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VSCode Extension: Cannot open the Excalidraw Command Palette using keyboard shortcuts #175

@tomvdsom

Description

@tomvdsom

Summary:
When editing an Excalidraw file, the keyboard shortcuts (Cmd+/ or Cmd+Shift+P) for opening the Excalidraw-specific command palette do not work.

Steps to Reproduce:

  1. On macOS, open a VSCode project.
  2. Ensure the Excalidraw extension is installed and enabled.
  3. Create and open a file with an .excalidraw extension.
  4. Click the help icon (?) in the bottom-right to confirm the shortcut for the "Command palette" is Cmd+/ or Cmd+Shift+P.
  5. Press either Cmd+/ or Cmd+Shift+P.

Expected Behavior:
The Excalidraw command palette should appear, allowing access to its specific commands.

Actual Behavior:
Nothing happens. If Cmd+Shift+P is used, the standard VSCode command palette opens instead of the Excalidraw one.

Environment:

  • VSCode: 1.103.1 & Cursor 1.4.5 (bundling VSCode 1.99.3)
  • Excalidraw Extension: v3.9.0 (pomdtr.excalidraw-editor)
  • Operating System: macOS 15.6
  • Architecture: Apple Silicon

Additional Context:

This appears to be part of a larger issue with how the extension handles keybindings.

  1. Keybinding Conflicts: The default Excalidraw keybindings seem to conflict with standard VSCode keybindings. For example, Cmd+Shift+P is the default for the main VSCode command palette. Another example is "Increase font size" Cmd + Shift + >.

  2. Cannot Rebind Commands: There doesn't appear to be a command ID for the Excalidraw command palette exposed to VSCode. This prevents users from re-binding the action to a different key to work around conflicts. I looked for commands prefixed with excalidraw. in the keyboard shortcuts UI but could not find one for the palette.

  3. Workaround Attempts: I have tried the following to resolve conflicts, without success:

    • Binding conflicting keys to excalidraw.preventDefault:

      This had no effect.

    • Adding && activeCustomEditorId != 'editor.excalidraw' to the when clause of conflicting keybindings:

      This successfully resolved the Cmd+Shift+> conflict, but not for the Cmd+/ / Cmd+Shift+P issue.

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