Ctrl+Shift+E inserts special characters into file instead of showing Explorer Pane in VS Code

user_8294130 0
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In Visual Studio Code, I prefer having the "Activity Bar" hidden and use the key combinations Ctrl+Shift and E, F, G or X to reach the individual panes.

When I am in the Search pane (revealed with Ctrl+Shift+F) with focus on the editor, I hit Ctrl+Shift+E with the intention of reaching the Explorer pane; instead of exposing the Explorer pane, code inserts the character e with a black underline.

Now, I suppose this is some feature to insert special characters into editors but, Ctrl+Shift+E as a shortcut for this seems little too conspicuous don't you think? Especially when it is already being used for something else?

I'm not sure when this behavior was changed but I remember that it used to work earlier. Is there a way by which I can disable this special character insertion feature and restore order?

vscode-settings visual-studio-code
6 Answers

Okay, it took some time to narrow down this issue. It appears, GTK3 reserves the key combination Ctrl+Shift+E to insert Emoji.

Good news is, this feature has been removed in GTK version 3.24. You can update your GTK version to fix this issue.

user_82941300

This is a very good workaround.

Run ibus-setup in the terminal. A GUI dialog will open.

Go to the 'Emoji' tab --> Ellipsis(...) buttton --> Delete --> OK.

That's it. Works for me on Ubuntu 20.04. You can still access emojis using Ctrl + .(period).

user_113928070

As HolyBlackCats and Pida stated in comments, the best way is to install Visual Studio Code by "sudo apt install" on your Ubuntu, as the problem still exists (even after 2 years).

sudo apt update
sudo apt install software-properties-common apt-transport-https wget
wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main"
sudo apt install code
user_38371070

Instead of snap installation, go with the apt one. First of all remove your vscode snap package

sudo snap remove code

And then, follow the instructions on the official page

https://code.visualstudio.com/docs/setup/linux

Or if youre lazy like me, paste this lines into your terminal

sudo apt update
sudo apt install software-properties-common apt-transport-https wget
wget -q https://packages.microsoft.com/keys/microsoft.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -
sudo add-apt-repository "deb [arch=amd64] https://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable main"
sudo apt install code
user_37167270

Uninstalling vscode is a huge pain in the ass. The way I found less annoying was to switch shortcuts. Instead of Ctrl + shift + e, I now use Ctrl + e, the previous shortcut ( Ctrl + e ) can still be accessed through Ctrl + shift + p.

  1. Go to your Shortcuts ( Ctrl + K, Ctrl + S )
  2. Type "ctrl + shift + e"
  3. On "View: Show explorer" double click on keybinding, and press the new keybinding ( in my case was Ctrl + E )
  4. Then type "ctrl + e" on the search bar again
  5. Remove the other binds with Ctrl + E, except the "View: Show explorer" one
user_139445050

It seems to be an issue with the snap version of VS Code. Using the apt version instead solves the issue.

sudo snap remove code
sudo apt install code

Just summarizing the answers so far because currently the fix is in a comment from HolyBlackCat rather than in an answer.

user_18127220
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