How can I restore default keyboard shortcuts?

Question

I have customized some of the shortcuts in System ▸ Preferences ▸ Keyboard Shortcuts.

How can I restore individual shortcuts to their default settings? I do not want to reset all of the shortcuts, just a few of my choice.

Answer 1

They key bindings stored in the gconf database, but they aren't all in the same place unfortunately.

However, you can get a list of all the key bindings gconf keys by looking in the files located in /usr/share/gnome-control-center/keybindings/.

For example, /usr/share/gnome-control-center/keybindings/01-desktop-key.xml contains the list of keys for all the shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts lists under Desktop.

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<KeyListEntries name="Desktop">

<KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/help"/>

<KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/calculator"/>

<KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/email"/>

<KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/www"/>

<KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/power"/>

<KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/screensaver"/>

<KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/home"/>

<KeyListEntry name="/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/search"/>

</KeyListEntries>

Once you know the key name you can restore it to its default value.

For example, let's say you want to restore the shortcut to launch the calculator,

Simply run:

gconftool -u "/apps/gnome_settings_daemon/keybindings/calculator"

Answer 2

Building DoR's answer, this simple script, typed at the command line, will reset all shortcuts:

cd /usr/share/gnome-control-center/keybindings
for entry in $(grep KeyListEntry * |cut -d'/' -f2- |cut -d'"' -f1); do
    echo $entry
    gconftool -u "/$entry"
done

Answer 3

You can't. But you can see what are default values if you press help and click Section 1.2 ― Keyboard Skills and then on the right you have a list of key grous:

• Global Shortcut Keys
• Window Shortcut Keys
• Application Keys
• Access Keys

regards

Answer 4

Here is something I discovered by accident:

Open gconf-editor (press Alt+F2 and type in gconf-editor).

Find the setting you want to reset. I found several places they are located:

1. Apps > gnome_settings_daemon > keybindings

2. Apps > metacity > global_keybindings

3. Apps > metacity > window_keybindings

There may be others.

Right click on the setting, and click 'Unset Key'. This will restore it to the default setting.

Answer 5

This worked for me without restarting Ubuntu or Gnome Desktop. I had tried using "Shutter" for screen capture, and it changed some hotkey bindings for PrintScreen and Alt+PrintScreen. After uninstalling Shutter I needed to restore the hotkey settings that it had changed. I was able to change my hotkey bindings for those keys by running gconf-editor (from a terminal window) and then changing settings in both of these places:

• apps->metacity->global_keybindings
• apps->metacity->keybinding_commands

I'm running Ubuntu 10.04 LTS, Gnome Desktop 2.30.2