[BetterRed]

@pchrist7 - I don't use that specific procedure, but Ctrl/a is normally a 'work everywhere kb shortcut', it does a select all here

And so does Ctrl/Alt/a - I didn't know that, I might give it another job

It's possible something/someone has assigned Ctrl/a to something else. Open the ...\calibre\shortcuts\main.json file in notepad or similar and search for Ctrl+A if its found then do not change that file directly, use Preferences-> Keyboard.

It's also possible that Ctrl/A has been 'hijacked' within windows - try doing a Ctrl/a in windows explorer, make sure you're in a location with more than one thing in it.

BR