Keyboard shortcuts set to Windows upon first-time creation of a figure

Hello,

With the 2026a Linux version, I encountered a rather special problem that according to a colleague, who reproduced it, occurs in 2025b and 2025a as well, but not in 2024b.

The issue is, that after starting Matlab, creating a new figure, e.g., using figure(1), changes the keyboard shortcuts. They are still displayed as being 'Emacs' -- but the individual shortcuts change, for example for 'Copy' from ALT+W to CTRL+C.

To reproduce the problem:

• Start Matlab, open the settings window, choose keyboard-shortcuts there, ensure that they are set to 'Emacs', and scroll a bit down, for example to the 'Copy' shortcut being displayed.
• Move the settings window aside and click on the command prompt.
• Create a new figure by executing figure(1). In the open settings window, several key-bindings change -- for example Copy changes from ALT+W to CTRL+C.
• In the settings window clicking on the gearwheel and selecting 'restore defaults' solves the issue until Matlab is restarted.

An AI speculated that the lazy initialization of a Java component is causing the issue.. However, no workaround provided helped.

How can I keep the keyboard shortcuts permanetly set to -unmodified- emacs?

Best

Oliver

P.S.: This applies to MATLAB release 2026a, update 0, date 21-Mar-2026, Version: 26.1.0.3203278 (R2026a)

I worked with 2025b some time ago without noticing thius bug, i.e., potentially some upgrades that affected 2025a and 2025b as well introduced this bug into all three versions recently -- but that's partially speculation.

Answer 1

[Benjamin Kraus]

@Oliver: This is a known bug that should be fixed in R2026a Update 1. I'm not aware of any workarounds to this issue other than upgrading to R2026a Update 1 or newer. If you are still seeing this issue in R2026a Update 1 or newer, please report the bug to MathWorks Technical Support and make sure to emphasize what release you are using.

[Oliver]

Thanks Benjamin, our science IT team installed release 2 and the issue is indeed gone.

Another issue surfaced and prevents me from using emacs keys, and I created a new question:

https://ch.mathworks.com/matlabcentral/answers/2183981-alt-key-activates-toolstrip-even-if-minimized-r2026a-release-2

Best

Oliver