# Desktop-app: Close the window (but not the app) when pressing Ctrl + W

**URL:** <https://forum.delta.chat/t/desktop-app-close-the-window-but-not-the-app-when-pressing-ctrl-w/5455>\
**Category:** Feature Proposal\
**Tags:** desktop, user-interface\
**Created:** [June 19, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/desktop-app-close-the-window-but-not-the-app-when-pressing-ctrl-w/5455 "2026-06-19T13:12:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![1423425](https://forum.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/1/ecc23a/32.png) [@1423425](https://forum.delta.chat/u/1423425)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/desktop-app-close-the-window-but-not-the-app-when-pressing-ctrl-w/5455/1 "2026-06-19T13:12:20Z")

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## Expected behavior

Pressing Ctrl + W closes the window of the desktop-app, but not the entire app, like clicking the close-button of the window.

## Actual behavior

Pressing Ctrl + W does nothing.

* * *

Ctrl + Q does close the app entirely, so that notifications of received messages cannot be shown immediately; which is often preferable for me, but it does depend on the situation.

Many other apps that i use (for example: GNOME-apps, Element, Thunderbird, and Firefox) close the current window/tab when pressing Ctrl + W. Element can remain open in the background when it was closed with Ctrl + W, but Ctrl + Q closes it entirely.

Using Alt + F4 works like i requested, but, at least for me, it is less practical than clicking the close-button, due to the inconvenient placement of those keys (which is even less convenient on a keyboard which has another key, like Alt Gr, instead of a second Alt-key).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![WofWca](https://forum.delta.chat/user_avatar/forum.delta.chat/wofwca/32/1702_2.png) [@WofWca](https://forum.delta.chat/u/WofWca)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 1:16pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/desktop-app-close-the-window-but-not-the-app-when-pressing-ctrl-w/5455/2 "2026-06-19T13:16:16Z")

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IDK IDK. In the next release we’re gonna have “Escape to close the chat”, maybe that’s gonna be enough to cover your use case?  
And otherwise I’d say that Ctrl+W should close the chat and not the whole window (given that we want to have the Ctrl+W shortcut at all).

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![1423425](https://forum.delta.chat/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/1/ecc23a/32.png) [@1423425](https://forum.delta.chat/u/1423425)\
**Post date:** [June 19, 2026, 1:31pm UTC](https://forum.delta.chat/t/desktop-app-close-the-window-but-not-the-app-when-pressing-ctrl-w/5455/3 "2026-06-19T13:31:48Z")

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I do not want the chat to be closed, but the window. When i open Delta Chat again, it should show the same chat as when closing, like clicking on the close-button. Just a more convenient way to close the window with keys instead of a mouse-cursor.