Bitwarden Keyboard Shortcut Not Working? Here’s the Simple Fix

If you rely on Bitwarden to manage your passwords, you probably love the convenience of keyboard shortcuts to quickly fill in your credentials. But what if suddenly your Bitwarden keyboard shortcut stops working in Google Chrome? Don’t worry — this is a common issue and the fix is surprisingly straightforward.

What’s Going On?

Bitwarden uses keyboard shortcuts to activate its extension popup so you can autofill passwords or generate new ones instantly. However, Chrome sometimes restricts extension shortcuts to only work when Chrome itself is focused (the “Chromium” setting), which means the shortcut won’t work globally across your desktop or in other apps.

If your Bitwarden shortcut is set this way, pressing it outside of the Chrome window or when Chrome is not active will do nothing — making it seem like the shortcut is broken.

The Quick Fix: Change Shortcut Scope to Global

Here’s how to fix your Bitwarden keyboard shortcut so it works everywhere:

1. Open Chrome and go to the Extensions page by typing arc://extensions/shortcuts in the address bar and pressing Enter.

2. Find the Bitwarden extension in the list of shortcuts.

3. You’ll see a dropdown next to the shortcut that likely says “Chromium” or “In Chrome”.

4. Change this dropdown to “Global“.

5. Close the tab and try your shortcut again.

By changing the shortcut scope to Global, you allow the Bitwarden shortcut to work even when Chrome is not the active window. This means you can summon Bitwarden anywhere on your computer, making your password management smoother and faster.

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Now you can get back to managing your passwords effortlessly with Bitwarden’s handy keyboard shortcut — no matter what app you’re using!

If you found this helpful, share it with your friends who use Bitwarden and save them from the frustration of a non-working shortcut. Happy password managing!