{Shft + F4} opens the Scratchpad - could you be inadvertently triggering it with that key combo?

I saw that shortcut, but I don't think that's the problem. On my keyboard, the F4 is relatively out of reach. But it makes me wonder if I inadvertently made some kind of other shortcut on the keyboard that's triggering it. I know it happens when I use shift + a letter to start a sentence or fill in a form, but I haven't paid attention to what the letter is. I need to figure out if I can clear any existing shortcuts and see if that clears it up.

I am having the same problem, likely triggered from a recent upgrade to Firefox. Every time I hit the SHIFT key to author anything, it opens the scratchpad. Very annoying. I don't want to disable Java completely...so how can this feature be disabled entirely? Everything I've found tells you how to access it (ie, SHIFT+F4) but not how to UNDO it.

Help? Anyone?

Various Web Developer tools each have their own pref on the about:config page to enable or disable them.

• devtools.scratchpad.enabled
• devtools.inspector.enabled

You can search for devtools via the Search bar at the top of the about:config page.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/about:config

You can set the Boolean pref devtools.scratchpad.enabled to false on the about:config page to disable the Scratchpad.

I changed the 'enabled' to the following:

devtools.scratchpad.enabled;false devtools.inspector.enabled;false

And it is still happening. :(

Any more ideas? Thanks for trying!

Start Firefox in Safe Mode to check if one of the extensions or if hardware acceleration is causing the problem (switch to the DEFAULT theme: Firefox/Tools > Add-ons > Appearance/Themes).

• Don't make any changes on the Safe mode start window.
• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Safe+Mode

You have been so patient and helpful, so thank you.

Unfortunately, it is already on the default theme (13.0.1)

I took the liberty of resetting my Firefox to default settings and it still isn't removing this annoying scratchpad! It's stuck like glue. :(

I am hoping to get this fixed so thanks for being so patient while I try each of your suggestions.

I'm not seeing the Scratchpad in the menu after disabling the pref and closing and restarting Firefox and the Shift+F4 shortcut doesn't work as well.

Strange. I am wondering if it isn't even attached to Firefox then? It's still present. I have definitely restored to default, changed the preferences to devtools to false, restarted, etc. This is such a pain. :(

Does this only happen if you press specific keys?

You can try to reset Firefox.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/reset-firefox-easily-fix-most-problems

Reset creates a new profile and tries to import some settings from the old profile leaving the old profile intact.

• https://support.mozilla.org/kb/Recovering+important+data+from+an+old+profile

Any time I open a new email, comment on FB or any other application, the moment I hit the SHIFT key and ANY LETTER it opens the scratchpad.

As noted above I already reset Firefox back to default settings. Then I went back again to the devtools and selected "false" to disable those features. They had changed back to 'true' after I had done the reset.

Thanks again for being so patient.

Yes, that happens because a reset creates a new profile and all the settings have the default.

Which security software (firewall, anti-virus) do you have?

You can try a clean reinstall and delete the Firefox program folder (C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\).

Download a fresh Firefox copy and save the file to the desktop.

• Firefox 13.0.x: http://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/all.html

Uninstall your current Firefox version, if possible.

• Do NOT remove personal data when you uninstall your current Firefox version, because all profile folders will be removed and you will also lose your personal data like bookmarks and passwords from profiles of other Firefox versions.

Remove the Firefox program folder before installing that newly downloaded copy of the Firefox installer.

• It is important to delete the Firefox program folder to remove all the files and make sure that there are no problems with files that were leftover after uninstalling.
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Uninstalling_Firefox

Your bookmarks and other profile data are stored elsewhere in the Firefox Profile Folder and won't be affected by a reinstall, but make sure that you do not select to remove personal data if you uninstall Firefox.

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_folder_-_Firefox
• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Profile_backup

• http://kb.mozillazine.org/Standard_diagnostic_-_Firefox#Clean_reinstall

If pressing the Shift key is sufficient to open the Scratchpad then you may have a sticky F4 key that Firefox sees as pressed.
You can try to press the F4 key a few times to see if that fixes it or try to reboot the computer or try a different keyboard.