Troubleshooting a screen recording keyboard shortcut that stopped working
A recording hotkey that works in some contexts and silently fails in others has a specific, usually diagnosable cause — understanding which category of failure you’re dealing with points directly to the right fix, rather than working through a generic troubleshooting list.
Hotkey conflicts: another application has claimed the same shortcut
The most common reason a recording hotkey stops working is that another application installed or updated since you set it now claims the same key combination globally — meaning that application intercepts the keypress before your recorder ever sees it. As noted in our keyboard shortcuts guide, this is why choosing a less common key combination for recording shortcuts reduces conflict likelihood compared to obvious combinations other applications also use.
The hotkey works in your recorder window but not while recording
Some recorders don’t register hotkeys globally by default — they only respond when the recorder’s own window has focus. This means the shortcut works when you’re in the recorder, but fails when you’re in the application you’re actually trying to record. The fix is enabling global hotkeys in your recorder’s settings, if supported, so the shortcut works regardless of which window is focused.
OBS hotkeys specifically: focus mode vs. global mode matters
OBS has explicit settings for whether hotkeys work only when OBS is focused or globally across all applications — if OBS hotkeys stopped working after an update, this setting may have reset, which is a known post-update behavior rather than a hardware or system issue.
Permissions can silently block hotkey capture on macOS
macOS requires explicit Accessibility permissions for applications that want to capture global keyboard input — if those permissions were reset (as covered in our OS update troubleshooting guide) after an update, your recorder can no longer receive global hotkeys. System Settings → Privacy & Security → Accessibility is the specific place to check.
Testing whether the conflict is another specific application
Closing applications one at a time while testing your hotkey identifies which one is claiming the same shortcut — once found, changing either your recording shortcut or that application’s shortcut to something unique resolves the conflict without affecting either application’s normal function.
Frequently asked questions
Why does my recording hotkey work sometimes but not always?
Most commonly, another application is claiming the same key combination globally — closing applications one at a time while testing the hotkey identifies which one is interfering.
Why does my OBS hotkey only work when OBS is the active window?
OBS’s global hotkey setting may be disabled — enable global hotkeys in OBS settings so shortcuts work system-wide rather than only when OBS has focus.
Related reading: Screen recording keyboard shortcuts worth actually memorizing · Why your recording setup stopped working after an OS update · OBS scene setup — the mistakes that ruin a first stream