Windows – How to prevent Ctrl+Shift from changing the text direction

keyboard shortcutsright-to-leftwindowswindows 7windows 8

In Windows 7 and 8, the following keyboard shortcuts exist when both left-to-right and right-to-left languages are installed:

  • Ctrl+Right Shift sets the text direction to right-to-left.
  • Ctrl+Left Shift sets the text direction to left-to-right.

This is a problem because they conflict with the standard Ctrl+Shift+→ and Ctrl+Shift+← shortcuts. (These are used to select the next/previous word, respectively.)

Besides removing the right-to-left languages from the system, is there a way to disable these shortcuts?

Best Answer

I haven't found how to disable the shortcut withing Windows, but if you're open to using AutoHotKey, there's a workaround:

Use AutoHotKey to map Right Shift to be Left Shift

No more RTL by mistake, and my Ctrl+Shift+← works without problem. I don't yet know of any reason why I need RShift, so I'm happy with this so far.

AutoHotKey mapping syntax is simple on this one:

RShift::LShift

Credit: Inspired by @gogowitsch in a comment on https://superuser.com/a/490244/93731

Related Question