Thunderbird shows 'prohibited' when I type F5
I'm running Tbird 60.9 on Ubuntu 18.04. The File menu (and documentation) says F5 is the shortcut for 'Get messages on current account', but when I type F5 the 'prohibited' sign pops up.
Chosen solution
OK, my bad! On Dell laptops (and others?) the function keys have 2 modes. In 'normal' they behave normally, in abnormal, they generate their secondary function. It appears my machine was delivered in that abnormal state. In either case, the alternative can be generated by typing Fn-F1 etc. The behaviour can be reversed in BIOS or by type Fn-Esc.
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Sounds like something specific to the ubuntu distro. No one I'm in contact with has seen this.
Try Help > Restart with addons disabled
Thank you for this suggestion. Unfortunately in safe mode the same happens. I'll try it on Ask Ubuntu as well.
What happens if you use 'Alt' and 'F5' ?
Nothing. Nor on Firefox.
Just curious here, if you select File and then get all new messages for off the menu. What is offered as the shortcut keys on the "All accounts and current accounts entries?
Menu suggests that F5 fetches current a/c messages, and Shift-F5 all messages. Nothing apparent happens when I press Shift-F5.
Google shows there are loads of reports that after upgrading to Ubuntu 18.04, people are discovering many issues with various shortcut keys not working. Are you noticing there are other keys gone squiffy and not just in Thunderbird?
Suggest you have a check on your computer to see what else is not working because someone else may have mentioned it. Saying F5 in Thunderbird not working may not get a lot of people with same issue, but if you notice eg: Ctrl+Alt+T does not work you may find another way to finding out what could be wrong in general. Maybe after the update, something else needed updating eg: gnome.
askubuntu.com is probably the best place. examples of hotkeys not working. https://github.com/gTile/gTile/issues/79 https://askubuntu.com/questions/1029730/after-upgrading-to-ubuntu-18-04-shortcut-keys-dont-work
Double check the keyboard language setting has not been altered.
Helpful observation, thanks Toad-Hall. In fact I use shortcut keys a lot, including many custom ones (F5 not included), but this is the only problem I have noted so far.
I've been 18-04 since it was issued, although I have recently done a total rebuild. I've posted the question on Ask Ubuntu with no more success so far.
Chosen Solution
OK, my bad! On Dell laptops (and others?) the function keys have 2 modes. In 'normal' they behave normally, in abnormal, they generate their secondary function. It appears my machine was delivered in that abnormal state. In either case, the alternative can be generated by typing Fn-F1 etc. The behaviour can be reversed in BIOS or by type Fn-Esc.
Many thanks for your feedback on solution.