diff --git a/openbox/client.c b/openbox/client.c
index 73696c89..7a01e510 100644
--- a/openbox/client.c
+++ b/openbox/client.c
@@ -3397,6 +3397,16 @@ gboolean client_focus(ObClient *self)
                   "Focusing client \"%s\" at time %u\n",
                   self->title, event_curtime);
 
+    /* if there is a grab going on, then we need to cancel it. if we move
+       focus during the grab, applications will get NotifyWhileGrabbed events
+       and ignore them !
+
+       actions should not rely on being able to move focus during an
+       interactive grab.
+    */
+    if (keyboard_interactively_grabbed())
+        keyboard_interactive_cancel();
+
     if (self->can_focus) {
         /* This can cause a BadMatch error with CurrentTime, or if an app
            passed in a bad time for _NET_WM_ACTIVE_WINDOW. */
diff --git a/openbox/keyboard.c b/openbox/keyboard.c
index 1534e198..5cfd4571 100644
--- a/openbox/keyboard.c
+++ b/openbox/keyboard.c
@@ -199,11 +199,13 @@ static void keyboard_interactive_end(guint state, gboolean cancel, Time time,
     if (ungrab)
         grab_keyboard(FALSE);
 
+    /* set this before running the actions so they know the keyboard is not
+       grabbed */
+    istate.active = FALSE;
+
     alist = g_slist_append(NULL, istate.action);
     action_run_interactive(alist, istate.client, state, time, cancel, TRUE);
     g_slist_free(alist);
-
-    istate.active = FALSE;
 }
 
 static void keyboard_interactive_end_client(ObClient *client, gpointer data)
@@ -212,6 +214,12 @@ static void keyboard_interactive_end_client(ObClient *client, gpointer data)
         istate.client = NULL;
 }
 
+
+void keyboard_interactive_cancel()
+{
+    keyboard_interactive_end(0, TRUE, event_curtime, TRUE);
+}
+
 gboolean keyboard_interactive_grab(guint state, ObClient *client,
                                    ObAction *action)
 {
@@ -333,7 +341,7 @@ void keyboard_shutdown(gboolean reconfig)
         client_remove_destroy_notify(keyboard_interactive_end_client);
 
     if (istate.active)
-        keyboard_interactive_end(0, TRUE, 0, TRUE);
+        keyboard_interactive_cancel();
 
     ob_main_loop_timeout_remove(ob_main_loop, chain_timeout);
 
diff --git a/openbox/keyboard.h b/openbox/keyboard.h
index 4c6f3bb5..3d70448f 100644
--- a/openbox/keyboard.h
+++ b/openbox/keyboard.h
@@ -49,4 +49,6 @@ gboolean keyboard_process_interactive_grab(const XEvent *e,
                                            struct _ObClient **client);
 gboolean keyboard_interactively_grabbed();
 
+void keyboard_interactive_cancel();
+
 #endif