How is it 2023 and CMD-Z in Safari still breaks Google Docs?

“Google wants it that way” is a daft response. ⌘Z in Google Docs has always been for undoing the last edit you made in the doc:

It has worked this way forever, but it broke for me today. I'm using Safari 16.6 (18615.3.12.11.2) on Ventura 13.5.1 (22G90).

The issue occurs ONLY when you are using multiple tabs in a Safari window. If only one tab is Open, Safari's Edit menu shows "Undo Typing ⌘Z". If multiple tabs are open, it shows "Undo ⌘Z".

I don't care whether this is an Apple bug or a Google bug, since neither company has responded to posts about this issue in any forum I've looked at. Although it suer seems like an Apple bug, because the option displayed in the Safari menu is different depending on whether you have more than one tab, and that is overriding the Google application functionality.

It's causing chaos, because there's no way to disable the Safari ⌘Z shortcut (which basically renders Google Docs unusable). It's also unnecessary because Reopen Last Closed Tab already has its own dedicated Safari shortcut (Shift-⌘T). There should be a way to reconfigure or disable the redundant Safari shortcut.

This issue occurs with other browser-based text editors as well. The solution for anyone interested in restoring Undo Typing functionality to ⌘Z in Google Docs involves either (a) don't use multiple Safari tabs, or (b) set up the following keyboard override:

In System Preferences, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, select App Shortcuts on the sidebar and add the following shortcut:

• Application - Choose Safari
• Menu Title - Enter the following text exactly: Undo Close Tab
• Keyboard Shortcut - Press Shift-⌘T

This will allow Google Docs and other editor apps to resume using ⌘Z to undo typing.

markdowntown, perhaps you can help this other Google Docs user with a similar question: Command F button - Apple Community

There have been no changes to Safari in this regard, so Google changed something recently.

This behavior is Safari-specific, not Google-specific. Open any web app in Safari with multiple tabs open, take some form of action, and Cmd-Z, rather undo the last action, will advance the browser to the next tab.

Thanks to Markdowntown who posted the correct fix:

In System Preferences, Keyboard, Keyboard Shortcuts, select App Shortcuts on the sidebar and add the following shortcut:

• Application - scroll down and choose Safari
• Menu Title - Enter the following text exactly: Undo Close Tab
• Keyboard Shortcut - Press Shift-⌘-T (that's 3 keys, not 2: shift key-Cmd key-T key)

Thank you for the solve! This simple fix works perfectly. It's been driving me crazy and this is much appreciated.

Command+Z is doing exactly what it's supposed to do - for Safari. It always has precedence as that's the app in use. Not the content within the app. Google Docs is nothing but web content within a browser, the same as any other content. You can't control it as if it's a desktop app.

The reason that occurs is that Google wants it to work that way. ⌘ Z does not cause that action to occur when entering text in a text entry field.

Contact Google for assistance.