protonscr

Desktop Mode: On-screen keyboard not showing up in game

steamopen overlayDistro Family: SteamOS
ValveSoftware/steam-for-linux#12920 · opened 2026-02-17 by Tetevemasque · updated 2026-02-17 · 0 comments · github
TTetevemasque 2026-02-17 github

Your system information

  • Steam client version: 1769025840
  • SteamOS version: 3.7.19
  • Opted into Steam client beta?: No
  • Opted into SteamOS beta?: No
  • Have you checked for updates in Settings > System?: Yes

Please describe your issue in as much detail as possible:

The on-screen keyboard works everywhere in desktop mode but not in game:
steam+X shortcut do nothing until I close the game - or until I focus another app when the game is windowed.

Steps for reproducing this issue:

  1. Go to Desktop Mode
  2. Go to your Steam library
  3. Launch any game, native or not
  4. In game, try to open the on-screen keyboard (with Steam+X, or any button you mapped to open the keyboard in Steam Input)
  5. The Steam Deck vibrate slightly, but no keyboard is shown

What I tried

  • Reboot the Steam Deck
  • Ensure Steam is running in background
  • Ensure Steam Input is working
  • Ensure the Steam Overlay is activated
  • Repair Steam OS with a bootable device (to reinstall Steam OS without erasing all user data)
  • Mapping another input to the open keyboard command
  • Send the command xdg-open "steam://open/keyboard" remotely when the game is launched

Personal research

I observed some log files, and noticed webhelper.txt shows some logs about the keyboard initialization when I do steam+X outside of a game, but in game, it shows nothing.

Nothing extracted yet.