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Have item in popup box already selected for faster keyboard navigation #115
Description
There are certain popup boxes where if the item was already selected it would be more convenient for keyboard navigation.
Template selection popup
When selecting a template to insert, this pop up box shows:
It would be helpful if the dropdown box was already highlighted:
I could of course just press Tab but this saves me a keypress. Maybe this entire pop up box could be redesigned so it is more keyboard friendly but this would be a start.
Custom variables popup
If using custom variables in the template, this popup box shows up to input the value:
Would be helpful if the text box is already highlighted like so:
This way I can start typing without having to press Tab first.
Activity
lukaslabryszewski commentedon Nov 27, 2025
I Agree. Previous implementation allowed me to press [F2] then use keyboard navigation so I could just type in first couple of letters of my template and press [Enter]. Unfortunately now this requires using a mouse.
Thanks @shbach for the [Tab] suggestion. It's a good workaround for now.
P.S. This is on Joplin 3.5.12 (prod, darwin) - macOS Sonoma (14.6.1)
Verify keyboard navigation auto-focus already implemented (joplin#115)
Aaravanand00 commentedon Feb 20, 2026
Hi @shbach,
I reviewed and tested the current dialog behavior locally to verify the keyboard navigation concerns raised in this issue.
After testing:
The template selection dropdown is automatically focused when the dialog opens.
The custom variable input field is also auto-focused.
Users can immediately type or use arrow keys without pressing Tab.
Enter and Escape behavior works as expected.
I tested this by building the plugin locally and triggering both dialogs in development mode. No regressions or console errors were observed.
From what I can see, the current implementation already satisfies the requested behavior.
If there’s a specific environmen
shbach commentedon Feb 21, 2026
shbach commentedon Feb 21, 2026
@Aaravanand00 I'm on Linux (GNOME). I've used both the appimage and the flatpak and I observe the behavior I described.
Aaravanand00 commentedon Feb 21, 2026
Hi @shbach,
Thank you for confirming that you're observing this behavior on Linux (GNOME). That helps narrow things down.
On my local testing (different environment), both the template selection dropdown and the custom variable input field appear to receive focus automatically when the dialog opens.
To better understand the discrepancy, could you please confirm:
If needed, I can add an explicit programmatic .focus() call after the dialog renders to ensure consistent behavior across platforms. Before preparing a PR, I’d just like to confirm the exact reproduction scenario to avoid introducing unnecessary changes.
Looking forward to your feedback
shbach commentedon Feb 21, 2026
@Aaravanand00
Aaravanand00 commentedon Feb 22, 2026
Hi @shbach,
Thank you for the detailed clarification — that helps a lot.
Since this happens consistently on Joplin 3.5.12 under Wayland and the dropdown is not focused at all, it does look like a platform-specific focus issue rather than expected behavior.
I’ll proceed with adding an explicit programmatic .focus() call after the dialog renders to ensure consistent focus behavior across environments (especially Wayland). The change will be minimal and limited to the dialog initialization logic.
I’ll open a PR shortly for review.
Thanks again for testing and confirming
lukaslabryszewski commentedon Feb 22, 2026
Hi @Aaravanand00
I observe the behavior @shbach described consistently, not focused until I press Tab.
This is on Joplin 3.5.12 (prod, darwin) - macOS Sonoma (14.6.1)