Fix for Mail.app "Control-T" keyboard combination crash

We previously noted a bug where entering the keyboard command "Control-T" when composing a message (with the cursor in the message text field) in Mail.app will cause an immediate quit without warning.

MacFixIt reader Justin Garcia has discovered a workaround that involves adding a key binding that changes the transposing functioning normally accomplished by the Control-T keyboard combination. Transposing generally swaps the characters on either side of the cursor, but Mail.app 2.0.3 crashes if characters on both sides of the cursor are not present.

To perform this workaround, use the following procedure:

• Check to see if a file named DefaultKeyBindings.dict exists at ~/Library/KeyBindings/
• If it does, add the following entry to it: "^t" = ""; (on a separate line)
• If it does not exist, open TextEdit (located in the /Applications folder) and create a new text file. Enter the following text: { "^t" = ""; }, then save the file as DefaultKeyBindings.dict and move it to ~/Library/KeyBindings/.
• After performing either of these modifications, log out then back in.

Feedback? Late-breakers@macfixit.com.

Resources