Factorio Forums

TL;DR

Pressing 'E' when a text input field is focused types the letter 'E' into the field instead of 'confirming' or closing the GUI window. Allow using Ctrl + E to force confirm the window.

What?

Almost every GUI window in factorio can be 'confirmed' or closed by pressing the 'E' key. This functionality is great since the user does not need to use the mouse at all to confirm the window. However, when a text input field is focused, pressing 'E' types the letter 'E' into it, instead of confirming the window. Currently there is no way to confirm, other than moving the mouse to somewhere 'safe' (Where you accidentally don't close the popup window or click on anything that does something else entirely) and then clicking to unfocus the text input field, and then either press 'E' or click the green check button. This requires the user to have to go back and forth between the mouse and keyboard, causing some UX friction.

It would be great if you could hold a modifier key like CTRL before pressing 'E' to force confirm the GUI window.

Some places this would be applicable:
- Any GUI window with a search bar.
- Combinator descriptions
- Display panel

Something to be wary of is that Ctrl + E is used in the context of train stops to rename all trains. If this solution is implemented, it might be worth changing this to use alt instead, since Ctrl is easier to press while quickly typing.

Why?

Factorio has really great UX in general, but this is one area where I always have a lot of friction.

Those text boxes can be confirmed/closed by using Enter - which actually does not correspond to a Control; it seems to be hard-coded.

I have found it useful to rebind "Confirm Window" to Enter as well, this gives a consistent experience across the entire UI.


Good Luck!