Cannot paste URL from Alfred clipboard history

[lumpysimon]

Preliminary Checks

• I have read and understood the important section above.
• I have searched existing issues and avoided creating duplicates.
• I am not filing an enhancement request.
• I have checked that this issue cannot be reproduced on Mozilla Firefox.
• I have checked that this issue can be reproduced once I removed all my Mods and Custom CSS.

What happened?

I use the Alfred app's clipboard history feature, with the shortcut set to Cmd-Shift-V.

When I use this shortcut in Zen, the URL bar loses focus so I cannot paste from Alfred.

Pasting from Alfred's clipboard history into the URL bar works on all other browsers, including Firefox.

I'm pretty sure this did previously work in Zen, it seems to have stopped working recently.

Expected behavior

When I use the shortcut Cmd-Shift-V, the Alfred clipboard history is shown, and the selected item should then appear in the URL bar when chosen.

Actual behavior

The URL bar loses focus and the selected item is either not pasted, or if a form field on a page was focused, it is pasted into that form field, not into the URL bar.

Steps to reproduce

• Install the Alfred app
• Enable the clipboard history feature.
• Set the keyboard shortcut for this (e.g. Cmd-Shift-V)
• Open Zen
• Hit Cmd-T for a new tab
• Hit Cmd-Shift-V
• Select an item from the clipboard history (either with keyboard or mouse)
• If a form field is focused, the URL will be pasted into that instead of the URL bar
• If a form field is not focused, the URL is not pasted anywhere

Screenshots and videos

No response

Version

1.12.10b

What platform are you seeing the problem on?

macOS - aarch64

What component is this issue related to?

URL Bar

Relevant log output if applicable

[mtc-ressio]

I'm also running into this issue. I tried switching to the old url bar with zen.urlbar.behavior set to default - but I still run into the same problem.

[dosubot]

Hi, @lumpysimon. I'm Dosu, and I'm helping the desktop team manage their backlog. I'm marking this issue as stale.

Issue Summary:

• Zen browser loses focus on the URL bar when using Alfred's clipboard history shortcut.
• The issue does not occur in other browsers like Firefox.
• @mtc-ressio confirmed experiencing the same problem.
• Switching to the old URL bar behavior did not resolve the issue.

Next Steps:

• Please let me know if this issue is still relevant to the latest version of the desktop repository by commenting here.
• If no updates are provided, the issue will be automatically closed in 7 days.

Thank you for your understanding and contribution!

[lumpysimon]

Yes, the issue is still relevant in version 1.14.1b

[Propheticus]

The same happens for me in Firefox (and Zen) when using Powertoys' advanced paste (Win+Shift+V). The URL bar is unfocussed (and in Zen the floating bar closes) when the advanced paste dialogue opens and gets the focus.

Using the alternative shortcut (Win+Ctrl+Alt+V) that directly pastes plain text (and doesn't open a dialogue) works.

Using the Windows native clipboard history (Win+V) also opens a dialogue but does not steal focus from the URL bar and works.

Not sure Zen can do much about this when the focus is indeed 'stolen'.

[Murat-Karakaya]

I think this issue is very likely caused by the same issue in #8343 . Zen doesn't automaticaly focuses the url-bar after it lost focus. I tried to do my best to explain it over #8343 (comment). Know that I am not an expert developper when it comes to browsers. But most inputs (ie. firefox url, chrome url, native ui components, html input tags) can regain focus after the window that contains the input gains focus as well. But zen url bar can't. This is kinda weird because even the input elements from websites that are displayed inside a zen browser window doesn't have this issue. This is why Alfred app -or any other 3rd party text insertion tool that steals focus- probably works just fine in other input fields. Can't say much about Powertoys tho

[Murat-Karakaya]

@Propheticus This might sound like cherry picking but I'm unceartin if the Powertoys tool is the best option to reproduce the bug. I tried using Powertoys pasting on notepad, chrome url, firefox, and zen for a bunch of times but failed to get consistent behaviour. Except for the fact that Powertoys failed to paste text into zen url very consistently. most pasting operations on notepad were succesful except for some trials were I tried to paste a text into a clean page of notepad. chrome & firefox urls were very inconsistent when it comes to pasting from Powertoys. So I think Powertoys is a different topic in on itself.

I have seen that ditty, copyq, and even the color picking script that I built has no problems with paste insertion on any apps except for zen.

Even in Powertoys, the app consistently fails to insert text into zen. While on other inputs things are a bit weird.

[Propheticus]

can regain focus after the window that contains the input gains focus

Good catch!
I think herein lies the difference. In Zen when I click the URL bar (selects all text) and then click away and back the URL bar is indeed not regaining the focus (but a text field on the website is), while doing the same in Firefox does have the URL re-selected.