2054565 - Forward Delete (⌦) does not work in the macOS Save dialog filename field

Status: VERIFIED FIXED

(Core :: Widget: Cocoa, defect)

Description

[ari.virtual]

User Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 10.15; rv:152.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/152.0

Steps to reproduce:

1. Download any file.
2. In the native macOS Save dialog displayed by Firefox, click inside the filename field.
3. Type a few extra characters.
4. Move the insertion point into the middle of the filename.
5. Press the Forward Delete (⌦) key.

Actual results:

Nothing happens.

The Edit menu briefly flashes, indicating that Firefox receives the key event, but the filename text field does not process it.

Expected results:

The character to the right of the insertion point should be deleted.

Additional information

The issue appeared immediately after updating to Firefox 152.

The problem is limited to the native macOS Save dialog opened by Firefox.

The following tests were performed:

• Backspace (⌫) works correctly in the Save dialog.
• Forward Delete (⌦) works correctly in Firefox web page text fields.
• Forward Delete (⌦) works correctly in Safari's Save dialog.
• Pressing Fn + Backspace produces the same incorrect behavior as the dedicated Forward Delete key.
• The issue is reproducible every time.

This strongly suggests that the Forward Delete key event is received by Firefox but is not forwarded to the native filename text field in the macOS Save dialog.

Environment
• Firefox 152.0.5 (64-bit)
• macOS Ventura
• Intel Mac
• Apple Aluminum USB Keyboard with Numeric Keypad (A1243)

Comment 1

[ari.virtual]

J'ai signalé le bug ci-dessus à Mozilla concernant Firefox 152 sous macOS.

Symptôme :
Dans la boîte de dialogue native Enregistrer sous, la touche ⌦ (Forward Delete / Suppr) ne supprime plus le caractère situé à droite du curseur dans le champ de nom du fichier. Le menu Édition clignote, mais aucune suppression n'est effectuée.

Le problème ne concerne que cette boîte de dialogue :

• la touche ⌦ fonctionne normalement dans les champs de texte des pages Web sous Firefox ;
• elle fonctionne également dans Safari et les autres applications macOS ;
• le problème est apparu après la mise à jour vers Firefox 152.

Le rapport de bug est ici :
https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=2054565

Si vous rencontrez le même problème, n'hésitez pas à le confirmer en ajoutant un commentaire sur le ticket (en anglais de préférence), en indiquant votre version de macOS, votre version de Firefox et votre type de clavier.

Comment 2

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

The Bugbug bot thinks this bug should belong to the 'Core::Widget: Cocoa' component, and is moving the bug to that component. Please correct in case you think the bot is wrong.

Comment 3

[Haik Aftandilian [:haik]]

This is reproducible for me on macOS 26.6 with attached Apple keyboard. mozregression leads to this regression window

https://hg-edge.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/pushloghtml?fromchange=5298810a8b2921dac323b4ce5fd0e8ed88b82cdb&tochange=8a7248901e14330effcc242be538b90f03577772

Bug 2040851: Don't mirror XUL command disabled state to NSMenuItem for standard Edit menu items on macOS
Bug 2040844: Override undo:/redo: on ChildView to restore Edit menu icons and Gecko menu-click dispatch on macOS

Comment 4

[Jason Frey]

I am seeing an issue with the Forward delete key, but not the one presented here, so I don't know if my issue is related or not. In my case, the keyboard repeat rate is being inhibited, so the forward delete events are not being honored in a timely way, so more of a performance issue. I've opened Bug 2060306 separately as I'm not sure if it's related or not.

Comment 5

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl] (OOO until 9/11)]

Could you see if your issue is fixed in the following build?

1. Download this try build, which contains a potential fix:

https://firefox-ci-tc.services.mozilla.com/api/queue/v1/task/Kj1DTfXNSqiDSac0Lmzqkg/runs/0/artifacts/public/build/target.tar.gz

2. Extract it in ~/Downloads and clear the quarantine flag on the extracted app:

xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine ~/Downloads/Firefox\ Nightly.app

3. Launch "Firefox Nightly" from ~/Downloads and download any file to bring up the Save dialog.
4. Click in the filename field, move the insertion point into the middle of the name, and press the forward delete key. Fn+Backspace should behave the same way.
5. In the same field, please also check that Command+C, Command+V, Command+X, Command+Z and Command+A still work.

This is a try build rather than a Nightly build, so it will not update itself and is only meant for this check. It uses its own profile, separate from the Firefox you normally run. If you would rather pick a profile yourself, you can start it with:

~/Downloads/Firefox\ Nightly.app/Contents/MacOS/firefox -ProfileManager

Comment 6

[Jan Brasna [:janbrasna]]

Attachment: v152-forward-delete-edit-menu.mov

I can reproduce on short keyboards using Fn+Backspace (the key combo for forward delete) as well.

The key gets consumed in "Edit" menu by the "Delete" option item (showing it as its shortcut key), which — surprisingly — only works on selections, but doesn't do forward–delete just right of the caret. So it works when bits of text are selected, but does empty "delete" (i.e. similar to "cut") when there's no selection, just a blinking caret.

Comment 7

[Jan Brasna [:janbrasna]]

Attachment: v155-firefoxci-try.mov

Tried the attached build on MBA13 (15.7.8) using the built–in keyboard and Fn modifier (equally affected as shown earlier) and the linked CI artifact Nightly seems to work great, thanks!

The Fn+⌫ combo no longer visibly invokes the system menu (meaning a shortcut hit), and both the backspace and delete functionality work, no matter if text is selected or not. Also any previous cut+paste functionality is unaffected.

Comment 8

[Stephen A Pohl [:spohl] (OOO until 9/11)]

Attachment: Bug 2054565: Leave keystrokes that carry no Command modifier to native windows that have focus on macOS. r?#mac-reviewers!

The Edit > Delete menu item carries the forward delete key as its shortcut, with no modifiers, because it is wired to the XUL key element with keycode="VK_DELETE". Since bug 2036608 the item's action is delete: with no target, so it travels the macOS responder chain, and since bug 2040851 the item is always enabled. While a native window such as an NSSavePanel sheet has focus, AppKit therefore matches the forward delete key against our menu item and performs delete: instead of leaving the keystroke alone. The panel's filename field reads delete: as "delete the current selection", so with a collapsed caret nothing happens at all and the keystroke is spent.

Native text fields read keys that arrive without a Command modifier as plain editing or navigation keys, so leave those keys to the window that has focus. Shortcuts that include Command are still handled here, which is what lets native fields respond to Command+C/V/X/Z/A.

Comment 9

[BugBot [:suhaib / :marco]]

Redirect a needinfo that is pending on an inactive user to the triage owner.
:spohl.mozilla.bugs, since the bug has recent activity, could you please find another way to get the information or close the bug as INCOMPLETE if it is not actionable?

For more information, please visit BugBot documentation.

Comment 10

[ari.virtual]

Hi

Thank you for investigating and working on this issue.

I’m sorry for not replying sooner.

I can confirm that the problem is still present in Firefox 154.0 on macOS Ventura 13.7.8 on my system. The Forward Delete key (⌦), as well as Fn+Backspace, still does not delete the character to the right of the cursor in the native macOS Save dialog.

I’m glad to see that the cause has been identified and that a fix has been tested successfully. I hope the fix will make it into an upcoming Firefox release.

Please let me know if you need any additional information or testing from me.

Comment 11

[Pulsebot]

Pushed by [e-mail]:
https://github.com/mozilla-firefox/firefox/commit/1dc10ba9f298
https://hg.mozilla.org/integration/autoland/rev/f3cd87e96051
Leave keystrokes that carry no Command modifier to native windows that have focus on macOS. r=mac-reviewers,mstange

Comment 12

[Cosmin Sabou [:CosminS]]

https://hg.mozilla.org/mozilla-central/rev/f3cd87e96051

Comment 14

[Timea Zsoldos [:tzsoldos], Desktop QA]

I've reproduced this issue using Firefox 154.0a1 (2026.07.13) following the STR from description on macOS 12.
Verified as fixed on the latest Nightly 157.0a1 (2026.09.08) and on Firefox 156.0b4, using macOS 12 and macOS13 where the issue no longer persists, now the Fn+Backspace keyboard combination and Backspace key, both works as expected in the native macOS Save dialog displayed by Firefox.