[MCPE-30205] Backspace not working on signs, chat, book & quill

I was in a world on Xbox one (recently updates to 1.2.9) and when I send to chat I made a mistake. I went to do a backspace and it wouldn't work. I tried it on a keyboard and it didn't work.

Steps to reproduce:

Place a sign.
Type words rapidly enough to invoke the lag described in MCPE-28255.
While the lagging text is being displayed, press the Backspace key.
Observe that pressing the Backspace key no longer has any effect.
The problem doesn't happen every time, so you might have to repeat this procedure a few times.
Also see comments below about persistence within and across worlds.

Linked issues

is duplicated by 10

MCPE-30260 Bug of the chat on the new version of Minecraft Resolved

MCPE-30277 Sign Backspace Resolved

MCPE-30287 Cant use Backspace on Sign Resolved

MCPE-30345 Backspace not functioning Resolved

MCPE-30426 most of the time you can't backspace Resolved

5 more links

relates to 1

MCPE-28255 Type lag, chat lag, typing is delayed a lot. Resolved

Comments 22

Dante 2018-01-17T10:40:04Z

I can confirm this. Tried to backspace and was denied for a moment.
Tried 3 more test.
Test 1. backspace would not work
Test 2. after 6 seconds it began to work.
Test 3. backspace was fine again.
This is the best info I may offer.

TheTamedWolf 2018-01-18T03:33:55Z

This is also happening to me but I am on windows 10 edition, it happens in chat, books and signs.

Edit: To add that I cannot use the arrow keys either like I could before.

Edit 2: I apologize for all the edits 😞 I was messing with my keyboard and I happened to press Caps Lock and it 'jarred' it so I could backspace.. and use the arrow keys. Not sure what this means though..

Auldrick 2018-01-18T18:59:14Z

This issue relates to, and may have the same cause as MCPE-28255.

I was able to reproduce this on WIndows 10 1.2.91. It starts when you enter text quickly on a sign and then press Backspace while the text display is still lagging behind (see MCPE-28255). This sets up a game state in which the Backspace key is ignored from then on. It doesn't happen every time, but frequently enough to reproduce within a few tries.

Once the state has been activated, the Backspace key no longer works anywhere: Signs, Chat, or Book & Quill all ignore it. It is also a state of the game, not the world; you can open a different world and the state is still in effect.

Workaround
To reset the state and make Backspace work again, you exit and reload Minecraft.

Please limit comments to adding new information. If you are experiencing this bug, upvote it (see above) and, if you like, watch it to get an email when anything changes.

TheTamedWolf 2018-01-19T01:28:32Z

@helper I found another possible workaround, I hold the right arrow key down for maybe 3 seconds then backspace works again. I have done it in books and signs, haven't testing in chat yet. For the issue on xbox, maybe doing the same (if available) might make it work too.

User 2018-01-19T02:06:01Z

This happened to me too. Very annoying when typing long sign messages.

12 more comments

Brodie Eddy 2018-01-19T07:55:27Z

I can confirm this happens on the Minecraft Bedrock Edition Realms Too. Will this be fixed anytime soon?

Felipe 2018-01-19T11:23:10Z

This happened to me too. It happened to me only in the new version 1.2.9.1

Felipe 2018-01-19T11:30:15Z

If I exit and reboot Minecraft the Backspace sometimes work, but for a small time

[Mojang] Mega_Spud (Jay) 2018-01-19T14:25:55Z

Another possible instance of this on Windows 10 is to switch text input UI - backspace will often not work for some time.

Repro steps:

Open a command block
Type something in the text field, and exit the UI
Place a sign and type something
Hit backspace to try and delete the text

Observed results:
The text in the can't be deleted with backspace for a period of time (spamming backspace or holding it will allow it to delete the text though)

Felipe 2018-01-19T15:16:40Z

Felipe 2018-01-19T15:31:33Z

But the problem is verifying also on Minecraft Windows 10 Mobile, and there I can't resolve with the method that you wrote previously, because on Windows 10 Mobile there aren't the same functions that are present on Windows 10 (Minecraft Windows 10 Edition.

TheTamedWolf 2018-01-19T16:25:06Z

@felipe since arrow keys don't appear on most keyboard apps and I don't have this issue on my phone, do you use the Google keyboard? If so try to slide your finger over the spacebar either left or right and see if the cursor moves over the letters, if it does, try the backspace, if not keep sliding it to the right and then try the backspace. Hopefully this works instead of having to shut it down all the time, if it doesn't aw well, it was a long shot. The only other way to try this is to download a keyboard app that has the arrow keys and keep pressing the right arrow key and then try backspace, see if that works. For now.

Felipe 2018-01-19T20:17:23Z

Thanks, for now 🙂

Felipe 2018-01-19T20:27:27Z

I'm using the Microsoft Keyboard installed on my device Windows 10 Mobile. I've got a particle blue point on my keyboard. I've got the issue that you talked about. I'm going to try on Minecraft.

Felipe 2018-01-19T20:28:32Z

@Tiya tehJak

BlazingBeam 2018-01-20T07:00:23Z

Glitch occurring on the xbox live at some point too, might be something to do with the microsoft company.. It occurs on Windows 10 devices, android, and xbox one. Idk about IOS

John Brück 2018-01-22T19:00:06Z

I have the same issue on Win10 while i am in the chat

David Frost 2018-01-29T08:54:43Z

Same issue here in a realm, both in chat and while creating signs, on my Win 10 laptop.

Mark Roger 2018-02-05T22:18:41Z

This bug needs to be fixed ASAP, along with the typing behind / for commands.

BlazingBeam 2018-02-06T14:43:54Z

It seems you have to hold the backspace or press the backspace a number of times before you can delete the text.

Auldrick 2018-02-06T15:39:41Z

I have been having a lot of luck restoring the Backspace key function by pressing the right arrow key. It seems to work immediately.

[Mojang] Mega_Spud (Jay) 2019-02-14T16:06:06Z

Cleaning up old tickets: This ticket has not been updated recently (~1 year+) so is being closed as Cannot Reproduce. If you feel this is still a valid issue then please comment, or create a new ticket following the Issue Guidelines.

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