Non-English language interferes with launching of Everything (?)

[Raindrops]

I have set CTRL+SpaceBar as my hotkey to launch Everything.
I also have installed multiple languages in my input methods, and I switch between the languages using Win+SpaceBar and Win+SHFT+SpaceBar.

If I have set any non-English language, it seems to interfere with the launching of Everything.
Switching back to English seems to solve the issue.
But this problem does not occur consistently when a non-English language is selected.

Reporting for Everything-1.5.0.1357a.x64-Setup.exe on Acer laptop using Win 11.

[Raindrops]

With further experience, it looks like the new version has some bug.
Even when English is the chosen language, CTRL+SpaceBar fails to launch the app.

The previous version used to work flawlessly just a few minutes ago!

[therube]

CTRL+SpaceBar

Is that a default keyboard shortcut in Everything, or something you did outside of Everything?

If the former, maybe it was reassigned (or nixed, & needs to be re-added)?
If the latter, maybe Windows 11 made a change in that respect?

[Raindrops]

IIRC the default was ALT+SpaceBar, but I changed it to CTRL+SpaceBar.
This allows me to use a three-keystrokes sequence:

CTRL+C to copy the string from any app (mainly browser)
CTRL+SpaceBar to launch Everything
CTRL+SHFT+V to search for that string

Notice that the CTRL key remains pressed throughout.
I don't have to juggle between ALT and CTRL.

That allows me to rapidly search for the desired string in my disks.

It worked for multiple versions of Everything in Windows 11.
I have run into problem only now.
Even now, it works sometimes (but mostly does not work).

[Raindrops]

I replaced the CTRL+SpaceBar shortcut with ALT+SpaceBar.
It worked perfectly.
Then I replaced the shortcut with CTRL+SpaceBar again.
It works sporadically.

I installed 1356a without removing 1357a.
Now the CTRL+SpaceBar shortcut works consistently.

To conclude, there is something wrong in 1357a. 1356a works fine.

[Raindrops]

update:

Even 1356a has started acting up!
(It worked fine after installation for a while.)

The CTRL+SpaceBar keystroke does not seem to be intercepted by any other app (at least, there is no visible response).
How can I check for this possibility?

[void]

I've been running a few tests to try and find the issue with no luck.

I am going over all the changes in 1357a and haven't found one that could cause the issue.

Debug logs might help:

• In Everything, from the Tools menu, under the Debug submenu, click Start Debug Logging.
• from another program, hit your hotkey (Ctrl + Spacebar)
• Does Everything show?
  ---please try repeating the above a few times to get Everything not to show on Ctrl + space.
• In Everything, from the Tools menu, under the Debug submenu, click Stop Debug Logging.
  ---this will open your Everything Debug Log.txt in Notepad.
• Could you please send this file to support@voidtools.com

Please try disabling set_foreground_window_attach_thread_input (hack to bring Everything into the foreground):

• In Everything 1.5, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the Advanced tab on the left.
• To the right of Show settings containing, search for:
  fore
• Select set_foreground_window_attach_thread_input.
• Set the value to: false
• Click OK.

Please try disabling ctrl_tab_action:

• In Everything 1.5, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the Advanced tab on the left.
• To the right of Show settings containing, search for:
  ctrl
• Select ctrl_tab_action.
• Set the value to: none
• Click OK.

[Raindrops]

After my last post, I uninstalled 1356a with CCleaner, and restarted the laptop.
Then I installed 1357a.
(I figured that since 1356a also has the same issue, at least let me use the latest version!)

I activated the Tools > Debug > Start debug logging menu.
Then I closed Everything, and pressed CTRL+SpaceBar from other random apps.
After 2-3 successes, Everything failed to pop up.

In order to turn off the debug logging, I launched Everything by clicking its button in the taskbar.

But the debug logging had turned off by itself!
The Tools > Debug menu shows only shows start debug logging menu option.
The Stop debug logging menu option is grayed out.

I repeated this experiment to confirm the problem.

So I had a doubt whether the debug logging gets activated at all.
I checked that out as follows:
1. Activate the debug logging.
2. without closing Everything, use the Tools > Debug menu once again.

The menu shows both start and stop menu options.
The Start option has a tick against it.

MgPrfjWX49.png (3.79 KiB) Viewed 28013 times

To sum up, when the launching of Everything stops, the debug process gets aborted.

[void]

Could you please send the following to support@voidtools.com

Launch Everything by clicking the everything button on the taskbar.
From the Help menu, click Troubleshooting information.

Type in the following search and press ENTER:
about:keys

[Raindrops]

I launched Everything 2-3 times with CTRL+SpaceBar method.
Usually it stops responding after 2-3 times.

So when it stopped responding, I launched it by clicking the Taskbar button.
Then I used the Help > Troubleshooting information menu.
A window popped up.

I searched for about: keys
But it does NOT have this phrase.

About keys.png (71.1 KiB) Viewed 27953 times

[horst.epp]

Then I used the Help > Troubleshooting information menu.
A window popped up.

I searched for about: keys
But it does NOT have this phrase.

Of course not.
It's not part of the info.
You have to use about:keys on the search field.

[void]

I searched for about: keys

Sorry about my poor instructions.

In the main Everything search window, type in the following search and press ENTER:
about:keys

What is shown?
-I'm just wondering what ctrl + space is bound to.. if anything..

[Raindrops]

It has two matches:

Search Edit | Auto Complete Search Ctrl+Space (Search Edit)
Result List | Toggle Focus Selection Ctrl+Space (Result List)

These settings must have been there for a long time, because IIRC I have not made any changes in Everything settings.

[Raindrops]

I have not understood the meaning of these shortcuts listed in the about:keys dialog!

1. What does Search Edit | Auto Complete Search mean? I didn't even know that I could auto-complete the string that is entered in the Search field. How would that work, given that there may be multiple files/folders matching the fragment that is already entered?
2. How is Result List | Toggle Focus Selection supposed to work? I guess it is supposed to toggle the focus between two different areas of the GUI. But I have never seen that behavior. For me, CTRL+SpaceBar does only one thing: Toggle the Everything window, regardless of where I am.
3. Does this mean that one of these functions is interfering with the launching of Everything window? If so, how should I set those other shortcuts?

[void]

Thank you for the troubleshooting information and about:keys.



Please try disabling hotkey_explorer_path_search:

• In Everything 1.5, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the Advanced tab on the left.
• To the right of Show settings containing, search for:
  hotkey
• Select hotkey_explorer_path_search.
• Set the value to: false
• Click OK.

Perhaps this feature is crashing Everything on the keypress?

What does Search Edit | Auto Complete Search mean?

Show search suggestions based off previous searches.
Search History must be enabled under Tools -> Options -> History.

How is Result List | Toggle Focus Selection supposed to work?

This command toggles the selection state for the focused result list item.

Does this mean that one of these functions is interfering with the launching of Everything window? If so, how should I set those other shortcuts?

Unlikely they are interfering.
These are the default shortcut bindings for Ctrl + Space.

[Raindrops]

Thanks a lot for the clarifications!

I changed the setting and now Everything works fine.
But in the past, the problem appeared only after a few operations.
I hope it does not reappear now!

IMHO the advanced settings needs a detailed table that explains each parameter:

• what would happen when a particular value is selected.
• If a parameter alters the behavior of other parameter(s)
• If there is an interdependency between parameter(s) (conditional behavior)
• Typical uses

[void]

IMHO the advanced settings needs a detailed table that explains each parameter:

I will consider adding in-program help to the advanced settings.
Thank you for the suggestion.

For now, please select an advanced setting item and press F1 for detailed help.
This will open the online advanced settings page and focus the selected item.

[Raindrops]

Thanks!

I had used that link, but I expected the list to be on the advanced settings page directly.
I overlooked the all settings link given on that page.

***************
BTW, I have started having the problem once again!

In an experiment, I restored the hotkey to ALT+SpaceBar.
Right now it is working. But as usual, problem may come later, after a few operations.

[Raindrops]

Update: The ALT+SpaceBar also stopped working.
Now it shows windows controls (the options we see when we right-click on the top bar of any window.)
I checked out the About:keys dialog, but this hotkey is not bound to any other function.

So the pattern is, every time I set a new hotkey, it works only a few times.
After that, the same hotkey fails to launch Everything.

[void]

Sounds like Everything is crashing?

When you notice the hotkey no longer works, could you please:

Check if there is two Everything.exe processes running in the Task Manager.



Please try forcing a rebuild to improve reliability:

• In Everything, from the File menu, click Exit.
• In Windows Explorer, type in the following address and press ENTER:
  %LOCALAPPDATA%\Everything
• Delete your Everything.db
• Restart Everything.

Does the issue persist?

[Raindrops]

Strangely, Everything works fine. I toggled it on/off with CTRL+SpaceBar, and also closed the window by clicking on its X button.

But I noticed that the Task Manager shows considerable variation in the process listing:

Everything is running:

Everything running.png (14.99 KiB) Viewed 27787 times

After closing Everything:

Everything closed manually.png (13.06 KiB) Viewed 27787 times

Everything is running:

Everything launched after closing.png (14.73 KiB) Viewed 27787 times

Everything is running:

Everything running 2.png (13.23 KiB) Viewed 27787 times

Everything is running:

Everything running 3.png (15.24 KiB) Viewed 27787 times

[Raindrops]

<erroneous post delected>

[Raindrops]

When hotkey fails to launch Everything:

When hotkey fails to launch everything.png (10.97 KiB) Viewed 27767 times

[Raindrops]

So, when the hotkey is working, the Task Manager shows 3/4 lines of Everything processes.
They may be running in the foreground or background.
But when the hotkey fails, there are only two lines, both running in the background.

[void]

Thank you for the screenshots.

That last screenshot shows the Everything search client is not running.
It most likely crashed?

Strange there's no crash dialog..

Do you have any Everything .dmp files?
Please try the following Everything Search:
everything .dmp



Hotkeys will only work when Everything is running in the background.



There should be two Everything processes.
One for the search client (GUI)
One for the Everything Service (only uses about 1MB of RAM)



-Do you have a Right to Left (RTL) keyboard installed?

Please try disabling the control_shift_action:

• In Everything 1.5, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the Advanced tab on the left.
• To the right of Show settings containing, search for:
  control
• Select control_shift_action.
• Set the value to: None
• Click OK.

Has "Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> hotkey_explorer_path_search" been re-enabled?

Does the issue persist?

[Raindrops]

Wow! Thanks a lot for the diligent pursuance of this issue!

I have inserted point-by-point responses inline.

That last screenshot shows the Everything search client is not running.
It most likely crashed?

That's the screenshot taken after the hotkey stopped responding.
But some Everything threads were still running, as shown in the screenshot.
I do not know if those are sufficient for the purpose.
Please let me know if I can check this further and provide further inputs.

Strange there's no crash dialog..

Do you have any Everything .dmp files?
Please try the following Everything Search:
everything .dmp

I checked for this. There is no such file.
Could this be because I have installed Everything in the C:\Program Files\Util path?
(I have seen that some programs have problems because they cannot create files or write in Windows-protected folders. Could that be the case here also? Probably not, because Everything does not face any other issues.)

Hotkeys will only work when Everything is running in the background.

But I do see some threads named "Everything" even after the hotkeys fail to launch the Everything window.
How about that??

There should be two Everything processes.
One for the search client (GUI)
One for the Everything Service (only uses about 1MB of RAM)

All processes have the same name, so I cannot tell them apart.
What do my screenshots show: Are the threads as expected?
Can we infer this from the PID numbers?

-Do you have a Right to Left (RTL) keyboard installed?

No, I have US keyboard with US English, but I also have some Indic languages installed as input method.
All of them are Left to Right only. There is no Right to Left language installed.
I can switch between them using WIN+SpaceBar; and also SHFT+WIN+SpaceBar.

Please try disabling the control_shift_action:

• In Everything 1.5, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the Advanced tab on the left.
• To the right of Show settings containing, search for:
  control
• Select control_shift_action.
• Set the value to: None
• Click OK.

I did this now.
(BTW, what is this change supposed to achieve?)

Has "Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> hotkey_explorer_path_search" been re-enabled?

I checked it: Presently, it shows "false".
Should I leave it as false or re-enable it?

Does the issue persist?

Well, I changed the value of control_shift_action parameter just now.
Not sure if that is supposed to prevent crashing.

Right now, the hotkey works.
But I have seen earlier also, that the hotkey fails after a few operations.
So I better wait and confirm it only after multiple trials.

Thanks again for your diligence and the detailed responses!

[Raindrops]

BTW all the settings you mentioned so far were exactly the same. I haven't changed anything at all.
And yet Everything was working fine for such a long time.
I kept on updating Everything to the latest alpha version, and it kept working.
All of a sudden, this problem has popped up!
That's the puzzling part!

[void]

I checked for this. There is no such file.
Could this be because I have installed Everything in the C:\Program Files\Util path?

Your installation path doesn't matter.

Everything .dmp crash dumps will be in %LOCALAPPDATA%\CrashDumps

which expands to:

C:\Users\<your-user-name>\AppData\Local\CrashDumps\

(I have seen that some programs have problems because they cannot create files or write in Windows-protected folders. Could that be the case here also?

Everything stores settings and data in %APPDATA%\Everything

Provided this setting is enabled (it should be enabled by default):

• In Everything, from the Tools menu, click Options.
• Click the General tab on the left.
• Check Store settings and data in %APPDATA%\Everything.
• Click OK.

If disabled, Everything will be unable to save changes when under C:\Program Files

But I do see some threads named "Everything" even after the hotkeys fail to launch the Everything window.
How about that??

That is the one process for the Everything Service.
The client is no longer running, so your hotkey doesn't work.

All processes have the same name, so I cannot tell them apart.
What do my screenshots show: Are the threads as expected?

They are mostly as expected.

The Everything.exe process using 92MB of RAM is the main search client. (this shows the main search window and registers your hotkey)
The Everything.exe process using 1MB of RAM is the Everything Service (allows the main search client to index and monitor your NTFS volumes)

Sometimes the Everything.exe process using 92MB of RAM is missing.
It should not be missing.

Can we infer this from the PID numbers?

No, this is essentially a random number.

Please try disabling the control_shift_action:

I did this now.
(BTW, what is this change supposed to achieve?)

Left-Ctrl + Left-Shift will switch to a Left to Right keyboard.
Right-Ctrl + Right-Shift will switch to a Right to Left keyboard.

I thought the changing of input might be crashing Everything.

Has "Tools -> Options -> Advanced -> hotkey_explorer_path_search" been re-enabled?

I checked it: Presently, it shows "false".
Should I leave it as false or re-enable it?

Please leave it disabled for now.



The next course of action is to examine debug logs to try and work out what is going on:

• In Everything, from the Tools menu, under the Debug submenu, click Start Debug Logging.
• from another program, hit your Everything hotkey.
  ---please try repeating the above a few times to get Everything not to show on your Everything Hotkey.
• In Windows Explorer, type in the following address and press ENTER:
  %TEMP%
• Please send your Everything Debug Log.txt to support@voidtools.com

[Raindrops]

OK.

I checked the dumps folder. It has several dump files generated over last one month.
These are created mainly by msteamsupdate.exe and one file is created by explorer.exe.
But there's none by Everything.

Right now, I do not know if the problem got resolved.
So I will have to wait till the hotkey fails.
If it fails again, I will capture the debud log and then share it.

Thanks!

[Raindrops]

The next course of action is to examine debug logs to try and work out what is going on:

• In Everything, from the Tools menu, under the Debug submenu, click Start Debug Logging.
• from another program, hit your Everything hotkey.
  ---please try repeating the above a few times to get Everything not to show on your Everything Hotkey.
• In Windows Explorer, type in the following address and press ENTER:
  %TEMP%
• Please send your Everything Debug Log.txt to support@voidtools.com

I discovered a sure way to crash Everything:
1. Launch Everything
2. Type any string in the search field
3. Press DownArrow to move down the search results. Do not do anything else.
4. Press ESC to dismiss the Everything window.
5. Press CTRL+SpaceBar. Everything fails to appear.

6. I can launch Everything only by clicking on its TaskBar button.

And here's the catch: If I select the Tools > Debug > Start Debug Logging menu before doing this five-step experiment, the debug process also crashes after step#4. Thus, after launching Everything with the TaskBar button, if I check the Tools > Debug menu, the Tools > Debug > Stop Debug Logging is grayed out. There is no tick against the Tools > Debug > Start Debug Logging menu option.

I wonder if the dying instance of Everything created a log at all??

[Raindrops]

Just to clarify, my typical workflow was-

1. Select string in a browser
2. CTRL+C
3. CTRL+SpaceBar - To launch Everything window
4. SHFT+CTRL+V - To paste the string w/o punctuation in Everything window
5. ESC - To dismiss Everything

When my hotkey stopped launching Everything "randomly", I instinctively avoided dismissing the Everything window.
So I changed my workflow to-
0. Launch Everything (one time activity)
1. Select string in browser
2. CTRL+C
3. ALT+Tab - To switch to Everything window
4. SHFT+CTRL+V - To paste the string w/o punctuation in Everything window
5. ALT+TAB - To switch back to browser

During my tests also, I was just toggling Everything to check if the shortcut works consistently. I never entered any search string during those toggling experiments.

This is why I never realized that Everything fails the moment I put it through a real search cycle. It seemed to happen randomly!

[Raindrops]

Oops!

I just discovered a much simpler case:

So I do not have to do anything inside Everything to crash it: Just pressing ESC is enough!
This kills the threads.
After that, both hotkeys (CTRL+SpaceBar and SHFT+CTRL+SpaceBar) cannot launch a window.
The only way to launch Everything is by clicking on the TaskBar button.

But if I close Everything window by other methods listed below, the hotkeys continue to work:

• clicking on its X button at the right hand-top corner
• using CTRL+SpaceBar

To sum up, pressing ESC is the only problem.

[void]

What are you binding ESC to?
(ESC should be listed in about:keys )

-If you are binding to File | Exit, please try binding to File | Close Window instead.

[Raindrops]

Yes, ESC was bound to File|Exit.

File|Close was already bound to another hotkey: CTRL+SHFT+W.
I added ESC to that, and now everything works fine.