Datapad was in "walking mode" even though i wasn't holding the shift key

Could you expand on this a bit? Do you mean that the datapad did not zoom in as expected when standing still and instead stayed zoomed out as it normally would while walking? This is a known bug that is very difficult for me to reliably replicate, but I'm aware of it.

Standing still was fine. In this case i was walking using the "auto-walk" command with the ~ key. while i was walking everytime i invoked the datapad using either V or N it went into the zoomed out mode and i kept walking. I didn't have to hold the shift key. It was actually a positive experience - i wished it worked that way all the time. But, i do understand that there is a keyboard conflict since you added the ability to use WASD to navigate the datapad. I am beginning to feel like WASD should just be for movement and remove the 'walk' commands while the datapad is open and just allow the datapad to come up in zoomed out mode when you are walking. Seems more intuitive. Just a thought.

There are two datapad control options in the settings menu. The alt datapad controls will allow you to use the WASD keys to navigate the datapad, but of course this means you can use them to walk while equipping the datapad (you must hold shift instead). If you use the normal datapad control option you can indeed still use the WASD keys to walk while equipping the datapad and use the arrow keys to navigate the datapad at the same time. The auto walk ~ key will work regardless of while datapad control option you use.

I see - i didn't make the connection between the alt datapad controls being enabled or not. Thanks

Now that i have figured out how the controls work. I have to admit that while I initially liked the idea of the alternate controls I probably won't ever use them again. The advantage of being able to walk and interact with the datapad is better than using WASD to interact with the datapad.

I prefer the original controls as well, but the option is there for those that want to use WASD controls.