diff --git a/app/client/components/Clipboard.js b/app/client/components/Clipboard.js
index decd3f163a..8ae8b32901 100644
--- a/app/client/components/Clipboard.js
+++ b/app/client/components/Clipboard.js
@@ -2,14 +2,11 @@
  * Clipboard component manages the copy/cut/paste events by capturing these events from the browser,
  * managing their state, and exposing an API to other components to get/set the data.
  *
- * Because of a lack of standardization of ClipboardEvents between browsers, the way Clipboard
- * captures the events is by creating a hidden textarea element that's always focused with some text
- * selected. Here is a good write-up of this:
- * https://www.lucidchart.com/techblog/2014/12/02/definitive-guide-copying-pasting-javascript/
- *
  * When ClipboardEvent is detected, Clipboard captures the event and calls the corresponding
  * copy/cut/paste/input command actions, which will get called on the appropriate component.
  *
+ * The Clipboard also handles triggering correctly the "input" command when any key is pressed.
+ *
  * Usage:
  *    Components need to register copy/cut/paste actions with command.js:
  *      .copy() should return @pasteObj (defined below).
@@ -45,7 +42,6 @@ var {confirmModal} = require('app/client/ui2018/modals');
 var {styled} = require('grainjs');
 
 var commands = require('./commands');
-var dom = require('../lib/dom');
 var Base = require('./Base');
 var tableUtil = require('../lib/tableUtil');
 
@@ -54,27 +50,10 @@ const t = makeT('Clipboard');
 function Clipboard(app) {
   Base.call(this, null);
   this._app = app;
-  this.copypasteField = this.autoDispose(dom('textarea.copypaste.mousetrap', ''));
-  this.timeoutId = null;
-
-  this.onEvent(this.copypasteField, 'input', function(elem, event) {
-    var value = elem.value;
-    elem.value = '';
-    commands.allCommands.input.run(value);
-    return false;
-  });
-  this.onEvent(this.copypasteField, 'copy',  this._onCopy);
-  this.onEvent(this.copypasteField, 'cut',   this._onCut);
-  this.onEvent(this.copypasteField, 'paste', this._onPaste);
-
-  document.body.appendChild(this.copypasteField);
 
   FocusLayer.create(this, {
-    defaultFocusElem: this.copypasteField,
-    allowFocus: allowFocus,
+    defaultFocusElem: document.body,
     onDefaultFocus: () => {
-      this.copypasteField.value = ' ';
-      this.copypasteField.select();
       this._app.trigger('clipboard_focus');
     },
     onDefaultBlur: () => {
@@ -94,6 +73,34 @@ function Clipboard(app) {
     }
   });
 
+  // Listen for copy/cut/paste events and trigger the corresponding clipboard action.
+  // Note that internally, before triggering the action, we check if the currently active element
+  // doesn't already handle these events itself.
+  // This allows to globally handle copy/cut/paste events, without impacting
+  // inputs/textareas/selects where copy/cut/paste events should be left alone.
+  this.onEvent(document, 'copy', (_, event) => this._onCopy(event));
+  this.onEvent(document, 'cut', (_, event) => this._onCut(event));
+  this.onEvent(document, 'paste', (_, event) => this._onPaste(event));
+
+  // when typing a random printable character while not focusing an interactive element,
+  // trigger the input command with it
+  // @TODO: there is currently an issue, sometimes when typing something, that makes us focus a cell textarea,
+  // and then we can mouseclick on a different cell: dom focus is still on textarea, visual table focus is on new cell.
+  this.onEvent(document.body, 'keydown', (_, event) => {
+    if (shouldAvoidClipboardShortcuts(document.activeElement)) {
+      return;
+    }
+    const ev = event.originalEvent;
+    const collapsesWithCommands = keypressCollapsesWithExistingCommand(ev);
+    const isPrintableCharacter = keypressIsPrintableCharacter(ev);
+    if (!collapsesWithCommands && isPrintableCharacter) {
+      commands.allCommands.input.run(ev.key);
+      event.preventDefault();
+    } else {
+      console.log(ev.key, ev.key.length, ev.code);
+    }
+  });
+
   // In the event of a cut a callback is provided by the viewsection that is the target of the cut.
   // When called it returns the additional removal action needed for a cut.
   this._cutCallback = null;
@@ -116,7 +123,10 @@ Clipboard.commands = {
  * Internal helper fired on `copy` events. If a callback was registered from a component, calls the
  * callback to get selection data and puts it on the clipboard.
  */
-Clipboard.prototype._onCopy = function(elem, event) {
+Clipboard.prototype._onCopy = function(event) {
+  if (shouldAvoidClipboardShortcuts(document.activeElement)) {
+    return;
+  }
   event.preventDefault();
 
   let pasteObj = commands.allCommands.copy.run();
@@ -136,7 +146,11 @@ Clipboard.prototype._doContextMenuCopyWithHeaders = function() {
   this._copyToClipboard(pasteObj, 'copy', true);
 };
 
-Clipboard.prototype._onCut = function(elem, event) {
+Clipboard.prototype._onCut = function(event) {
+  if (shouldAvoidClipboardShortcuts(document.activeElement)) {
+    return;
+  }
+
   event.preventDefault();
 
   let pasteObj = commands.allCommands.cut.run();
@@ -211,7 +225,11 @@ Clipboard.prototype._setCutCallback = function(pasteObj, cutData) {
  * Internal helper fired on `paste` events. If a callback was registered from a component, calls the
  * callback with data from the clipboard.
  */
-Clipboard.prototype._onPaste = function(elem, event) {
+Clipboard.prototype._onPaste = function(event) {
+  if (shouldAvoidClipboardShortcuts(document.activeElement)) {
+    return;
+  }
+
   event.preventDefault();
   const cb = event.originalEvent.clipboardData;
   const plainText = cb.getData('text/plain');
@@ -220,12 +238,6 @@ Clipboard.prototype._onPaste = function(elem, event) {
   this._doPaste(pasteData, plainText);
 };
 
-var FOCUS_TARGET_TAGS = {
-  'INPUT': true,
-  'TEXTAREA': true,
-  'SELECT': true,
-  'IFRAME': true,
-};
 
 Clipboard.prototype._doContextMenuPaste = async function() {
   let clipboardItem;
@@ -293,6 +305,17 @@ async function getTextFromClipboardItem(clipboardItem, type) {
   }
 }
 
+const CLIPBOARD_TAGS = {
+  'INPUT': true,
+  'TEXTAREA': true,
+  'SELECT': true,
+};
+
+const FOCUS_TARGET_TAGS = {
+  ...CLIPBOARD_TAGS,
+  'IFRAME': true,
+};
+
 /**
  * Helper to determine if the currently active element deserves to keep its own focus, and capture
  * copy-paste events. Besides inputs and textareas, any element can be marked to be a valid
@@ -304,6 +327,16 @@ function allowFocus(elem) {
     elem.classList.contains('clipboard_focus'));
 }
 
+/**
+ * Helper to determine if the given element is a valid target for copy-cut-paste actions.
+ *
+ * It slightly differs from allowFocus: here we exclusively check for clipboard-related actions,
+ * not focus-related ones.
+ */
+function shouldAvoidClipboardShortcuts(elem) {
+  return elem && CLIPBOARD_TAGS.hasOwnProperty(elem.tagName)
+}
+
 Clipboard.allowFocus = allowFocus;
 
 function showUnavailableMenuCommandModal(action) {
@@ -346,6 +379,68 @@ function showUnavailableMenuCommandModal(action) {
   );
 }
 
+
+/**
+ * Helper to know if a keypress from a keydown/keypress/etc event is an actually printable character.
+ *
+ * This is useful in the Clipboard where we listen for keypresses outside of an input field,
+ * trying to know if the keypress should be handled by the application or not.
+ *
+ * @param {KeyboardEvent} event
+ * @returns {boolean}
+ */
+function keypressIsPrintableCharacter(event) {
+  // We assume that any 'action' modifier key pressed will not result in a printable character.
+  // This allows us to avoid stuff like "ctrl+r" (action), while keeping stuff like "altgr+r" (printable char).
+  if (event.getModifierState('Control') || event.getModifierState('Meta')) {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  // Stop early if the key press does nothing, in order to prevent entering in a cell with no character.
+  if (event.key === "") {
+    return false;
+  }
+
+  // Count the number of characters in the key, using a spread operator trick to correctly count unicode characters.
+  const keyLength = [...event.key].length;
+
+  // From testing in various languages, we can assume all keys represented by a single character are printable.
+  // Stop early in that case.
+  if (keyLength === 1) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  // When here, `event.key` could be a non-printable character like `ArrowUp`, `Enter`, `F3`…
+  // or a printable character with length > 1, like `لا` in Arabic.
+  // We want to avoid the first case.
+
+  // Only special keys like `ArrowUp` etc are listed with uppercases when typed in lowercase.
+  // Make tests around that depending on Shift key press.
+  if (!event.getModifierState('Shift') && event.key.toLocaleLowerCase() === event.key
+      || (
+        event.getModifierState('Shift')
+        && event.key.toLocaleLowerCase() === event.key
+        && event.key.toLocaleUpperCase() === event.key
+      )
+  ) {
+    return true;
+  }
+
+  // If we are here, it means the key is like `ArrowUp` and others, those are not printable.
+  return false;
+}
+
+/**
+ * Helper to know if a given keypress matches an existing command shortcut.
+ *
+ * @param {KeyboardEvent} event
+ * @returns {boolean}
+ */
+function keypressCollapsesWithExistingCommand(event) {
+  const shortcut = commands.getShortcutFromKeypress(event);
+  return !!shortcut && shortcut.stopsPropagation;
+}
+
 module.exports = Clipboard;
 
 const cssModalContent = styled('div', `
diff --git a/app/client/components/commandList.ts b/app/client/components/commandList.ts
index 00a9e02745..c2c7b8a190 100644
--- a/app/client/components/commandList.ts
+++ b/app/client/components/commandList.ts
@@ -127,6 +127,15 @@ export interface CommandDef {
   desc: string | null;
   bindKeys?: boolean;
   deprecated?: boolean;
+  /**
+   * Whether or not this command stops keyboard event propagation.
+   *
+   * Toggling this doesn't actually make the command stop propagation or not.
+   * It's a representation of what the function called when the command runs does.
+   *
+   * When not set, defaults to true, as 99% of commands do stop propagation.
+   */
+  stopsPropagation?: boolean;
 }
 
 export interface MenuCommand {
@@ -314,7 +323,7 @@ export const groups: CommendGroupDef[] = [{
       name: 'cursorLeft',
       keys: ['Left'],
       desc: 'Move left to the previous field'
-    }, {
+    }, /**/{
       name: 'nextField',
       keys: ['Tab'],
       desc: 'Move to the next field, saving changes if editing a value'
@@ -322,7 +331,7 @@ export const groups: CommendGroupDef[] = [{
       name: 'prevField',
       keys: ['Shift+Tab'],
       desc: 'Move to the previous field, saving changes if editing a value'
-    }, {
+    }, /**/{
       name: 'pageDown',
       keys: ['PageDown'],
       desc: 'Move down one page of records, or to next record in a card list'
@@ -517,6 +526,7 @@ export const groups: CommendGroupDef[] = [{
       name: 'makeFormula',
       keys: ["="],
       desc: 'When typed at the start of a cell, make this a formula column',
+      stopsPropagation: false,
     }, {
       name: 'unmakeFormula',
       keys: ['Backspace'],
diff --git a/app/client/components/commands.ts b/app/client/components/commands.ts
index 4fa7daaf57..fe86be6c04 100644
--- a/app/client/components/commands.ts
+++ b/app/client/components/commands.ts
@@ -53,6 +53,93 @@ export const allCommands: { [key in CommandName]: Command } = {} as any;
  */
 const _allKeys: Record<string, CommandGroup[]> = {};
 
+/**
+ * Internal variable listing all shortcuts defined in the app,
+ * and telling whether or not they stop keyboard event propagation.
+ *
+ * Useful to check if a user keypress matches a command shortcut.
+ */
+const _allShortcuts: { [key: string]: { keys: string, stopsPropagation: boolean } } = {};
+
+/**
+ * Gets a shortcut string (like "mod+o", or a shorcut keys list like ["mod", "o"])
+ * and saves it in _allShortcuts, with a boolean indicating whether the command stops propagation.
+ */
+const saveShortcut = (key: string | string[], stopsPropagation?: boolean) => {
+  let shortcut = "";
+  const keyString = typeof key === 'string' ? key.toLowerCase() : key.join('+').toLowerCase();
+  if (keyString === "+" || !keyString.includes('+')) {
+    shortcut = keyString;
+  } else {
+    const splitKeys = keyString.split('+');
+    shortcut = splitKeys.slice(0, -1).sort().join('+') + '+' + splitKeys[splitKeys.length - 1];
+  }
+  // If multiple commands have the same shortcut (but triggered in different contexts),
+  // we assume all commands stop event propagation if at least of them do.
+  // This works for now but I'm afraid it might to lead to issues in the future…
+  _allShortcuts[shortcut] = {
+    keys: shortcut,
+    stopsPropagation: !!_allShortcuts[shortcut] && _allShortcuts[shortcut].stopsPropagation
+      ? true
+      : stopsPropagation ?? true,
+  };
+};
+
+const _keyAliases: Record<string, string> = {
+  'return': 'enter',
+  'esc': 'escape',
+  '+': 'plus',
+  ' ': 'space',
+};
+
+/**
+ * Given a keyboard event, get a string representing the keyboard shortcut of a registered command.
+ *
+ * @returns A string like "mod+o", or null if no command is found
+ */
+export const getShortcutFromKeypress = (event: KeyboardEvent) => {
+  let key = event.key.toLowerCase();
+  if (_keyAliases[key]) {
+    key = _keyAliases[key];
+  }
+  const modifiers = [];
+  if (event.shiftKey) {
+    modifiers.push('shift');
+  }
+  if (event.altKey) {
+    modifiers.push('alt');
+  }
+  if (event.ctrlKey) {
+    modifiers.push('ctrl');
+  }
+  if (event.metaKey) {
+    modifiers.push('meta');
+  }
+  if (
+      modifiers.length
+      && ['shift', 'alt', 'ctrl', 'meta', 'mod', 'control', 'option', 'command'].includes(key)
+  ) {
+    key = '';
+  }
+  const shortcut = modifiers.sort().join('+')
+    + (modifiers.length && key.length ? '+' : '')
+    + key;
+
+  if (isMac && event.metaKey && _allShortcuts[shortcut.replace('meta', 'mod')]) {
+    return shortcut.replace('meta', 'mod');
+  }
+
+  if (!isMac && event.ctrlKey && _allShortcuts[shortcut.replace('ctrl', 'mod')]) {
+    return shortcut.replace('ctrl', 'mod');
+  }
+
+  if (_allShortcuts[shortcut]) {
+    return shortcut;
+  }
+
+  return null;
+};
+
 /**
  * Populate allCommands from those provided, or listed in commandList.js. Also populates the
  * globally exposed `cmd` object whose properties invoke commands: e.g. typing `cmd.cursorDown` in
@@ -68,6 +155,9 @@ export function init(optCommandGroups?: CommendGroupDef[]) {
   Object.keys(_allKeys).forEach(function(k) {
     delete _allKeys[k as CommandName];
   });
+  Object.keys(_allShortcuts).forEach(function(k) {
+    delete _allShortcuts[k];
+  });
 
   commandGroups.forEach(function(commandGroup) {
     commandGroup.commands.forEach(function(c) {
@@ -78,6 +168,7 @@ export function init(optCommandGroups?: CommendGroupDef[]) {
           bindKeys: c.bindKeys,
           deprecated: c.deprecated,
         });
+        c.keys.forEach(k => saveShortcut(k, c.stopsPropagation));
       }
     });
   });
diff --git a/app/client/ui/App.ts b/app/client/ui/App.ts
index 2b2b1484bc..65712003ff 100644
--- a/app/client/ui/App.ts
+++ b/app/client/ui/App.ts
@@ -5,8 +5,6 @@ import * as commandList from 'app/client/components/commandList';
 import * as commands from 'app/client/components/commands';
 import {unsavedChanges} from 'app/client/components/UnsavedChanges';
 import {get as getBrowserGlobals} from 'app/client/lib/browserGlobals';
-import {isDesktop} from 'app/client/lib/browserInfo';
-import {FocusLayer} from 'app/client/lib/FocusLayer';
 import * as koUtil from 'app/client/lib/koUtil';
 import {reportError, TopAppModel, TopAppModelImpl} from 'app/client/models/AppModel';
 import {DocPageModel} from 'app/client/models/DocPageModel';
@@ -65,21 +63,7 @@ export class App extends DisposableWithEvents {
     this._settings = ko.observable({});
     this.features = ko.computed(() => this._settings().features || {});
 
-    if (isDesktop()) {
-      this.autoDispose(Clipboard.create(this));
-    } else {
-      // On mobile, we do not want to keep focus on a special textarea (which would cause unwanted
-      // scrolling and showing of mobile keyboard). But we still rely on 'clipboard_focus' and
-      // 'clipboard_blur' events to know when the "app" has a focus (rather than a particular
-      // input), by making document.body focusable and using a FocusLayer with it as the default.
-      document.body.setAttribute('tabindex', '-1');
-      FocusLayer.create(this, {
-        defaultFocusElem: document.body,
-        allowFocus: Clipboard.allowFocus,
-        onDefaultFocus: () => this.trigger('clipboard_focus'),
-        onDefaultBlur: () => this.trigger('clipboard_blur'),
-      });
-    }
+    this.autoDispose(Clipboard.create(this));
 
     this.topAppModel = this.autoDispose(TopAppModelImpl.create(null, G.window));