cinnamon_keyboard_shortcuts_hell.md

Cinnamon Keyboard Shortcuts GUI Settings Tool Isn't Working

• 2025-04-28
• Linux Mint 22.1, Cinnamon v6.4.8

cinnamon-settings keyboard will not let me remap Alt+Print to a better screenshot tool. Let's figure out why.

Exporting / Importing / Backing Up Keybindings

https://wiki.archlinux.org/title/Cinnamon#Portable_keybindings

To export your keyboard shortcut keys to home:

dconf dump /org/cinnamon/desktop/keybindings/ > ~/keybindings-backup.dconf

To later reimport it:

dconf load /org/cinnamon/desktop/keybindings/ < ~/keybindings-backup.dconf

keybindings-backup.dconf example output:

[/]
custom-list=['custom0', 'custom1', 'custom2', '__dummy__']

[custom-keybindings/custom0]
binding=['Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_full.bash'
name='scrot screenshot'

[custom-keybindings/custom1]
binding=['<Super>Print', 'Alt_L']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_window.bash'
name='scrot screenshot of a window'

[custom-keybindings/custom2]
binding=['<Shift>Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_area.bash'
name='scrot screenshot of an area'

[media-keys]
area-screenshot=@as []
calculator=@as []
email=@as []
home=@as []
screenshot=@as []

[wm]
panel-run-dialog=['<Alt>F2', '<Alt>F3']

• The [custom-keybindings/*] entries are custom keybindings I added leading to bash scripts in the home dir (containing commands like scrot -u -b "$HOME/Pictures/Screenshots/$(date +"%Y-%m-%d %H-%M-%S %3N").jpg").

• Below [media-keys] is a list of default shortcuts for which I unbound the default keybinding(s).

• Below [wm] is the result of adding a second keybinding for Run dialog (the new one being Alt-F3).

Revert 'Take a screenshot of a window' to default (with Alt+Print) and then add a second binding (Shift+Print):

[/]
custom-list=['custom0', 'custom1', 'custom2']

[custom-keybindings/custom0]
binding=['Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_full.bash'
name='scrot screenshot'

[custom-keybindings/custom1]
binding=['<Super>Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_window.bash'
name='scrot screenshot of a window'

[custom-keybindings/custom2]
binding=['<Shift>Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_area.bash'
name='scrot screenshot of an area'

[media-keys]
area-screenshot=@as []
calculator=@as []
email=@as []
home=@as []
screenshot=@as []
window-screenshot=['<Alt>Print', '<Shift>Print']

[wm]
panel-run-dialog=['<Alt>F2']

So, internally, <Alt>Print obviously does exist: it just can't be selected within the Cinnamon GUI settings app's "accelerator selection" process, which cannot reliably detect Alt keys as being Alt.

It can recognize them in Alt+F3, Alt+F, Alt+Insert, and many other key combinations - but cannot do so either on their own or in combination with Print specifically. In these situations, they are detected only as Alt_R or Alt_L, with the Print undetected. (Why)

Let's try to load a new version with a modification to scrot screenshot of a window, changing binding=['<Super>Print'] to binding=['<Alt>Print']:

[/]
custom-list=['custom0', 'custom1', 'custom2']

[custom-keybindings/custom0]
binding=['Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_full.bash'
name='scrot screenshot'

[custom-keybindings/custom1]
binding=['<Alt>Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_window.bash'
name='scrot screenshot of a window'

[custom-keybindings/custom2]
binding=['<Shift>Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_area.bash'
name='scrot screenshot of an area'

[media-keys]
area-screenshot=@as []
calculator=@as []
email=@as []
home=@as []
screenshot=@as []
window-screenshot=@as []

[wm]
panel-run-dialog=['<Alt>F2']

dconf load /org/cinnamon/desktop/keybindings/ < ~/keybindings-backup.dconf

This still doesn't work as-is...

...but re-opening the GUI Keyboard settings editor and re-adding the <Super>Print makes it start working! We can now use <Alt>Print and it only took like 3 hours of research and experimenting.

Final dconf dump output:

[/]
custom-list=['custom0', 'custom1', 'custom2', '__dummy__']

[custom-keybindings/custom0]
binding=['Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_full.bash'
name='scrot screenshot'

[custom-keybindings/custom1]
binding=['<Alt>Print', '<Super>Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_window.bash'
name='scrot screenshot of a window'

[custom-keybindings/custom2]
binding=['<Shift>Print']
command='/home/snarp/scrot_screenshot_area.bash'
name='scrot screenshot of an area'

[media-keys]
area-screenshot=@as []
calculator=@as []
email=@as []
home=@as []
screenshot=@as []
window-screenshot=@as []

[wm]
panel-run-dialog=['<Alt>F2']