Hey,

The default hotkey (SHIFT-F) is also used in mods such as "Quick Item Search": https://mods.factorio.com/mod/QuickItemSearch, "Factory Search": https://mods.factorio.com/mod/FactorySearch or "BeastFinder": https://mods.factorio.com/mod/BeastFinder

It might be a good idea to change it, as I think a searching mod
I bound mine to ALT-Spacebar, but maybe the community has better idea's.

I was aware of the other mods using shift+F but decided to use it anyway because it needs to be a keybind that's just as easy to reach and use as building or rotating and such, so I wanted it to be some key for the left index finger. I have a script to search through all mods to find which key sequences are used and all of the easy to reach ones are used by several mods, including popular ones, which makes a lot of sense.

alt+spcae is only used by 2 other mods which aren't super popular so it does seem like a good alternative, but it definitely is not as easy to reach as shift+F.

I'm very hesitant to change the default keybind as it could easily cause confusion, but I think I'd be open to stating some alternatives on the mod portal (or even having the alternate key bind bound to something by default, maybe.)

I've been using middle click, since I unbound it from pipette a long time ago. Perhaps some modifier + middle click could do the job?

I'm very hesitant to change the default keybind as it could easily cause confusion, but I think I'd be open to stating some alternatives on the mod portal (or even having the alternate key bind bound to something by default, maybe.)

I think if you change the default keybind, it will only change for new users, and anyone who already had it installed would keep the old keybind. That's how it works for mod settings anyway.