dandalf02 said

I would like to be able to use the CTRL+W combination even if the address bar is active. Can that be achieved?

By default, you should be able to close the current tab with `Ctrl + w` no matter the address bar is focused or not. Could you try to create a new profile (See step 6 in Table of Content) and see if you still encounter the same problem.

Some Ctrl key combinations may not work in an input field or text area, but Ctrl+W should work like posted above.

Try the Firefox version from the official Mozilla server if you currently use a version from the repositories of your Linux distribution.

• https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all/

Thank you both, Danny Colin and cor-el, for your solutions, sadly neither of them worked for me.

When I created a new profile, the CTRL+W still didn't close the tab with active address bar (addendum: instead, for some reason, it simulates shift+backspace and deletes a 'word' of text at a time).

The behaviour is the same when I use the official version downloaded from the Mozilla website.

Hi dandalf02,

Maybe this would be useful to troubleshoot your problem: https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/94331/how-can-i-delete-a-word-backward-at-the-command-line-bash-and-zsh#94391

Looks like Ubuntu has a default "kill word" (aka werase) when you press Ctrl+W.

Let me know how this goes.

dandalf02 said

created a new profile, the CTRL+W still didn't close the tab with active address bar (addendum: instead, for some reason, it simulates shift+backspace and deletes a 'word' of text at a time).

It looks like your Gnome use the Emacs keybind mode. Could you try to type the following command in a terminal to set back the mode to default (you may have to run it with sudo):

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-key-theme "Default"

Danny Colin said

dandalf02 said

created a new profile, the CTRL+W still didn't close the tab with active address bar (addendum: instead, for some reason, it simulates shift+backspace and deletes a 'word' of text at a time).

It looks like your Gnome use the Emacs keybind mode. Could you try to type the following command in a terminal to set back the mode to default (you may have to run it with sudo):

gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-key-theme "Default"

Danny Colins: Wow, thank you, that completely solved it! I have no idea how the keybinding mode came to be set for emacs - I certainly didn't do it on purpose - but the issue was really there.

EDIT: I just found the emacs keybindings can be turned on/off in the Gnome Tweaks tool, under "Keyboard and Mouse" - so I might have actually done it by accident. Silly me.