Remote Desktop Mobile (RD Client) on iPad not sending shift keyboard combos to Excel

LanguageGame-2976 20 Reputation points
2023-10-01T15:27:59.77+00:00

The Microsoft Remote Desktop Mobile app (RD Client) on iPad does not send many keyboard combinations correctly to Excel. I am using an 10th generation iPad with a keyboard to connect to two PCs running Windows 11 Pro to run Excel. Whether I connect to one PC or the other, it exhibits the same behavior. Specifically, while many keyboard combination shortcuts work in Excel on the remote PCs, several shortcuts that involve the shift key do not work. For example:

  • Shift + Space is supposed to select a row in Excel, but instead it inserts a space character
  • Ctrl + Shift + 1 is supposed to apply a number format in Excel, but instead it inserts a 1 character
  • On the other hand, Shift + Right arrow does correctly expand the selected range to the right as does Shift + Left arrow to expand the selected range to the left, so some of the shift combos do work

I believe this is a bug in the Remote Desktop Mobile application. The reasons for this are:

  • The failure happens regardless of whether I connect to one PC or the other (suggesting the issue is with the client app and not the server)
  • I used another app on the iPad called Jump Desktop which connects over RDP, and that app correctly sends the shift keyboard combos to Excel on both Windows 11 PCs

Here are the products I am using:

  • iPad 10th Generation (MQ6K3LL/A)
  • iPadOS version 17.0.2
  • Microsoft Bluetooth Keyboard or Logitech Combo Touch keyboard
  • Remote Desktop Mobile version 10.5.1
Excel
Excel
A family of Microsoft spreadsheet software with tools for analyzing, charting, and communicating data.
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Remote Desktop
Remote Desktop
A Microsoft app that connects remotely to computers and to virtual apps and desktops.
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