diff --git a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/Search.tsx b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/Search.tsx
index 034fea29271d..fbceb15d53e8 100644
--- a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/Search.tsx
+++ b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/Search.tsx
@@ -22,6 +22,7 @@ import {
   isCloseType,
 } from './types';
 import { searchItem } from './utils';
+import { matchesKeyCode, matchesModifiers } from './keybinding';
 
 const DEFAULT_MAX_SEARCH_RESULTS = 50;
 
@@ -175,9 +176,13 @@ export const Search = React.memo<{
 
     useEffect(() => {
       const focusSearch = (event: KeyboardEvent) => {
-        if (!enableShortcuts || isLoading || !inputRef.current) return;
-        if (event.shiftKey || event.metaKey || event.ctrlKey || event.altKey) return;
-        if (event.key === '/' && inputRef.current !== document.activeElement) {
+        if (!enableShortcuts || isLoading || event.repeat) return;
+        if (!inputRef.current || inputRef.current === document.activeElement) return;
+        if (
+          // Shift is required to type `/` on some keyboard layouts
+          matchesModifiers({ ctrl: false, alt: false, meta: false }, event) &&
+          matchesKeyCode('Slash', event)
+        ) {
           inputRef.current.focus();
           event.preventDefault();
         }
diff --git a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/SearchResults.tsx b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/SearchResults.tsx
index 68bae2a066f2..a72bfcd030cf 100644
--- a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/SearchResults.tsx
+++ b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/SearchResults.tsx
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import {
   SearchResult,
 } from './types';
 import { getLink } from './utils';
+import { matchesKeyCode, matchesModifiers } from './keybinding';
 
 const ResultsList = styled.ol({
   listStyle: 'none',
@@ -188,9 +189,8 @@ export const SearchResults: FunctionComponent<{
   }) => {
     useEffect(() => {
       const handleEscape = (event: KeyboardEvent) => {
-        if (!enableShortcuts || isLoading) return;
-        if (event.shiftKey || event.metaKey || event.ctrlKey || event.altKey) return;
-        if (event.key === 'Escape') {
+        if (!enableShortcuts || isLoading || event.repeat) return;
+        if (matchesModifiers(false, event) && matchesKeyCode('Escape', event)) {
           const target = event.target as Element;
           if (target?.id === 'storybook-explorer-searchfield') return; // handled by downshift
           event.preventDefault();
diff --git a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/keybinding.ts b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/keybinding.ts
new file mode 100644
index 000000000000..f66ee3cfc344
--- /dev/null
+++ b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/keybinding.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,34 @@
+const codeToKeyMap = {
+  // event.code => event.key
+  Space: ' ',
+  Slash: '/',
+  ArrowLeft: 'ArrowLeft',
+  ArrowUp: 'ArrowUp',
+  ArrowRight: 'ArrowRight',
+  ArrowDown: 'ArrowDown',
+  Escape: 'Escape',
+  Enter: 'Enter',
+};
+
+interface Modifiers {
+  alt?: boolean;
+  ctrl?: boolean;
+  meta?: boolean;
+  shift?: boolean;
+}
+
+const allFalse = { alt: false, ctrl: false, meta: false, shift: false };
+
+export const matchesModifiers = (modifiers: Modifiers | false, event: KeyboardEvent) => {
+  const { alt, ctrl, meta, shift } = modifiers === false ? allFalse : modifiers;
+  if (typeof alt === 'boolean' && alt !== event.altKey) return false;
+  if (typeof ctrl === 'boolean' && ctrl !== event.ctrlKey) return false;
+  if (typeof meta === 'boolean' && meta !== event.metaKey) return false;
+  if (typeof shift === 'boolean' && shift !== event.shiftKey) return false;
+  return true;
+};
+
+export const matchesKeyCode = (code: keyof typeof codeToKeyMap, event: KeyboardEvent) => {
+  // event.code is preferable but not supported in IE
+  return event.code ? event.code === code : event.key === codeToKeyMap[code];
+};
diff --git a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/useExpanded.ts b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/useExpanded.ts
index 84fa23ee9e22..45a643a3bb49 100644
--- a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/useExpanded.ts
+++ b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/useExpanded.ts
@@ -2,6 +2,7 @@ import { StoriesHash } from '@storybook/api';
 import { document } from 'global';
 import throttle from 'lodash/throttle';
 import React, { Dispatch, MutableRefObject, useCallback, useEffect, useReducer } from 'react';
+import { matchesKeyCode, matchesModifiers } from './keybinding';
 import { Highlight } from './types';
 
 import { isAncestor, getAncestorIds, getDescendantIds, scrollIntoView } from './utils';
@@ -114,9 +115,14 @@ export const useExpanded = ({
     const navigateTree = throttle((event: KeyboardEvent) => {
       const highlightedItemId =
         highlightedRef.current?.refId === refId && highlightedRef.current?.itemId;
-      if (!isBrowsing || !event.key || !containerRef.current || !highlightedItemId) return;
-      if (event.repeat || event.shiftKey || event.metaKey || event.ctrlKey || event.altKey) return;
-      if (!['Enter', ' ', 'ArrowLeft', 'ArrowRight'].includes(event.key)) return;
+      if (!isBrowsing || !containerRef.current || !highlightedItemId || event.repeat) return;
+      if (!matchesModifiers(false, event)) return;
+
+      const isEnter = matchesKeyCode('Enter', event);
+      const isSpace = matchesKeyCode('Space', event);
+      const isArrowLeft = matchesKeyCode('ArrowLeft', event);
+      const isArrowRight = matchesKeyCode('ArrowRight', event);
+      if (!(isEnter || isSpace || isArrowLeft || isArrowRight)) return;
 
       const highlightedElement = getElementByDataItemId(highlightedItemId);
       if (!highlightedElement || highlightedElement.getAttribute('data-ref-id') !== refId) return;
@@ -124,20 +130,20 @@ export const useExpanded = ({
       const target = event.target as Element;
       if (!isAncestor(menuElement, target) && !isAncestor(target, menuElement)) return;
       if (target.hasAttribute('data-action')) {
-        if (['Enter', ' '].includes(event.key)) return;
+        if (isEnter || isSpace) return;
         (target as HTMLButtonElement).blur();
       }
 
       event.preventDefault();
 
       const type = highlightedElement.getAttribute('data-nodetype');
-      if (['Enter', ' '].includes(event.key) && ['component', 'story', 'document'].includes(type)) {
+      if ((isEnter || isSpace) && ['component', 'story', 'document'].includes(type)) {
         onSelectStoryId(highlightedItemId);
       }
 
       const isExpanded = highlightedElement.getAttribute('aria-expanded');
 
-      if (event.key === 'ArrowLeft') {
+      if (isArrowLeft) {
         if (isExpanded === 'true') {
           // The highlighted node is expanded, so we collapse it.
           setExpanded({ ids: [highlightedItemId], value: false });
@@ -158,7 +164,7 @@ export const useExpanded = ({
         return;
       }
 
-      if (event.key === 'ArrowRight') {
+      if (isArrowRight) {
         if (isExpanded === 'false') {
           updateExpanded({ ids: [highlightedItemId], value: true });
         } else if (isExpanded === 'true') {
diff --git a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/useHighlighted.ts b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/useHighlighted.ts
index b66f93d038a5..1da2e5281d13 100644
--- a/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/useHighlighted.ts
+++ b/lib/ui/src/components/sidebar/useHighlighted.ts
@@ -8,6 +8,7 @@ import {
   useRef,
   useState,
 } from 'react';
+import { matchesKeyCode, matchesModifiers } from './keybinding';
 
 import { CombinedDataset, Highlight, Selection } from './types';
 import { cycle, isAncestor, scrollIntoView } from './utils';
@@ -79,9 +80,12 @@ export const useHighlighted = ({
 
     let lastRequestId: number;
     const navigateTree = (event: KeyboardEvent) => {
-      if (isLoading || !isBrowsing || !event.key || !containerRef || !containerRef.current) return;
-      if (event.shiftKey || event.metaKey || event.ctrlKey || event.altKey) return;
-      if (!['ArrowUp', 'ArrowDown'].includes(event.key)) return;
+      if (isLoading || !isBrowsing || !containerRef.current) return; // allow event.repeat
+      if (!matchesModifiers(false, event)) return;
+
+      const isArrowUp = matchesKeyCode('ArrowUp', event);
+      const isArrowDown = matchesKeyCode('ArrowDown', event);
+      if (!(isArrowUp || isArrowDown)) return;
       event.preventDefault();
 
       const requestId = window.requestAnimationFrame(() => {
@@ -100,10 +104,8 @@ export const useHighlighted = ({
             el.getAttribute('data-item-id') === highlightedRef.current?.itemId &&
             el.getAttribute('data-ref-id') === highlightedRef.current?.refId
         );
-        const nextIndex = cycle(highlightable, currentIndex, event.key === 'ArrowUp' ? -1 : 1);
-        const didRunAround =
-          (event.key === 'ArrowDown' && nextIndex === 0) ||
-          (event.key === 'ArrowUp' && nextIndex === highlightable.length - 1);
+        const nextIndex = cycle(highlightable, currentIndex, isArrowUp ? -1 : 1);
+        const didRunAround = isArrowUp ? nextIndex === highlightable.length - 1 : nextIndex === 0;
         highlightElement(highlightable[nextIndex], didRunAround);
       });
     };