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In MATE (at least as shipped with Ubuntu 17.04), by default, Ctrl-Alt-{Left/Right/Up/Down} switches workspaces. Thus this shortcut is unavailable in applications.

In the "Keyboard Shortcuts" (mate-keybinding-properties) application, this shortcut is not listed. (Probably because it is handled by the underlying window manager Marco.) How can it be disabled?

Dominique Unruh
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  • Note: https://superuser.com/questions/132666/how-to-disable-control-alt-arrow-gnome-window-manager-control-for-redhat-linux is not a duplicate, since it asks the same question for the Gnome desktop (and the answers given there don't work in Mate). – Dominique Unruh Jul 12 '17 at 10:23

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You can use: gsettings set org.mate.Marco.global-keybindings switch-to-workspace-left disabled gsettings set org.mate.Marco.global-keybindings switch-to-workspace-right disabled gsettings set org.mate.Marco.global-keybindings switch-to-workspace-up disabled gsettings set org.mate.Marco.global-keybindings switch-to-workspace-down disabled

The names of those (and many other) settings can be found here (in somewhat unreadable form): https://github.com/mate-desktop/marco/blob/master/src/org.mate.marco.gschema.xml. The command for changing shortcuts is described very shortly in https://github.com/mate-desktop/marco/blob/master/README.

Dominique Unruh
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    You can also use the GUI application `mate-keybinding-properties`, which is accessible in the menus under `System`->`Preferences`->`Hardware`->`Keyboard Shortcuts`, although for some reason on one of my 16.04 systems the `Window Management` submenu (which you need) is missing. – AFH Jul 12 '17 at 10:52
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    At least on my system, this app lists a lot of keybindings, but not the "Ctrl-Alt-Left" keybindings. (It has "Ctrl-Alt-Left (keypad)", but that's a different one.) – Dominique Unruh Jul 12 '17 at 11:03
  • They're in the `Switch to workspace ...` options under `Window Management`, though you won't find them now that you've disabled them with `gsettings`. – AFH Jul 12 '17 at 11:20
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It may sound silly, but the keyboard shortcuts for switching between workspaces are available only when using more than one workspaces. I had to add an additional workspace from Workspace Switcher in Panel and then it was possible to disable the shortcuts from System->Preferences->Hardware->Keyboard Shortcuts

Prem
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