Forward and back keyboard shortcuts no longer working

[BlackEco]

Hello,

It's probably a duplicate of Forward and back keyboard shortcut feature no longer working on Mac, but I cannot longer use Ctrl + Left Arrow and Ctrl + Right Arrow to change tracks on Linux.

The regression seems to have appeared on version 1.1.67.586.gbb5ef64e since I get it working by reverting to version 1.1.55.498.gf9a83c60

OS: Ubuntu, Spotify installed with snap.

[P6CG]

I'm having the same issue as well...

Also I can't use CTRL Up/Down arrows to increase/decrease volume anymore.

Ubuntu 20.04

Installed with apt-get by following below guide for Ubuntu:

https://www.spotify.com/de/download/linux/

[Vinnaren1]

Same here on Manjaro 21.1.2 Pahvo with XFCE, I am still able to use shortcuts like ctrl+a to select all songs in a playlist and ctrl+s and ctrl+r to control shuffle and repeat but unable to use ctrl+arrowkey to skip or control volume. Shift+left and shift+right seems to also still be working for scrubbing a track.

[Sebasty]

I couldn't figure out a way to skip tracks. Shift + arrow keys do work at seeking within tracks and if i remember correctly, it used to be a way to skip tracks on Linux.

I use global keyboard shortcuts to skip and pause/play, which have worked perfectly fine so far and work on the new versions too. You choose a keyboard shortcut to bind the commands to, and the commands themselves look like this (admittedly long)

skip:
dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player.Next
dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player.Previous

toggle playback:
dbus-send --print-reply --dest=org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.spotify /org/mpris/MediaPlayer2 org.mpris.MediaPlayer2.Player.PlayPause

You can paste the command in terminal and see if it works first.

So if all else fails, this should have you covered. Unfortunately volume does not work through this function, Spotify seems to ignore the volume command.

Hope this helps in any way : )

[BlackEco]

Thanks for your suggestion, but I just expect Spotify to fix the issue on their end. They introduced a regression by breaking a couple of keyboard shortcuts, they should not expect us to fix this issue by ourselves.

[1maaa]

Same problem here on Ubuntu 18.04 and Spotify Client 1.1.67.586.gbb5ef64e

[Pharass]

After last update 1:1.1.67.586.gbb5ef64e on Linux Mint 20.2 Cinnamon Ctrl+Up, Ctrl+Down (volume) and Ctrl+Left, Ctrl+Right (prev/next song) shortcuts doesn't work for me anymore.

[netpok]

Yes, broken for me too. To be specific we are talking about the in app shortcuts and not the global ones.

For now I reverted to 1:1.1.55 via:

sudo apt install spotify-client=1:1.1.55*

---

[ewangreen4]

On Linux, Spotify uses the MPRIS D-Bus interface for its media controls.

If the default keybinds are off/won't work, a very easy way to use this is by installing playerctl.

Once you've installed it, you can then use xdotool or something to relay commands based on the key you press.

For me, I just have it set in my DE's keyboard settings.

If you want to specify that these keybinds are for Spotify only, you can append --player spotify at the end.

Also, if you want something that will show a banner with the current song info, I made a script for that a while ago:

#!/bin/bash
if [ `playerctl metadata --format "{{ playerName }}"` = spotify ]
then
        wget -q -O ~/.cache/cover `playerctl metadata mpris:artUrl | sed "s/open\.spotify\.com/i.scdn.co/"`
        notify-send "`playerctl metadata --format "{{ artist }} - {{ title }}"`" "`playerctl metadata --format "{{ album }}"`" -i ~/.cache/cover -t 1
        rm ~/.cache/cover
elif [ `playerctl metadata --format "{{ playerName }}"` = firefox ]
then
        notify-send "`playerctl metadata --format "{{ playerName }} - {{ title }}"`" "`playerctl metadata --format "{{ artist }}"`" -t 1
else
        notify-send "`playerctl metadata --format "{{ artist }} - {{ title }}"`" "`playerctl metadata --format "{{ album }}"`" -t 1
fi

It looks like this for me. It's very visually similar to Spotify's own libnotify implementation.

[1maaa]

1.1.68.632.g2b11de83 is still affected.

[nerosnm]

I'm also experiencing this on Spotify version 1.1.68.628.geb44bd66 on NixOS.

[atemUsername]

Same problem. Ubuntu 20.04, XFCE windows manager, spotify version 1.1.68.628.geb44bd66. All shortcuts work except ctrl+arrows. With each update client becomes unstabler, sad...

[atemUsername]

Seems like this issue have place in web player too

[P6CG]

Still not fixed and we are being ghosted...

[lokulf]

Issue not fixed.

Downgrading works. I had to downgrade to `sudo apt install spotify-client=1:1.1.10.546.ge08ef575-19`. 
Use `apt-cache madison spotify-client` to see available version in your repo.

Other potential version see here: https://www.ubuntuupdates.org/ppa/spotify 

Spotify should add official support for linux.

[Sebasty]

It looks like the issue with arrow keys is not platform-specific, as I see Windows users also being unable to scroll with up/down arrows and change tracks. Those same issues are present in the web player as well.

For time being it seems it's best to downgrade or make use of playerctl or mpris keybinds.
It's possible to go back and forwards in history with the alt + arrow keys though.

[Jasvanc]

I thought it was just me!  I miss the CTRL shortcuts too.

[pasfreak]

Also really missing the volume & song control shortcuts.

Using Flatpak on Ubuntu 21.04

Last working version: 1.1.55.498.gf9a83c60
    Flatpak commit (2021-09-16): 6ccb153cf896461cfe38637cfb817a21138f342b2c59dcf1b3bb51c1d8c34241

For those also using flatpak you can downgrade like so:
flatpak update --commit=6ccb153cf896461cfe38637cfb817a21138f342b2c59dcf1b3bb51c1d8c34241 com.spotify.Client

I did notice improvements in the current stable version for some shortcuts, but the volume & song controls aren't working for me.

[John1337]

Missing it too, Ubuntu 20.04 Focal Fossa

[afcuttin]

the issue is still there, and it is super annoying to leave the keyboard only to change songs in spotify.

will try to install playerctl