, and not on another machine (with Alfred preferences sync enabled between the two)

- happens with Bluetooth keyboard or wired

[Andrew]

@ahecht this sounds like a hotkey conflict, usually caused with ⌘Space. If you're using ⌘Space, you'll need to disable all the related items on this page:

 

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/cmd-space/

[ahecht]

@Andrew thank you so much. I can't believe I didn't check that, but the Spotlight shortcut must have been reset during some update and I never noticed. Ugh. Working now! Guess now I'll need to find a different excuse to rebuild my Mac.. 😉

 

Thanks again.

Edited March 2, 2021 by ahecht

[ek1]

On 3/2/2021 at 9:46 AM, Andrew said:

@ahecht this sounds like a hotkey conflict, usually caused with ⌘Space. If you're using ⌘Space, you'll need to disable all the related items on this page:

 

https://www.alfredapp.com/help/troubleshooting/cmd-space/

 

I have the same problem, but I use ⌥+Space. Checked anyways if there was any conflicting shortcuts and didn't find any.

Anyone know a solution? This doesn't happen every time but it's so annoying when it happens. 

 

Thanks beforehand

[Andrew]

@ek1 could it be this:

https://www.alfredforum.com/topic/17861-alfred-does-not-respond-to-the-global-hotkey/