DaVinci keeps jumping out of text fields as I'm writing

Hey there!

First of all, a big THANK YOU for a great workstation in DaVinci Resolve! I'm super thankful for the powerful tools you've put in our hands!

I got a problem, and I've had it with several computers and during several versions of DaVinci.

As I'm writing in text fields for subtitles, titles, or maybe editing numbers for settings, DaVinci keeps jumping out from the text fields and does changes to my settings instead. A horrible favourite is that it starts editing my in and out settings by thinking I'm using the 'I' och 'O' buttons to do that, while I was writing in a text field. Or changing my cursor modes from "selection mode -A" to "trim mode -B", etc.

This is really annoying. It might be because of my trackpad on my laptop, but I never experience the cursor and marking jump out of any other textfield in any other app. I've been using a few different MacBook Pro's with DaVinci. At the moment it’s a MacBook Pro 16" M1. But the problem has been here with all of my macs. But as I said, I've never experience this jumping-out-of-text-field problems anywhere else, for example now when I'm writing this. I would never be able to write such a long text in DaVinci without experiencing it jumping out and changing settings with the keyboard shortcuts.

Please look into this

Sincerely

Christoffer

Would you do a screen capture showing this happening? Does it happen often enough to repro this quickly?

Hello guys, I am writing because I am seeing a critical problem in Davinci
since you made the new 18.1.4 update and the problem consists when I am
delivering a job for a client after that when I watch the video the
animation titles like (flip over, three line drop, rise fade and drop in)
begin to flash like blinking in the middle of the video and even some of
them disappear and I try to accommodate them on the timeline separated into
tracks and it continues to do the same behavior, and that the previous
version did not do. I have a 2013 mac pro (12 cores, 64gb ram, blackmagic
GPU running BigSur 11.7.2) and never had that kind of problem with the
software. I hope you guys do an urgent update fixing that and I can
continue making my work videos with the titles that my clients ask me for
and now I'm having a tremendous mess with that. Thank you

Hi Joe!

Screen captures wouldn't show much more than that this:
1) I'm writing i a text field (editor section). Everybody here knows how they look like. This is all types of text fields available in that section, but let's focus on Text+ and Subtitles.

2) All of a sudden things in the editor starts happening. As I'm writing rather quick, a few settings might change quickly. For example 'I' sets a new in-time on the timeline. 'B' changes the cursor. Some other shortcut keys I don't know in my head might for example move a clip a few frames back or forth. And so on. Until I notice this (takes half a second) gets angry and have to do cmd-z a few times and start over editing the text.

I think you can imagine this.

Sincerely

Christoffer

So you don't think there's anything particularly unique about where you're typing, what page, what things are set up on your screen etc?

If you can't make a reproducible test case so that others can see it happen - like the Resolve programmers - then there's precious little likelihood that it will be fixed.

Hi again!

Sorry for the late reply. No, there's nothing unique in what I'm typing. It would be just as I'm typing in this text field here in the forum, making this very reply.

I'll see if I can get a recording up today.

So you don't think there's anything particularly unique about where you're typing, what page, what things are set up on your screen etc?

If you can't make a reproducible test case so that others can see it happen - like the Resolve programmers - then there's precious little likelihood that it will be fixed.

I've been having the same issue lately.

Nothing particular just typing inside the text box, no mouse or trackpad clicks or taps... And all of a sudden I'm marking in and outs, putting markers, etc on the timeline.

Hi!

Sorry for the late reply. Here's a video showing the issue, which in this case occurred in the beginning of the video, followed by a few minutes where it worked as it should.

I uploaded it as a non-public video on Youtube:

//Christoffer

The instance I saw near the beginning looked as if you somehow hit Play, which changed the panel focus.

The instance I saw near the beginning looked as if you somehow hit Play, which changed the panel focus.

…or he typed a space but the focus had moved away from the text field causing Resolve to start playing.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The instance I saw near the beginning looked as if you somehow hit Play, which changed the panel focus.

Yes, to the o.p.: set the UI so that you see a RED LINE on the part of the GUI that you're using at the moment (Timeline, Inspector, Bins, etc.). Before you hit a key, make sure the UI focus is on that particularly thing. The moment you bail out, it'll do other things... like instead of a "space" in graphics, the timeline starts playing.

The instance I saw near the beginning looked as if you somehow hit Play, which changed the panel focus.

Yes, to the o.p.: set the UI so that you see a RED LINE on the part of the GUI that you're using at the moment (Timeline, Inspector, Bins, etc.). Before you hit a key, make sure the UI focus is on that particularly thing. The moment you bail out, it'll do other things... like instead of a "space" in graphics, the timeline starts playing.

Thanks for the tip which I suppose was sent in love, but I've been using computers since 1990 and I'm not your grandmother asking how to turn my computer on. Please watch the video again, and you will see that RED LINE. And if I may remind you, this post is about the UI focus jumping out of focus despite of setting UI focus at first, as one would normally do ever since the Apple Lisa UI came out in 1983...

Hey Christoffer
Also sent in love, so don't be offended... but Marc is talking about the UI setting for overall panel focus indication... it's in your user preferences:

UI settings focus indicator.jpg (37.06 KiB) Viewed 50143 times

Cheers
Andy

Hi Andy!

I tested that and it does not do any difference. And the text fields are marked red anyways, both with that setting turned on and off.

Cheers

Could it be an accidental mouse middle click? I suppose it could happen if you're using a trackpad or Apple Magic Mouse with a custom config or third-party apps for middle click.

Roger, it looks like it's something like that, but I never experience that on any other app or in the Mac OS system, as I wrote originally.

I am having the same issue, if it helps lend some credence here.

Without changing focus in any way from a text field in the Inspector, or even typing a search string in the Effects panel (as I was just now doing), the app jumps out of the text field ON ITS OWN, without any special input or accidental mouse or trackpad clicks by me, and then immediately starts interpreting key strikes as keyboard shortcuts. I'm a pretty fast typist, which makes me (in this case, anyway) dangerous.

Like the OP, I must point out that Resolve has been wonderful to work with, and even life-changing, for the past three years. This weird and annoying behavior started happening recently; pretty sure it began before the 18.5 beta.

There is no discernible pattern. For example, just now I was typing "mdoc" in the Effects search field. First attempt, I was only able to enter the first letter, and then — if I'm carefully watching the screen, which I wasn't — the blinking insertion point disappears, and the next letter is interpreted as a keyboard shortcut. Which means I disabled the clip that was selected. Second attempt, I got as far as "d" before it jumped out, and so with my next keystroke I needlessly marked an out point. The last attempt, before I decided to search the forum and found this thread, I had mistyped "mdox," and when I hit the backspace key to delete the x, I instead deleted a clip.

So, not life-changing, like DR itself. But definitely annoying. I am happy to report that Control/Command-Z always works as expected.

By the way this happens on both my MacBook Pro (15-inch 2018, with a trackpad) and Mac Mini M1 (2020 with a three-button mouse and wired keyboard). I'm using 18.5B Build 25 on both machines.

Thanks,
Roger

Do you by any chance have auto-save / auto-backup of projects enabled? Even 17.* was doing something similar to me until I disabled them.

Also, if you are using wireless / touchpad keyboard / mouse try using wired one.

It sounds to me like Resolve is getting a UI event that's not initiated by the user and responding to it by (incorrectly) moving the focus away from where the user put it.

I've seen a very similar bug in the Contacts app (from Apple!) where, when creating a new contact, the dialog magically gets rid of the new contact in midstream, instead showing some other contact in your list. It's then a race to see if you can create your contact before the app clobbers it! Apple's bug has been there for years.

It sounds to me like Resolve is getting a UI event that's not initiated by the user and responding to it by (incorrectly) moving the focus away from where the user put it.

That is exactly why I asked did they have auto-save / auto-backup enabled because those seem to be implemented as separate asynchronous processes which in Windows will steal the focus.

Thanks for the suggestions. I tried disabling just Live Save. No change. Unchecked all the boxes in the Save Settings section of Project Load and Save in User Prefs.

Still happening.

That is exactly why I asked did they have auto-save / auto-backup enabled because those seem to be implemented as separate asynchronous processes which in Windows will steal the focus.

That could very well be -- I have experienced flakier keyboard response in Windows than Mac. "In general," this problem doesn't happen as much as Mac.

But I had a problem yesterday where I was renaming a timeline, and (as always) the text cursor disappears), I struggle to continue typing the name, and if I hit the wrong key, like a shift->arrow to take the cursor somewhere in the text, instead it affects the timeline position. So Resolve itself does sometimes get "distracted" as to whether you're in a Text Input mode, vs. a Transport mode. It's an intermittent flaw that's been around for many years.

I had a problem yesterday where I was renaming a timeline, and (as always) the text cursor disappears), I struggle to continue typing the name, and if I hit the wrong key, like a shift->arrow to take the cursor somewhere in the text, instead it affects the timeline position. So Resolve itself does sometimes get "distracted" as to whether you're in a Text Input mode, vs. a Transport mode. It's an intermittent flaw that's been around for many years.

So glad you too have seen this Marc.

The disappearing cursor problem I've seen for years but never been able to predictably repro. The other problem - Shift+Arrow - is not an intermittent one. It's dead-on reproducible and I've filed a report on it here. You've even chimed in there in the comments.

I consider this kind of thing important. 'cause when bugs like this are allowed to pile up over the years the program gets both less stable and more complex. Who knows what other parts of the code may actually rely on the incorrect behavior going on here. Letting this "technical debt" accumulate is how programs eventually become too complex to maintain and develop.

Hi All,

I guess this was never resolved? I have the SAME identical issues, primarily when I'm trying to enter text into a Title Card in the Effects panel. It's just as described. I have the issue on 16" MacBook Pro M! MAX and even if I make sure that my hands are nowhere near the trackpad (think pecking away at an old typewriter), the cursor will change focus in the middle of a word and, as has been stated, will cause unintended actions if the letter you are type for a title card happens to match a keyboard shortcut. I was happy to find this thread, but then realized that there was never a resolution. Like other posters, I have been on Mac computers for 40+ years and know when I"m doing something or not. This is clearly an issue of the software thinking it's been given another command. BTW, I have turned off EVERY possible gesture control of my trackpad than single tap for selection.

Would be grateful if any progress on this has been made.

Cheers,
David J
NYC

I always assumed that it was my thumb getting too close to the trackpad of my MacBook, lol. I see this all the time when I try to rename nodes in the color page - I often only get halfway through the naming and suddenly the focus jumps out of rename and to something else.

This is a Resolve problem, not a trackpad or accidental mouse click issue.

I don't use click on my trackpad and my mouse is far from my keyboard.

This issue is so common for me, that I've developed typing paranoia inside Resolve. Be it labeling a node, naming an export or typing inside a textfield.

seems to be a Mac only issue. I'm on PC and never had this issue?

[Peter Chamberlain]

As always, and particularly for intermittent issues, if anyone works out a way to repo, please let us know.
A phone video of the keyboard and UI together might help, as will a drp, system details and also, please let us know if you are using the DaVinci keyboard shortcut preset or another, not that im suggesting that's the cause.. its just helpful to know.

Mac or PC?
Can you reproduce it?

I'm running into the same thing and I want to report it. I'm on 18.6 Build 9. I don't recall this happening on version 18 which is what I was running prior to the 18.6 update, but I'm on a project where I'm typing a lot right now, and typing a lot is not something I normally do in Resolve, usually I focus on color, so it's tough to say when it first appeared.

The paragraph I just wrote above would've been interrupted multiple times in Resolve, but was interrupted zero times in Safari while typing it on the same machine. So I don't believe it's because I'm hitting the trackpad.
I've long noticed that when I'm typing in titles for exports on the Deliver page that it'll trigger Resolve to start playing back or some other behavior, and that's been going on for years across multiple macs, but export titles are short compared to what I'm typing now, so I didn't really care enough to post about it. The text field issue is a big issue though when doing titles.

I'm not on this forum much, I just googled the problem and found this thread.

I've had this problem for ages.

I think it just happens to people who type fast. Typing slow is the only thing that has helped me avoid it.

This is probably the reason you didn't experience it before. Now that you are using more text, probably have increased your typing speed.

This is just speculation on my part. But it's the only constant I've seen.

But I just did a test on 18.6.5 build 7 typing as really fast and could not recreate the problem. So it's either fixed o that is not the cause.

I think it just happens to people who type fast. ... But I just did a test on 18.6.5 build 7 typing as really fast and could not recreate the problem. So it's either fixed or that is not the cause.

That is not / can't be the cause. On any operating system keyboard input is handled by GUI libraries and it goes to "control" (text field, button, or something else) that is current "focus point" and speed of keyboard input doesn't matter. "Jumping out" means something caused change of "focus point" / text field you were on lost the focus.

I think it just happens to people who type fast. ... But I just did a test on 18.6.5 build 7 typing as really fast and could not recreate the problem. So it's either fixed or that is not the cause.

That is not / can't be the cause. On any operating system keyboard input is handled by GUI libraries and it goes to "control" (text field, button, or something else) that is current "focus point" and speed of keyboard input doesn't matter. "Jumping out" means something caused change of "focus point" / text field you were on lost the focus.

I’m having this issue as well, it usually happens when I make a new bin and try to name it. The field is highlighted but when I start typing the new bin name, the app starts reacting to shortcuts instead of typing the letters. It doesn’t happen every time but it does happen often.

The other major issue I’m having is with the UI becoming unresponsive until I restart Resolve, e.g. yesterday I was trying to add keyframes in the color page, when the play head became unresponsive in both the keyframes panel and the timeline. A restart of the app fixes it. This happens in multiple windows regularly, in addition to a marked increase in random crashes, usually while in the edit page (but not always).

As always, and particularly for intermittent issues, if anyone works out a way to repo, please let us know.
A phone video of the keyboard and UI together might help, as will a drp, system details and also, please let us know if you are using the DaVinci keyboard shortcut preset or another, not that im suggesting that's the cause.. its just helpful to know.

Hi Peter!
Did you see my video above in the conversation? Do not have a video of my keyboard at the same time, though, but it's quite obvious which keys are entered in the text fields until it goes about doing other type of actions with the keyboard inputs. Writing this on the very same keyboard with trackpad on my MacBook Pro with no issues at all (never have any issues outside of DaVinci) with jumping out of text fields.

I've had this problem for ages.

I think it just happens to people who type fast. Typing slow is the only thing that has helped me avoid it.

This is probably the reason you didn't experience it before. Now that you are using more text, probably have increased your typing speed.

This is just speculation on my part. But it's the only constant I've seen.

But I just did a test on 18.6.5 build 7 typing as really fast and could not recreate the problem. So it's either fixed o that is not the cause.

I tried typing slower like you said, and I wish it worked, but the problem persists. It's also popping up when I'm naming nodes which I do somewhat often. So like I'll be naming a color node and then some random thing will happen and I'll have to command Z and undo it. That's worked fine, but sooner or later some weird thing will happen that could be a real problem and I won't know what it was that I did.

I am noticing that when I'm naming nodes that the cursor will go away, so if the cursor is there I'm good and I know where it is, but often it'll disappear before I even start typing and this will repeat over several attempts. I suspected it might be a logitech keyboard and mouse I have, 2.4ghz not Bluetooth, but even when using Resolve with no accessories of any kind, just straight laptop, the issue still presents. I have noticed it reduces when I'm on the edit page and I turn off all the track selections, but when it's on the Color page or the deliver page there's just nothing I can do.

I will update to a later version and see if that improves, but I'm on a project so that'll have to wait until it's over.

I’ve had this problem in the past as well. Not sure what caused it or why it went away.
No idea if it’s related but to this day I still have a similar problem with macOS’ Address Book. I make a new entry and, while I’m typing, it’ll jump out of the new entry after about ten seconds. Maybe the same issue?

Same issues and it's infuriatingly annoying. Even typing this text box here on this forum, it's not happening.

It's definitely a Resolve issue.

I agree it's a Resolve issue. I was mentioning Address Book as I think it has a similar issue. I suspect there's an event coming from macOS that Resolve is misinterpreting as a user action to get out of the text field. Perhaps Resolve is interpreting it as an Esc.

[Peter Chamberlain]

I’d still like a phone video showing keyboard and ui at the same time. And full system config and drp. Nfo if on Windows please.

Hi there

I just googled this issue (never thought that I will find something) and found out that I am not the only one that has it. Frustrating though that nothing happened yet. I think I got used to having this issue and was always frustrated when using title effects or renaming adjustment layers since I knew it will happen every second renaming or typing.

It happens to me on my Macbook M1 Pro - and like most here I have absolutely no clue when exactly it happens - maybe at certain letters like the shortcuts for in and out points. It mostely changes in and out points and/or deletes certain parts of my clips also often changes to Trim Mode. So probably the bug is that it doesn't deactivate the shortcuts when I am typing something in a text field.

Does anyone here found a solution yet?

Still having this text-field-loses-focus thing. If it helps, since posting to this thread almost exactly a year ago, I've noticed that it actually never happens on the desktop machine (M1 Mac Mini) and always happens on my MacBook Pro. Don't know if that provides any hints to anyone. I don't want to be rude, since I spend way many more hours every day appreciating Resolve than swearing at it, but why isn't this fixed yet? A phone video of the screen and keyboard? Okay, that will be my next big project.

Meanwhile, maybe a developer could borrow someone's MacBook Pro and just start typing in text fields?

I’d still like a phone video showing keyboard and ui at the same time. And full system config and drp. Nfo if on Windows please.

Hi Peter!
I've posted a video above of the issue showing. However, it's a screen recording and not a phone video. I think you just have to believe me when I'm saying that I'm able to write without any issues on other apps and that I know how to place my hands on my laptop in order to now touch the trackpad unintentionally. I've been using a MacBook Pro since 2009, so I'm more than used to it by now, I guess.

Not meaning to be rude or anything by stating this, but a phone video will not show anything spectacular.

Someone here wrote that it might be a bug where DaVinci interprets a signal from Mac OS wrongly. I'm not a programmer, but it sounds possible to me, since the shortcut keys works other times to write with in text fields.

As for the specs on my mac that I recorded the video above with:
MacBook Pro 16" with M1 Pro, 16 CPU Cores, 10 CPU Cores, 16 GB RAM. The lates OS for the recording date, but I've experienced this issue with all systems I've been using DaVinci with and on other macs as well.

Sincerely

Christoffer

This is so infuriating.

This keeps happening to me, even in 19 release.

SO FRUSTRATING.

Just let me type in a f***ing text field without it jumping out of it. Basic stuff.

Happens literally everywhere in Davinci.

Renaming an adjustment layer, renaming a timeline or clip in Media pool, typing in text overlays.

EVERYWHERE.

GRRRRR

This has been happening to me for years. I am a Mac user (MBP M1 16"). My workaround has been to use an external keyboard. Today I decided to google for the problem as I was hoping someone had a solution. I found this thread. The thread describes my experience exactly. Text input box loses focus and keystrokes start to cause havoc within Resolve until I realize it's happened again.

I had never put much effort into trying to determine the specific cause until today.

Here is my repro scenario. I am surprised how simple it is to reproduce.

Move I-Beam into text entry box in Inspector. Click anywhere in text entry box to give it focus.
-- Text entry box in Inspector highlighted in red, indicating it has focus.

Keep the mouse insertion I-Beam in the text entry box.

Using one finger from each hand tap gently on the trackpad as follows (no need to click): right down - left down, both up, right down - left down, both up, right down - left down, both up.

After 1-3 sequences the focus leaves the entry box.

For some reason it takes longer to happen when I do it as left - right, vs right - left as indicated above.

I tried this tapping pattern in a few other apps and no amount of tapping causes the focus to leave the entry field where is has been placed.

I hope this helps.

I have the same problem. It's not a minor bug, and I'm a little shocked it hasn't been fixed after several major releases.

But first let me nominate Jim Simon for the lifetime achievement award in posting "answers" that always amount to assuming the OP is an idiot and that the problem is user error of a really basic sort, instead of, oh, I don't know, actually trying to understand the problem and, upon realizing he has no solution, maybe not posting a response? Marc Wielage would obviously be a close runner-up.

I remember Jim from his days of Adobe Premiere forum hijacking, when he discounted all my issues with Premiere, the issues that finally led me and many others to switch to Resolve. This was 10 years ago. I guess he finally saw the light.

In any case, this bug makes typing into the text box excruciatingly frustrating, because you basically have to type one letter at a time and wait to see if the focus jumps, which it often does but not at predictable intervals. Sometimes you get through a few letters. Sometimes not even one.

And as described by the OP and others, the real issue is that as your typing, those letters suddenly start getting processed as keyboard shortcut commands in the timeline. The timeline suddenly playing because you typed a space, which does happen a lot, is one of the most benign results. Frequently, a series of commands suddenly get processed, and it can be very hard to determine what changes were made. You can start undoing, but you have to be careful you undo the exact number of steps. And some command shortcuts make changes to tool settings, which you can't just undo.

In short, it's a mess.

It happens regardless of what you type. I haven’t been able to link it to any particular settings. What I can say is that it only happens when I'm working directly on my MacBook Pro. It never occurs when using a wireless mouse and keyboard while plugged into my external display.

But before Jim and Marc assume I must be tapping the trackpad by mistake or that I have just never used a computer before: Even if I type with my wrists up in the air and nowhere near the trackpad, the focus jumps to the timeline constantly.

I have seen this issue, and it is very annoying. But not always... possibly only when working on a Macbook Pro with trackpad which I only do while traveling.

Can we narrow it down... is everyone experiencing this on a Macbook Pro??

[Peter Chamberlain]

Is it starting to sound like this issue is limited to MacBookPro using the on device keyboard?

I could never repo on my MBP as I almost always have an external keyboard, thus my request for a phone video to help repo.. but today I tried on just the MBP and using the new info from Dax about the trackpad tried hitting the track pad with my thumb while typing... its possible the mouse cursor is getting dragged out of the text window so when you trackpad touch its selection us outside so correctly switching focus to outside the text window.

Is this what you are seeing?
Can you determine that the pointer is focused outside the text window when hitting the trackpad?

I can also attest that this happens to me occasionally on my mbp and has nothing to do with inadvertently touching the trackpad.

As I’ve said in another post my guess is that there’s an event coming in to Resolve that incorrectly being processed and results in the focus moving out of the text field. There are several events other than a mouse click that could do this.

Since Resolve uses a third party gui toolkit it might be either Resolve or the toolkit that’s incorrectly processing the event. It might even be macOS that’s incorrectly sending the event - this same behavior happens in one other app I know of: Address Book.

To repro there:
On a MacBook Pro
open address book
Click new contact
Start typing in the new contact
Wait a bit

For me it will almost always jump out of the new contact to some other contact in my address book thus canceling the new contact. Maddening.

[Rohit Singhal]

Hi!

Sorry for the late reply. Here's a video showing the issue, which in this case occurred in the beginning of the video, followed by a few minutes where it worked as it should.

I uploaded it as a non-public video on Youtube:

//Christoffer

Hi Christoffer,

Thanks for the report - Could you please try to record this issue one more time and send it to us - but this time, please turn on this option in your quicktime screen recording options - "Show Mouse Clicks" - its at the bottom of the options menu before you hit record.

Is it starting to sound like this issue is limited to MacBookPro using the on device keyboard?

I could never repo on my MBP as I almost always have an external keyboard, thus my request for a phone video to help repo.. but today I tried on just the MBP and using the new info from Dax about the trackpad tried hitting the track pad with my thumb while typing... its possible the mouse cursor is getting dragged out of the text window so when you trackpad touch its selection us outside so correctly switching focus to outside the text window.

Is this what you are seeing?
Can you determine that the pointer is focused outside the text window when hitting the trackpad?

I can't speak for everyone, I never encounter this address book thing, my insertion point has been stable in the address book for 20 minutes while I have been typing this.

I repeat, the scenario I described above, causes a focus loss almost every time. It's simple please give it a try. Yes, there may be other scenarios, but I would think that finding any path to reproduce would help to narrow down the problem in the code.

Perhaps the tapping was misunderstood. I do not hit the trackpad. In fact I place almost no pressure on the trackpad. I touch it gently. One finger then the other. The pointer I-Beam is in the text entry box. If I were to place enough pressure on the trackpad it would place the focus in the box that I am already typing into. In fact that is one of the things I do to reproduce the issue.

I will also mention that it is important that fingers be at opposite sides of the trackpad. It does not happen when fingers are close together.

Touch, touch, touch, touch, focus loss, click to restore focus, touch, touch, focus loss, click to restore focus ... There is no movement of the pointer while doing this. The I-Beam is stationary within the text input box the whole time.

I am including a video with the scenario. Sorry it's hard to see my index finger and pinky doing the work.