Feature request : Display held keys differently #102

Activity

1. shiftkey

   added

   up-for-grabs

   on Dec 1, 2015
2. doggy8088 commented on Oct 10, 2026

   

   doggy8088

   on Oct 10, 2026

   More actions

   Hi there! 👋

   I (@doggy8088 / Will Huang) have stepped in to take over active maintenance of Carnac at doggy8088/carnac (project website: https://carnac.gh.miniasp.com/).

   This issue regarding repeated key grouping (x 2, x 3, etc.) and repeated shortcuts has been resolved in my fork!

   • Per-Category Visibility Filters & Ignored Keys List (Add key category filters and an ignored keys list doggy8088/carnac#47): For gaming/recording scenarios where you want to hide held movement keys like W, A, S, D or configure how repeated keys behave, you can now either add W, A, S, D to the Ignored Keys list or customize the Repeated Key Grouping mode.

   Context & What Changed

   • Root Cause: Previously, Message.CanBeMerged unconditionally collapsed any two identical consecutive keys into x 2 (turning normal words like
     eally or look into
     eal x 2 y / l o x 2 k, and ... into . x 3 with no option to disable it), while failing to collapse repeated modifier shortcuts (like Ctrl+Left or Ctrl+V pressed multiple times) cleanly when configured.
   • The Fix:
     1. Smart Repeat Logic (Only summarise repeated typed characters after four in a row (upstream #164) doggy8088/carnac#7, ported from better repeat logic for text and ... #164): In Smart mode, normal typed letters and . are not collapsed on double-letters or ellipses (...), only collapsing when a character is held/repeated 4+ times (or 10+ times for digits), while navigation/arrow keys still group into x N.
     2. Configurable Repeated Key Grouping Mode (Add a setting for "x N" grouping and merge repeated shortcuts doggy8088/carnac#36): Added a Repeated key grouping setting in Preferences -> General with three modes:
        • Smart (default): Preserves natural word spelling (look,
          eally, ...) while grouping held keys and navigation/shortcut repeats.
        • Always: Groups all consecutive identical keys/shortcuts once they reach a configurable Repeat threshold (2–10).
        • Never: Completely disables x N stacking so every keystroke is shown individually (Add 'Disable Stacking' to settings #204, feature: option to display repeated keys as seperate keystrokes #269, +1 for this feature / option. I don't know a ton of C# but I could maybe take a crack at implementing this. #353, turn off x2 #355).
     3. Repeated Shortcut Grouping (Add a setting for "x N" grouping and merge repeated shortcuts doggy8088/carnac#36): Consecutive identical shortcuts (e.g., Ctrl + V x 3, Ctrl + Shift + Left x 4) now also support clean x N grouping (Should Collapse shift/ctrl/alt + left or right into single message with xCount #76, Feature Request: Count repeated key combinations #103, Repeated shortcuts #230).
   • Related Issues & PRs:
     • Tracking Issues: Follow-up to PR #7: setting to turn off or tune "x N" grouping, and collapse repeated shortcuts doggy8088/carnac#18 & Key visibility filters: choose which key categories to show (function/navigation vs letters) and an ignore list doggy8088/carnac#19
     • Pull Requests: Only summarise repeated typed characters after four in a row (upstream #164) doggy8088/carnac#7 & Add a setting for "x N" grouping and merge repeated shortcuts doggy8088/carnac#36 & Add key category filters and an ignored keys list doggy8088/carnac#47

   Availability

   • Source Code: Available now on the dev branch of doggy8088/carnac.
   • Upcoming Release: This will be included in the next official release, which will be published to GitHub Releases (both installer and portable .zip), WinGet (winget install doggy8088.Carnac), and Chocolatey.