Here's a solution for that with one mail program, and a similar procedure can be used with others.
https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...tton-by-accident.2016358/page-5#post-24474871
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[2016 MBP touch bar] Pressing the ESC button by accident!
- Thread starter KohPhiPhi
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https://forums.macrumors.com/thread...tton-by-accident.2016358/page-5#post-24474871
I literally signed up to say that I touchtype at 90wpm, and my left hand is frequently at a position similar to the OP, so that my left ring finger can hit the tab key. I do not use my pinkies at all when typing, and rarely use my ring fingers. I do have large hands with long fingers, but that is largely irrelevant to one's typing style or how one's hands are positioned. OP certainly shouldn't be chastised for Apple's obvious lack of user testing on this, or the incomprehensible inability to move or adjust the sensitivity of the digital ESC key.
Fortunately for me, I keep my left hand elevated enough that I don't find myself hitting the ESC key. However, I was hitting Siri on the right every half hour or so (which is only irritating and not potentially devastating), and I've now removed it from the touchbar.
Stop being terrible to people having trouble because of Apple's less than stellar decision.
Fortunately for me, I keep my left hand elevated enough that I don't find myself hitting the ESC key. However, I was hitting Siri on the right every half hour or so (which is only irritating and not potentially devastating), and I've now removed it from the touchbar.
Stop being terrible to people having trouble because of Apple's less than stellar decision.
Calling something that works for 99% of people a "less than stellar decision" and "lack of user testing" just because it doesn't work for you is like calling a car poorly designed because the turn signal stalks are too close to the steering wheel.
The Esc key is in the top left corner because that's where it is on every other computer keyboard, which not only makes it easier for touch typists because of muscle memory, but also for people who have never used a computer because of the logical layout (going back, hence on the left, and for exiting, hence the corner). If your fingers are coming anywhere near the Esc key when you don't intend to, you're exerting far too much force and wasting energy.
I'm not aware of any study supporting this statistic. Is there something I should read?
Yes, I am in agreement with the OP about the ESC button, and just about every button on the TB. However, the two that drive me up the wall are the ESC and the Siri button. I have tried to disable the Siri button to no avail.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Also, for what it is worth, and I believe it is the TB but am uncertain, that various programs such as VLC, iTunes, etc all open files and play at random. It seems to happen as far as I can tell, when I type numbers and must somehow accidentally hit a key combination that starts media. However, I yet to consciously duplicate the issue....
Again, thoughts would be appreciated.
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Also, for what it is worth, and I believe it is the TB but am uncertain, that various programs such as VLC, iTunes, etc all open files and play at random. It seems to happen as far as I can tell, when I type numbers and must somehow accidentally hit a key combination that starts media. However, I yet to consciously duplicate the issue....
Again, thoughts would be appreciated.
Just remove it from the Touch Bar, that's what I did (but only because I never use Siri).
At this point I've been using it a couple weeks and talked to 4 or 5 other people who have them. Every single person has had issues with accidentally hitting buttons on it. None of them have returned it for one without a touchbar, but it's less "this is awesome" and more "this is what mac has decided we're doing". It bothers me to see a computer "upgrade" being remarkably more prone to accidental and potentially unnoticed and destructive commands, and it bothers me even more to see people trying to spin it as a strict improvement, or as a delusion of poor typists.
I'm sure power users will end up more satisfied after they spend a few days researching hours of video on how to properly use it, buy BetterTouchTool, and spend weeks getting used to it. I'm one of them. But I'm definitely going to be accidentally hitting things in the touchbar from time to time - it's frankly impossible not to, since the sensitivity in unadjustable. And when someone first gets a touchbar mac and finds their workflow frequently interrupted, I hope I can resist the compulsion to tell them they're an idiot who needs typing lessons.
Blimey this thread is a horrid read. A lot of people need to get over themselves and realise that just because its not a problem for them doesn't mean everyone else is 'doing it wrong'. This fairly closely mirrors the whole iPhone 'your holding it wrong' debacle.
Right now I am sat on my couch with my laptop on my lap (laptop lap get it?) and my wrists rest next to the trackpad and my fingers naturally over the number keys and touch bar.
I accidentally press it constantly, and yes, its very annoying.
[doublepost=1497034891][/doublepost]There is a kinda solution here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7768870?start=0&tstart=0
Right now I am sat on my couch with my laptop on my lap (laptop lap get it?) and my wrists rest next to the trackpad and my fingers naturally over the number keys and touch bar.
I accidentally press it constantly, and yes, its very annoying.
[doublepost=1497034891][/doublepost]There is a kinda solution here:
https://discussions.apple.com/thread/7768870?start=0&tstart=0
Yep. Exactly the same problem. I have a lifetime of muscle memory that will need to be broken to overcome this. This is a $4000 laptop yet I find myself part of an apparently marginal group - people with full sized hands/aren't perfect touch typers. It's a horrible design flaw in exchange for a feature that any power user will see as fairly useless.
I really feel apple has lost it's way.
I think I may end up returning this thing. But then what??
I really feel apple has lost it's way.
I think I may end up returning this thing. But then what??
Is anybody else hitting the Touch Bar ESC button by mistake while typing with your left hand's pinky finger?
The problem is this: since the button has no physical weight, the sightliest caress with your pinky finger triggers the ESC button, and therefore exiting whatever input form you might be filling in at that moment. As a result, I have had to type the whole thing again quite a few times already. It is driving me nuts!
Is anyone else hitting the ESC button by mistake?
Constantly. It's usually hit the brightness or sound options without noticing it. And then those sliders stay on the screen. So when it's time to actually use it the touch bar, I have to x out of that. It's especially annoying when I want to shuffle through songs in iTunes.
I hit escape only when I'm doing cut/copy/paste hotkeys because the command and the x keys are exactly vertically aligned and it feels like no one has ever told Apple that their laptops aren't primarily used by professional contortionists.
That's the one thing I miss about the Windows environment: I never had to put my hands in odd angles to either use a hotkey or avoid a giant trackpad.
This thread may not be the best place to enquire. However, given that the people here are paying attention to the ESC, TB, have any noticed a loss of sensitivity to the ESC or other keys on the TB.
Fully realise it may be a contradiction to earlier observations, but over the past week when I have actually wanted to use, as opposed to mistakenly pressing, the ESC key or others, I have noticed I must often tap/touch/push multiple times. And over the past one or two days, it has taken a very focused, direct firm "touch" to earn a response.
Just curious.
Fully realise it may be a contradiction to earlier observations, but over the past week when I have actually wanted to use, as opposed to mistakenly pressing, the ESC key or others, I have noticed I must often tap/touch/push multiple times. And over the past one or two days, it has taken a very focused, direct firm "touch" to earn a response.
Just curious.
Make sure your hands aren't sweaty and the TB is cleaned. Just to rule out any issues there.
On my touchbar I have now changed the settings to only show the 'Expanded Control Strip' and then edited it to only include the things I use most often (screen and keyboard brightness and volume controls). I have then added a spacer to the left hand side.
This gives me an escape key and then the rest of the buttons dont start until about the number 7 key. I have pretty quickly learned not to hit the escape key (although I still do it from time to time) and my hands now rest on the empty space.
Annoying to have a 'feature' like the touchbar with all its actual features disabled (physical keys would have done a much better job when it never changes) but does away with the frustration of constantly hitting keys by accident.
Thank you.
Will try that - do not believe I suffer from sweaty palms, but you never know. However, have been on business in the tropics this past week.
I did the same thing and have at least reduced the occurrence rate of the issue for me from a dozen times daily to 3-4 times. This is my first time with a Mac, having come from the world of Windows after 20+ years, so getting used to the device has been a factor too.
I removed the default for Siri too as I was hitting that spot beside the fingerprint scanner a lot when I first got this laptop. I had swapped it for the notification center because that at least was giving me something that would give me clear and instant feedback that I hit it to dismiss it then too (instead of Siri taking a bit of time to load, then tell me and everyone in my school's library that it wants to help me). Why we're not allowed to put spaces in any spot we like is beyond me. If I could do that, I wouldn't have this recurring problem. I'd put the shortcuts I prefer right in the center where the only contact is intentional.
The only place you cant put a space is to the left of the esc key - you can put spaces both sides of the shortcuts and have them in the middle of the touch bar.
happens to me all day every day. and most other people around me at the office with this laptop. super annoying.
but not as annoying as the dummies who think know the "correct" way to use a laptop keyboard.
i've been using computer keyboards since 1979 and i've never had this problem until two minutes after powering up my 2016 MBP for the first time.
[/QUOTE]
but not as annoying as the dummies who think know the "correct" way to use a laptop keyboard.
i've been using computer keyboards since 1979 and i've never had this problem until two minutes after powering up my 2016 MBP for the first time.
Everyday, all the time, constantly.Is anybody else hitting the Touch Bar ESC button by mistake while typing with your left hand's pinky finger?
The problem is this: since the button has no physical weight, the sightliest caress with your pinky finger triggers the ESC button, and therefore exiting whatever input form you might be filling in at that moment. As a result, I have had to type the whole thing again quite a few times already. It is driving me nuts!
Is anyone else hitting the ESC button by mistake?
This is addressed in 10.13 BTW. It now requires a half second or so of holding Siri/Escape to execute the command which seems to do the trick
I tested! I think you've just got a posh pinky, does it stick out when you drink tea too?. Also does that angle not really hurt your wrist? Your wrist should rest under the FN-CTRL-Option-Command keys, it looks like yours is at a right angle to the computer! Not saying you're wrong by any means, just find it a bizarre way to type/problem to have.
View attachment 674172
Never really thought about it as it's never been a problem. But I use my left pinky pretty much solely for the left shift key, so it naturally hovers around that area. Only time it's getting anywhere near close is on 4 and 5. But still, it's nicely tucked away when not in use.
I can't believe I took the time to take this photo and write this post
I really dig the touch bar, but I had to delete the Siri button because I was hitting it all the time. Seems my pinky tips don't recognize the touch bar as a keyboard area so they think they can relax, which ends up activating the touch bar.
Ah, that is why when I actually want to use the touchbar I now must double or triple touch or hold my finger on the screen for a long time. An half second or a second adds up in the day. In a week, a month. Late at night on a plane with a deadline looming . . .
Were the traditional function keys really so bad? Again, I have no issues with improvements, but it seems the introduction of the TB was very much too early and untested. In effect, we the loyal customers of Apple have become beta testers and we are paying for the "privilege".
As I had to put my new spec'ed out 15" for service yet again, I was back on one of our 2011 spec'ed 15" models, with 1TB SDD and function keys. For what I do, quite frankly, there is not enough of a gain with the new machine if one accounts for 5 years of evolution AND loss of function with the TB...And the cost, both in initial purchase and total cost of ownership such as downtime.
Realise everyone will have different opinions, and needs.
There is an easy fix for the ESC key issue: Install BetterTouchTool. It allows for reconfiguring the entire Touchbar, adding custom buttons and it gives you the option to either remove the ESC key entirely, or to move it to any other position. I have it set up to replace the entire default touchbar as the selection Apple provides is not great.
So I have to wait a half second each time I press a button that I literally use over a hundred times each day? Can that be disabled?
That's great for you, but based on the number of comments on the issue, there clearly are lots of people with a different user experience. "Works for me" is not the same thing as "works great."