Popovers prevent the Super key and the hot corner from working, even when in background
Affected version
- Fedora 37
- gnome-shell-43.1-1.fc37.x86_64
- Wayland (Xorg not tested)
Bug summary
When I display a GTK popover (I think that's the right technical term) in some app, I can no longer use Super (Win) to display the GNOME overview, and I can't even use the hot corner in the top left corner of the screen. This is inconvenient, but at least I can realize the problem and fix it by closing the popover (although I can hardly imagine that a regular user would realize why this is happening and what to do). But even worse is that if I switch to a different app using Super+Tab or Alt+Tab, I still can't use the Super key/hot corner. But the affected app with the popover is now in the background, I'm basically no longer aware of it, and then it's super confusing why it suddenly doesn't work. Other shortcuts, like changing keyboard layout or switching workspaces work just fine, it's just the basic Super key to trigger the overview that doesn't - which makes it even more confusing.
It's very easy to hit this problem, because everything seems to be a popover these days, not just an app menu. For example, the 'rename file' dialog in Nautilus is a popover (so if I switch to a different app to figure out a new name for a file, I can't then switch back through the Overview), the copy progress bar in Nautilus is a popover (I often want to keep it visible, then switch to a different app), etc.
I assume this is a bug. If it's not a bug, it's confusing, and I don't understand why the overview mode would be blocked when any app, focused or unfocused, is in a certain state (showing a popover).
Steps to reproduce
- Open e.g. Nautilus and Text Editor
- Show a menu in Text Editor, use Super+Tab to switch to Nautilus
- Try to use Super or the hot corner to reach the GNOME Overview, you can't
- Repeat the same with Nautilus - show the menu, or invoke the Rename File dialog, or show the copy progress bar, then use Super+Tab to switch to Text Editor (or any other app), again Super/hot corner no longer works (even when Nautilus is completely obscured by the other app)
What happened
I can't reach GNOME Overview when certain apps display certain dialogs. But for general users, that's extremely confusing - why this is happening, how to recognize which apps affect it, how to resolve it.
What did you expect to happen
I should be able to reach GNOME Overview regardless of what the app state is. It shouldn't matter on a toolkit it whether some menus or dialogs are open.