Issue with “Custom Context Menu (NEW)” – Automatic App Switching After a Few Minutes

[CLUB777ONE]

Hi everyone,

I’ve set up a Custom Menu Bar Icon in BetterTouchTool with the action “Show Custom Context Menu (NEW)”. This menu contains several items, each triggering a specific action, such as:

• Screenshot → (Action: Send Keyboard Shortcut)

• Date → (Action: Insert/Type/Paste Custom Text)

• Color Picker → (Action: Show Color Picker)

• etc.

Additionally, I created a keyboard shortcut that opens the Custom Context Menu (NEW) using the “Execute Actions For Existing Configured Trigger” action.

The Problem:

After starting BetterTouchTool, everything works perfectly—for a few minutes. Then, a strange issue starts occurring:

1. Immediately after launching BetterTouchTool: Everything works as expected.

• I have Safari in the foreground, select “Screenshot” from the Custom Context Menu → A screenshot is taken correctly.

• I switch to my email app, select “Date” → The current date is inserted correctly.

• I switch to Finder, select “Color Picker” → The color picker opens.

2. After a few minutes: The system starts switching applications automatically.

• If Finder is in the foreground and I click “Screenshot” in the Custom Context Menu, Safari is suddenly brought to the front.

• If I then switch to my email app and select “Date,” Safari comes forward again, and the date is inserted there instead.

• Restarting BetterTouchTool temporarily fixes the issue—but only for a few minutes. After that, the automatic app switching happens again, sometimes switching to Finder instead of Safari.

Interesting Detail:

If I open the Custom Context Menu via the keyboard shortcut (Execute Actions For Existing Configured Trigger) instead of clicking the menu bar icon, everything works perfectly—no automatic app switching occurs.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this? Is this a bug, or is there a setting I might have overlooked?

Thanks for your help!

[ngan]

Probably should show your config page of the menu to let others checking whether the setup is correct?

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

Or could you share the whole menu? Then I could try it myself and see what's happening

// I might have an idea what's causing it. Will upload a potential fix with the next alpha

[CLUB777ONE]

These are my presets:
macOS - Triggers.bttpreset (100.6 KB)
macOS Spezial - Triggers.bttpreset (527 Bytes)
Master - Triggers+Settings.bttpresetzip (3.2 KB)

I also just noticed that BetterTouchTool crashes when I try to access one of the previously created actions. However, this only happens with this one specific trigger. See video:

Additionally, I wanted to mention that these settings have no effect. See screenshot:

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

Thanks for sharing! That crash should be resolved in 5.183 (uploading now), maybe also the app switching issue but not sure yet.

[CLUB777ONE]

Vielen Dank

I just installed version 5.183 I’ll test everything shortly and then report if there are any issues.

I completely uninstalled BetterTouchTool using AppCleaner and imported my presets. However, I noticed that the BetterTouchTool settings were not restored, even though I definitely selected “Triggers & Settings” when exporting.

[CLUB777ONE]

BetterTouchTool no longer crashes, but the issue with app switching still persists.

I think I’ve also discovered a new bug: Right-click doesn’t work on any Menu Bar status items. No matter what is selected, it always triggers a left-click instead.

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

Another try in 5.193, I have disabled the app/window-restoration for context menus shown from a status item now. I think it might not be necessary in that case and if it's not enabled it should also not cause issues

The right click should also work with that version.

[CLUB777ONE]

That would be great if this issue is finally resolved.

The right-click is also working perfectly again with this version.

However, I noticed a small issue:

When left-clicking on the Custom Menubar Context Menu Icon, the context menu is opened as expected.

For the right-click, I have assigned the action “Show BTT Preferences”. However, when I right-click on it, the behavior is a bit strange:

• The context menu briefly flashes.

• The BetterTouchTool Preferences open but immediately disappear into the background.

• The BetterTouchTool icon is visible in the dock, but clicking on it does not bring the preferences to the foreground.

• The Custom Menubar Context Menu Icon remains highlighted in gray.

• Only after clicking the icon again do the BetterTouchTool Preferences actually appear.

[Andreas_Hegenberg]

Mhh I think I can't reproduce this, maybe try adding a small delay before showing the BTT preferences:

[CLUB777ONE]

Damn, so simple! Thanks a lot for the great tip. I had tried everything—moving the delay around, both async and blocking—but it never occurred to me to place it right at the beginning.