Can someone explain /hopefully fix why hotkeys are functioning outside game.HELP

[vaguexrdx]

this issue has been a thorn in my side long enough. it just slowly eats at you...so annoying why I can't get it to work... all I'm trying to do is if I switch to type on another monitor or whatever if I press one of my 4 hotkeys 1-4 it works... and doesn't try to run the command in-game...

Imgur has every settings option in voice attack..All hotkeys are the same layout in options ... only difference is the hotkey Help...
https://imgur.com/a/kQR6e1i

[Gary]

If you've set VoiceAttack up to accept hotkeys 1-4 for your game or app and you press keys 1-4, those keys are going to invoke the command no matter what window is focused (this is the main idea behind having a hotkey, and what it's designed to do). 

If you want the commands to not run if the game or app is not in focus, you're going to need to edit each command and set the, 'send commands to this target' and target your game or application's window.  You'll then also want to check the box labeled, 'Stop command if target window focus is lost'.  This will prevent the command from actually running if the game or app is not in focus.

Hope that helps!


Edit - I can see in one of your many images that you've done just that.  That means that whatever window you're targeting is not the right one.  You'll probably need to do some kind of wildcard in the place of the window title.  I'd start with, '*elite*'  (that is, replace 'Elite - Dangerous (CLIENT)' with '*elite*').

[Pfeil]

If the keys you're using to trigger the commands are not mapped to anything ingame, you could uncheck the "Do not allow key to be passed through" option for those commands (assuming you have that checked, currently) and leave the "Stop command if target window focus is lost" option checked, so the command only runs while the game has focus.

Note that this would still interfere with the ability to use those keys for other functions ingame, E.G. chat, as they would trigger the additional keypresses as well.
For that you'd need something like the structure proposed in your previous topic.

[Gary]

It's all within understanding what a hotkey does - If I'm using VLC and I have my shift key set up to play music, VLC is going to play music every time I press the shift key no matter what application I'm using.

With VA, you also have the option to not propagate a hotkey (Do not allow key to be passed through) - that means that once VA gets ahold of the key and does what it needs to do, VA tells Windows that it doesn't need to worry about that key any more.  If you need to use keys 1-4 in other apps (pretty common - i usually don't use frequently-used keys as hotkeys), you're going to need to make sure that box is not checked.  The drawback is that if you're in game and the game itself is responding to 1-4, VA is going to do its thing, as well as the game.

There's always the option to disable keyboard shortcuts from the main screen (keyboard icon) when you need VA to stop handling hotkeys.