Unremovable broken Ctrl+Backspace shortcut that removes a word in editor (not the field I focused)

[Vladimir_Pyanyh (Владимир Пьяных)]

Where does the bug appear (feature/product)?

Cursor IDE

Describe the Bug

From some elusive moment, I started to notice that pressing Ctrl+Backspace in Cursor IDE, which is side by side installed fork of VS Code, leads to erasing word in text editor even if I’m focused on find field or global search field or command pallete or whatever I can focus.

Then I looked for reasons in keyboard shortcuts menu (Ctrl+K Ctrl+S). There was a command deleteWordLeft with no conditions, which can’t be removed, modified or reset (resetting makes an additional shortcut with standard condition, which means resetting works, but does not remove this keybind), as well as overriden with other commands:

{
  "key": "ctrl+backspace",
  "command": "deleteWordLeft"
}

It is displayed as defined by User. Looks like someone has forced it intentionally.

What I have tried

I’ve tried cleaning cache, opening another folder, disabling all extensions (via extension bisect), but found no result.

I’ve also tried keyboard shortcuts troubleshooting and confirmed that exactly this command is called:

2025-09-04 16:25:23.806 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: / Received  keydown event - modifiers: [ctrl], code: ControlLeft, keyCode: 17, key: Control
2025-09-04 16:25:23.806 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: | Converted keydown event - modifiers: [ctrl], code: ControlLeft, keyCode: 5 ('Ctrl')
2025-09-04 16:25:23.807 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: / Soft dispatching keyboard event
2025-09-04 16:25:23.807 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: \ Keyboard event cannot be dispatched
2025-09-04 16:25:23.807 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: \ Keyboard event cannot be dispatched in keydown phase.
2025-09-04 16:25:24.748 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: / Received  keydown event - modifiers: [ctrl], code: Backspace, keyCode: 8, key: Backspace
2025-09-04 16:25:24.749 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: | Converted keydown event - modifiers: [ctrl], code: Backspace, keyCode: 1 ('Backspace')
2025-09-04 16:25:24.749 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: / Soft dispatching keyboard event
2025-09-04 16:25:24.749 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: | Resolving ctrl+Backspace
2025-09-04 16:25:24.749 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: \ From 8 keybinding entries, matched deleteWordLeft, when: no when condition, source: user.
2025-09-04 16:25:24.749 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: | Resolving ctrl+Backspace
2025-09-04 16:25:24.749 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: \ From 8 keybinding entries, matched deleteWordLeft, when: no when condition, source: user.
2025-09-04 16:25:24.750 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: + Invoking command deleteWordLeft.
2025-09-04 16:25:25.691 [info] [Window] [KeybindingService]: + Ignoring single modifier ctrl due to it being pressed together with other keys.

■■ do I remove this binding and get back the standard effect of Ctrl+Backspace?

Steps to Reproduce

No Idea about how you can reproduce it.

Expected Behavior

I expect it removes a word in find field, if the find field is focusable.

Operating System

Windows 10/11

Current Cursor Version (Menu → About Cursor → Copy)

Version: 1.6.0-dev.28 (system setup)
VSCode Version: 1.99.3
Commit: ae1505fbaf80a10e27c21bd80157ca28cd3cd0a0
Date: 2025-09-03T08:21:48.279Z
Electron: 34.5.8
Chromium: 132.0.6834.210
Node.js: 20.19.1
V8: 13.2.152.41-electron.0
OS: Windows_NT x64 10.0.17763

Additional Information

The VS Code (which is free from this bug) is faster now even with Cursor tab autocomplete. I use Ctrl+Backspace very often, and I every time I have to stop to recover deleted text.

Does this stop you from using Cursor

Sometimes - I can sometimes use Cursor

[deanrie]

Hey, it looks like this is your custom keybinding. The likely cause might be an extension. You just need to remove it. Here’s the default value I have on my side:

[Vladimir_Pyanyh (Владимир Пьяных)]

Please read “What I have tried” section carefully! It is not a custom keybinding and it persists even without extensions. It is unmodifiable and I do not see it in shortcuts file. It is displayed as set by User, but no text with this identifier, corresponding to the broken shortcut found in entire AppData folder.

[deanrie]

Possible solutions for the non-removable Ctrl+Backspace binding:
Based on the KeybindingService logs, the issue is that the binding has source: user and when: no when condition, making it global and uncontrollable through the standard interface. Try the following solutions:

1. Directly edit keybindings.json
   • Completely close Cursor
   • Open %APPDATA%\Cursor\User\keybindings.json in a text editor
   • Find and delete all entries with ”key": "ctrl+backspace"
   • Save the file and restart Cursor

2. Force override
   Add to keybindings.json:

[
    {
      "key": "ctrl+backspace",
      "command": "-deleteWordLeft"
    },
    {
      "key": "ctrl+backspace", 
      "command": "deleteWordLeft",
      "when": "editorTextFocus && !findInputFocussed && !searchInputBoxFocus && !inQuickOpen"
    }
  ]
  

3. Check workspace settings
   Check the .vscode/keybindings.json file in the root of your project - the binding might be defined there.

4. Reset all user settings
   • Rename the folder %APPDATA%\Cursor\User to User_backup
   • Restart Cursor (a new folder with default settings will be created)