Gaming Mode (Full-Screen / Process-Aware Hotkey Suppression)
Gaming mode in Fluent Search prevents the app from popping up or stealing focus while you're in a full-screen experience — games, presentations, remote desktop sessions, video players, or any situation where accidental hotkey triggers would be disruptive.
Why use it?
- Avoid accidental popups while gaming, presenting, or using full-screen apps
- Prevent focus stealing during remote desktop or video sessions
- Eliminate input interference — Fluent Search completely unregisters its hotkeys when gaming mode conditions are met, so there is zero impact on input latency
- Keep Fluent Search installed without it interfering with your full-screen workflows
How to enable
- Open Fluent Search
- Go to Settings → Hotkeys
- Enable one or both of these options:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Ignore hotkeys in full-screen applications | Suppresses all Fluent Search hotkeys when any full-screen window is detected (excludes Windows Explorer) |
| Ignore hotkeys for specific processes | Suppresses hotkeys when the focused application matches a process name on your list |
For the per-process option, add process names (for example, game.exe, obs64.exe, mstsc.exe) to the ignore list.
Quick toggle: You can also search for "Gaming mode" in Fluent Search and toggle it on or off from the results.
What exactly is suppressed?
When gaming mode conditions apply, Fluent Search completely unregisters its global hotkeys from the operating system. This means:
- The main search hotkey will not respond
- Search App hotkeys, app hotkeys, and tag hotkeys are all unregistered
- Screen search and in-window search hotkeys are unregistered
- No input lag — since the hotkeys are unregistered (not just blocked), there is no overhead on keyboard input
What is NOT affected:
- Clicking the system tray icon still works
- Launching Fluent Search from shortcuts or other apps still works
- Fluent Search continues running in the background — only the hotkey listener is suspended
System tray indicator
When gaming mode is active (either partially or fully), the Fluent Search system tray icon changes to a gaming mode icon. This gives you a quick visual indicator that hotkeys are currently suppressed.
Background process modes
Fluent Search supports three background process modes:
| Mode | Description |
|---|---|
| Full | All hotkeys active (normal operation) |
| Partial | Hotkeys suppressed for ignored processes only |
| Disabled | All hotkeys suppressed (full gaming mode) |
Tips and troubleshooting
- Hotkeys stop working unexpectedly: Check whether you're in a borderless-fullscreen app — many games and video players run in borderless fullscreen, which counts as full-screen for suppression purposes.
- Only one app should suppress hotkeys: Use Ignore hotkeys for specific processes instead of the blanket full-screen suppression. This gives you more precise control.
- You want hotkeys in a specific full-screen app: Disable full-screen suppression and use the per-process list to suppress only the processes you need.
- Remote Desktop:
mstsc.exe(Remote Desktop Client) is in the default ignore list because hotkeys typically interfere with remote sessions.
Debugging checklist when hotkeys aren't firing:
- Is full-screen hotkey suppression enabled?
- What is the process name of the foreground app?
- Is that process in the per-process ignore list?
- Check the system tray icon — is it showing the gaming mode indicator?