Package: gnome-text-editor Version: 49.0-1 For lines with leading whitespace, a backspace erases either 1 character or the value set in "Spaces Per Indent", which by default, I think, is 8 (and if it wasn't, I set it to 8 to make it standard and plain). However, each backspace signal should always erase only exactly 1 character.
The app came pre-installed on my FLX1s phone. I use it to take notes, and sometimes I create tables with it or use it creatively. When I set the Text Editor preferences, I made sure to turn off any automatic features like indentation. I proceeded to edit non-code text. At one point, I was on a line with many spaces, and I wanted to erase some of those spaces, so I held backspace. When the keyboard repeat delay for backspace was met, it began repeatedly backspacing at the configured repeat rate, which was fine, but after a few characters were erased, suddenly, to my surprise, the backspacing appeared to go 8x faster, going further than I had planned before I could react, and erased more text than I was trying to erase. I understand that programmers like to make their IDE's do all sorts of tricks, but I just want peace and quiet. When I tap backspace, I always want exactly one backspace to be performed. It may seem more convenient to some people to have backspace be a dynamic tool that erases a different amount of characters depending on context. But how it feels to me, is that i have LOST the ability to backspace 1 character. It feels like someone is playing tricks on me, and I feel like I am no longer in control of the input. And it's a cruel trick indeed, because in my experience, what usually happens is that I have to suffer with the issue as-is for the life of my hardware, which may be years. There are situations where there are 8 leading spaces, and what I want to do is erase 1 space, so that there are 7. I don't know if anybody up there will hear me, but I would like my backspace key back. I suggest eliminating the tricky dynamic backspace behavior which is specialized for writing code from this simple Text Editor that is packaged and branded as an all-purpose text editor, and shipped with devices for users to use on their phone, which already has enough problems with on-screen keyboards. Alternatively, I suggest creating a new toggle to be able to disable the tricky backspace behavior, and I suggest that the tricky behavior is disabled by default. Indentation Option: Dynamic backspace (backspace erases indent) OFF / ON or simply... Backspace Un-indents OFF / ON Whatever language you use, I think it's important to bind the basic behavior to OFF, and the tricky, dynamic backspace behavior to ON. Whether backspace un-indenting is good for a code editor is one thing, but gnome-text-editor is presented as an all-purpose text editor, which might be used for a wide variety of things. Also, when I indent, I like to have tab insert 2 spaces, so that is how I would set up the editor, but that doesn't mean I'll be using it for writing code every time. P.S. 'Spaces Per Tab' does not behave as expected either. If you set it to 4, with a 'Spaces Per Indent' value of 8, and set the Tab character to spaces, then a Tab inserts 8 spaces, not 4. Text Editor (49.0) GLib: 2.86.3 (2.84.4) GTK: 4.20.3 (4.20.1) GtkSourceView: 5.18.0 (5.17.1) Libadwaita: 1.8.2 (1.8.0) Libspelling: (0.4.9) gtk-theme-name: Adwaita-empty GTK_THEME: unset GdkDisplay: GdkWaylandDisplay DESKTOP_SESSION: missing Documents Directory: /home/furios/Documents org.gnome.TextEditor restore-session = true org.gnome.TextEditor recolor-window = true org.gnome.TextEditor show-map = false org.gnome.TextEditor custom-font = 'Monospace 11' org.gnome.TextEditor tab-width = uint32 8 org.gnome.TextEditor show-line-numbers = false org.gnome.TextEditor style-scheme = 'Adwaita' org.gnome.TextEditor wrap-text = true org.gnome.TextEditor style-variant = 'follow' org.gnome.TextEditor indent-style = 'tab' org.gnome.TextEditor show-right-margin = false org.gnome.TextEditor spellcheck = false [default=true] org.gnome.TextEditor auto-indent = false [default=true] org.gnome.TextEditor use-system-font = true org.gnome.TextEditor keybindings = 'default' org.gnome.TextEditor highlight-current-line = false org.gnome.TextEditor last-save-directory = 'file:///home/user' [default=''] org.gnome.TextEditor auto-save-delay = uint32 3 org.gnome.TextEditor discover-settings = true org.gnome.TextEditor enable-snippets = false org.gnome.TextEditor line-height = 1.2 org.gnome.TextEditor indent-width = -1 org.gnome.TextEditor show-grid = false org.gnome.TextEditor draw-spaces = @as [] org.gnome.TextEditor right-margin-position = uint32 80org.gnome.TextEditor highlight-matching-brackets = true ------- Forwarded Message ------- From: sonicbluesky <[email protected]> Date: On Monday, February 16th, 2026 at 8:12 PM Subject: text editor backspace doesnt work right To: [email protected] <[email protected]> > with 8 spaces that begin a line, and my cursor right after, a backspace > deletes all 8 characters, instead of just 1. > > it seems someone thought it would be cool to have that behavior, but i do not > think it is cool. i have all the automatic settings i could find turned off. > i want my backspace key to backspace one character, as expected. > > Text Editor (49.0) > > GLib: 2.86.3 (2.84.4) > GTK: 4.20.3 (4.20.1) > GtkSourceView: 5.18.0 (5.17.1) > Libadwaita: 1.8.2 (1.8.0) > Libspelling: (0.4.9) > > gtk-theme-name: Adwaita-empty > GTK_THEME: unset > GdkDisplay: GdkWaylandDisplay > DESKTOP_SESSION: missing > > Documents Directory: /home/furios/Documents > > org.gnome.TextEditor restore-session = true > org.gnome.TextEditor recolor-window = true > org.gnome.TextEditor show-map = false > org.gnome.TextEditor custom-font = 'Monospace 11' > org.gnome.TextEditor tab-width = uint32 8 > org.gnome.TextEditor show-line-numbers = false > org.gnome.TextEditor style-scheme = 'Adwaita' > org.gnome.TextEditor wrap-text = true > org.gnome.TextEditor style-variant = 'follow' > org.gnome.TextEditor indent-style = 'tab' > org.gnome.TextEditor show-right-margin = false > org.gnome.TextEditor spellcheck = false [default=true] > org.gnome.TextEditor auto-indent = false [default=true] > org.gnome.TextEditor use-system-font = true > org.gnome.TextEditor keybindings = 'default' > org.gnome.TextEditor highlight-current-line = false > org.gnome.TextEditor last-save-directory = 'file:///home/user' [default=''] > org.gnome.TextEditor auto-save-delay = uint32 3 > org.gnome.TextEditor discover-settings = true > org.gnome.TextEditor enable-snippets = false > org.gnome.TextEditor line-height = 1.2 > org.gnome.TextEditor indent-width = -1 > org.gnome.TextEditor show-grid = false > org.gnome.TextEditor draw-spaces = @as [] > org.gnome.TextEditor right-margin-position = uint32 80 > org.gnome.TextEditor highlight-matching-brackets = true > > Sent with [Proton Mail](https://proton.me/mail/home) secure email.
