Can't select and delete atoms

General Discussion Support
1

I’m not 100% sure this is a bug or a feature that was never added, but in Avogadro 1 I am able to select an atom (or atoms) and then delete them pressing the ‘delete’ key on my MacBook Pro’s keyboard (I think it’s the equivalent to ‘backspace’ on a larger keyboard). I was just trying to do the same thing in Avogadro 2 and found that the atoms were not being deleted.

I submitted this as an issue on GitHub, but then got a message from a bot saying I should post it here (even though the template for a bug report here says it should be posted on GitHub…)

Environment Information

Avogadro version: 2.0.0, Mac ARM
Operating system and version: macOS 26.5.1

Expected Behavior

I expect the selected atoms to be deleted.

Actual Behavior

Delete/backspace button does nothing to selected atoms.

Steps to Reproduce

  1. Create atom/molecule
  2. Select atom(s)
  3. Press backspace
2

You can still delete them. You just need to go to the edit menu (or cut). I’m on the fence about it personally - I like the delete shortcut, but a bunch of people would accidentally delete atoms, so adding a slight barrier is recommended in UI / UX guides.

The reason the “bot” on GitHub suggests posting here is that a lot of the “bug reports” are more “I can’t figure out how to do X” and that’s much easier to handle here than “this is a bug and needs to be fixed in a patch.” And of course this template mentions GitHub so that real bug reports do get posted as well.

3

Actually, it works with the keyboard too, but you have to use fn +delete.

Qt maps a Mac’s delete key to backspace, and the combination with fn to forward delete (as in, what del does on Windows and Linux).

That means Avogadro actually has the same behaviour as in other apps like Finder.

4

That’s fair. Although I never had a problem with the ‘undo’ function. Sorry for bothering you!

I’ll close the GitHub issue

5

It’s no bother - it’s exactly why we have the forum. :slight_smile:

And sometimes “hey, this doesn’t work” can be a good idea or a bug. We absolutely rely on community discussion.