shortcut keys for LibreOffice under Linux

users
#1

Good morning
I am trying for years already to get friendly with linux, but have not
much luck with it.
Right now, I am (again) experimenting.

A new installation of (X)ubuntu 14.04 on two different machines comes
with LibreOffice.
However, the shortcut keys I am used to are different or non-functioning.
E.g., F11 is suppoed to bring up the styles menu.
-> Linux -> has to be Alt+F11
Ctrl+F10 -> show non-printing characters
-> Linux -> brings up the file menu

Is there some consistent, COMPREHENSIBLE system of assigning these
shortcut keys?
Or do I have to find out and learn one by one through trial and error?

Thank you.
Thomas

#2

Good morning
I am trying for years already to get friendly with linux, but have not
much luck with it.
Right now, I am (again) experimenting.

A new installation of (X)ubuntu 14.04 on two different machines comes
with LibreOffice.
However, the shortcut keys I am used to are different or non-functioning.
E.g., F11 is suppoed to bring up the styles menu.
-> Linux -> has to be Alt+F11

AFAIK, F11 brings up the Styles menu on both Ubuntu & Mint.

Ctrl+F10 -> show non-printing characters
-> Linux -> brings up the file menu

AFAIK, Ctrl+F10 shows non-printing characters in Writer on both Ubuntu & Mint.

Perhaps the difference is XCFE.

Is there some consistent, COMPREHENSIBLE system of assigning these
shortcut keys?
Or do I have to find out and learn one by one through trial and error?

(File) Tools / Customise - Keyboard tab, will let you look at all the
keyboard shortcuts and change them.

#3

Hi :slight_smile:
When moving to Gnu&Linux (or Gnu&Hurd, or Bsd, Solaris or other non-Windows
system) it's a good idea to use DistroWatch.

DW lists many useful websites for nearly every distro that exists or has
ever existed. Very few get deleted and very few are so new or obscure that
they are not fully listed (and most of those are on a waiting list).

The page for Xubuntu is
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=xubuntu
but it's an odd choice these days. It used to be a much lighter-weight
version of Ubuntu but these days there is also Lubuntu
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=lubuntu
(which looks horribly Win98(ish) to me (and i don't like blue)) or even
Kubuntu.
http://distrowatch.com/table.php?distribution=kubuntu
Kubuntu used to be horribly heavy and almost unusable on extremely low spec
machines but the KDE team have put huge amounts of work into making it so
much faster that i'm even considering it for the reception machine at
work! It has remained extremely attractive (even though i hate blue) and
has kept the plush features but somehow made it all run a LOT faster.

I found this btw;
http://www.keyxl.com/aaac887/409/xfce-window-manager-keyboard-shortcuts.htm
but i think Valentine's method is much better, and much more
up-to-the-minute.

Err incidentally i installed Lubuntu over the top of an old Ubuntu and used
the same user-names but during the install i made sure the partitioning bit
had unticked the "Format?" column. When i booted into Lubuntu i found
Firefox still had my old bookmarks. All the files i had "temporarily" put
on my desktop were still cluttering the screen. Firefox even opened all
the tabs i'd been working on before getting rid of the old Ubuntu!

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#4

(2014/08/11 11:53), T. R. Valentine wrote:

A new installation of (X)ubuntu 14.04 on two different machines comes
with LibreOffice.

Perhaps the difference is XCFE.

Yes, you are right!
Under Xubuntu using XCFE the shortcut keys are different from the usual Ubuntu.
I did not know and realize that.
Then I do have the choice between learning all the different shortcuts,
or else switching to Ubuntu (this "unity" thing, which I do not like at all).

Does the LibreOffice community any opinion on this difference in shortcut keys between
different OS (here Linux "flavors")?
I am just curious.

Thank you.
Thomas

#5

​Unity and XFCE are not the only desktop ​environments. If you have issues
with one, and dislike the other, you can try KDE, which have no issues
interfering with common keyboard shortcuts, and is also extensively
configurable in case you find an obscure combination that conflict with
libreoffice.

#6

Yes, you are right!
Under Xubuntu using XCFE the shortcut keys are different from the usual
Ubuntu.
I did not know and realize that.

Bad form, IMO. But I suppose the developers of XCFE have their reasons. ???

But I'm glad the puzzle was resolved.

Then I do have the choice between learning all the different shortcuts,
or else switching to Ubuntu (this "unity" thing, which I do not like at
all).

I gave Unity a try — for nearly a year and just couldn't get used to
it, but that was just me. I kept Ubuntu and switched to Cinnamon and
then completely switched to Mint-Cinnamon.

Does the LibreOffice community any opinion on this difference in shortcut
keys between
different OS (here Linux "flavors")?
I am just curious.

IMNSHO, a Bad Idea. I think there should be consistency across
platforms. For the most part, I think there is ... heck, even Ctrl+Z
and Ctrl+Y function under Mint-Cinnamon as they do in Windows rather
than the more standard ('nix) of Ctrl+Z and Shift+Ctrl+Z.

#7

Linux Mint, is another nice choice for those looking for a classic Ubuntu feel.

*Brian Colucci*

*Information Technology Manager*

MedWork_Logo_CMYK.jpg

*MedWork Occupational Health Care*

*1435 Cincinnati Street*

*Suite 100*

*Dayton, Ohio 45417*

#8

Hi :slight_smile:
Weirdly under Unity both
Ctrl shift z
and
Ctrl y
both redo

I've been using Unity for a couple of years. I didn't like it at first but
it's made huge improvements. It feels like Gnome is going backwards and
Mate&Cinamon are getting heavier. KDE is awesome imo.

Mint seems nice but it too seems to be getting heavier. Still all those
DE's look nice in it and it seems quite usable. It's really nice that it's
a well supported off-shoot of Ubuntu. If you are already familiar with
Debian/Ubuntu family then Mint is a good one because everything will be
VERY familiar whichever DE you choose.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#9

(2014/08/11 11:53), T. R. Valentine wrote:

Good morning
AFAIK, F11 brings up the Styles menu on both Ubuntu & Mint.

No. I just made a clean install of Mint 17.
Only Fn+F11 works
All the other key commands are apparently the same as they are under XFCE
BUT .... at the same time would love to be able to use all the shortcut keys I am used to.

(File) Tools / Customise - Keyboard tab, will let you look at all the keyboard shortcuts and change them.

Yes, I know.
What I would like to know is: is there a way of installing/importing ALL the shortcut key settings together?
Probably not.

Thomas

#10

Hi :slight_smile:
There might be but i don't know of it. It might be worth asking in the
generic
http://www.linuxquestions.org
forum because that forum covers many different distros so people might have
run into the issue before or might find it an interesting new challenge.

Also i find it can be good to ask at DW
http://distrowatch.com
has a regular weekly article/magazine and under it has "Readers Comments".
It's just 1 thread per week and starts with a new thread the next week.
One advantage is it's the only place you don't have to register for. Just
post a comment and see if people respond. Back when i was a regular they
used to go waaaaay off-topic and a question such as yours pulls them back
to something vaguely relevant for a bit, sometimes.

Also might be worth asking in the Xfce or specific distro forums. The Mint
forums might be good. As a gateway or introductory distro they are
probably not so familiar with people "distro hopping" (except from
Ubuntu). It's likely to be a refreshing change for them! :slight_smile:

if you start to get answers it'd be great if you can give us a link so we
can learn a bit too.
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#11

The ".config/libreoffice" hidden folder is where such things are saved.
I do not know which config file stores the keyboard commands you use to use.

by-the-by
I cannot go from Mint 16 to 17 [MATE] due to printer dependency issues. 2 of the Canon PIXMA inkjet printers I have will not install properly due to needed dependencies that Mint 17 and/or Ubuntu 14.04 upgraded and the printer install files will not use the "version 5 update" since they "require" version 4 - which the number "4" is part of the dependency's name.

#12

Hi :slight_smile:
It's not clear which DE is being used in Mint. I'm guessing it's the
"default one" but i'm not sure which that is. Mint seems to make it easy
to choose which DE, so it might still be Xfce on Mint but my guess is it's
more likely to be a Gnomeish one like Mate or Cinamon (or Gnome itself!).
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#13

(2014/08/13 23:26), Tom Davies wrote:

Hi :slight_smile:
It's not clear which DE is being used in Mint.

It is Mint 17 Cinnamon.

(File) Tools / Customise - Keyboard tab, will let you look at all the

I tried that ...
And the "customize" function DOES NOT work. I tried that already.
For example, LibreOffice comes with a lot of presets. One is "Navigator", that is assigned to F5 under Windows and Ubuntu.
Clicking on the ICON WILL call up the Navigator.
But ... the key = F5 does not. It shows brightness adjustment on my Dell Inspiron 1545.
NExt I also tried: Delete the key assignment -> reassign to F5 "Navigator".
No response.
And that goes for all the other keys I tried too.

Yet, I am using LibreOffice for work every day. Having thrown this kind of wrench into my engine is not really acceptable,
although I like Mint much better than Ubuntu.

keyboard shortcuts and change them.

The ".config/libreoffice" hidden folder is where such things are saved.
I do not know which config file stores the keyboard commands you use to
use.

I tried to find that file (even though I would not know what to do with it ...) -> the computer says there is not such file.
Could there maybe a trick like copying such a configuration file from "somewhere" in Windows or Ubunto to somewhere in Mint??

#14

Hi Thomas,

I just installed Mint/Cinnamon as a VM under my Fedora desktop. I'll have a play around later.

You just ran with the version of LO which came with Mint? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure it is the Mint spin (which I have got).

Cheers

#15

(2014/08/14 10:20), Tim Lloyd wrote:

Hi Thomas,

You just ran with the version of LO which came with Mint? Sorry for all the questions, I just want to make sure it is the Mint spin (which I have got).

Cheers

I believe it is the newest: 4.2.4.2

#16

Hi Thomas,

And the "customize" function DOES NOT work. I tried that already.
For example, LibreOffice comes with a lot of presets. One is
"Navigator", that is assigned to F5 under Windows and Ubuntu.
Clicking on the ICON WILL call up the Navigator.
But ... the key = F5 does not. It shows brightness adjustment on my
Dell Inspiron 1545.

I'm not sure, but this sounds like the laptop is not interpreting the
key as an F5 keypress, but as the brightness control keypress. If
that's right, this is not a problem with LibreOffice, more a case of
the laptop not doing what you expect. I don't know the particular model,
but I think it's fairly common for laptops to use some of the function
keys to do stuff like that. Often you need to press a button to toggle
the mode between function key mode and laptop function mode. Could the
problem be something like this?

Just a guess.

Paul

#17

(2014/08/14 10:55), Paul wrote:

Hi Thomas,

And the "customize" function DOES NOT work. I tried that already.
For example, LibreOffice comes with a lot of presets. One is
"Navigator", that is assigned to F5 under Windows and Ubuntu.
Clicking on the ICON WILL call up the Navigator.
But ... the key = F5 does not. It shows brightness adjustment on my
Dell Inspiron 1545.

I'm not sure, but this sounds like the laptop is not interpreting the
key as an F5 keypress, but as the brightness control keypress. If
that's right, this is not a problem with LibreOffice, more a case of
the laptop not doing what you expect. I don't know the particular model,
but I think it's fairly common for laptops to use some of the function
keys to do stuff like that. Often you need to press a button to toggle
the mode between function key mode and laptop function mode. Could the
problem be something like this?

Just a guess.

Paul

I also thought about that already, although I have currently no idea how to change that keyboard behavior.
BUT ... if that were true ..would / should LibreOffice not behave in the same way under Ubuntu (Unity desktop), Xubuntu (XFCE) and Mint (Cinnamon)?

If I revall correctly (this is an old PC of my daugther), I borrowed it a few years back when I had to spend a week away from home.
At that time the PC was running Windows Vista and I used LibreOffice in that environment, but do not remember any such behavior ...

#18

I downloaded Mint 17 which is running LO 4.2.3.3. I looked in writer and calc where F5 and F11 were behaving as normal (navigator & styles and formatting).

I have noted though that behaviour is not consistent across the distros you have tested which may point at Mint. I can't for the life of me think why though!

I was one of the respondents to your post on linuxquestions. A suggestion...let's give it another day for responses to filter through there. If nothing useful comes out, how about asking the linuxquestions admin people to move the post to the mint forum? I think reps of the distro hang around at that forum so may be able to advise one way or the other.

Cheers

#19

I also thought about that already, although I have currently no idea how
to change that keyboard behavior.
BUT ... if that were true ..would / should LibreOffice not behave in the
same way under Ubuntu (Unity desktop), Xubuntu (XFCE) and Mint (Cinnamon)?

it depends. It's a hardware question and the interpretation of the F5
key for brightness management is up to a special driver which the maker
provides, or not.
On my Thinkpad and under Debian Wheezy, all special keys are working.
When I tested earlier versions of otker distos this wasn't the case.

If I revall correctly (this is an old PC of my daugther), I borrowed it
a few years back when I had to spend a week away from home.
At that time the PC was running Windows Vista and I used LibreOffice in
that environment, but do not remember any such behavior ...

Usually nowadays, laptops have a "Fn" labelled key (lower left part of
the keyboard) that allows switching from Special functions keys
(brightness, volume, etc.) to normal function keys. On my Thinkpad, the
default behaviour is special functions keys. To get the normal function
keys I'd have to press the <Fn>+<Function key> combination which I found
annoying. Fortunately, this behaviour may be toggled in the Thinkpad
BIOS, which I did. Now, pressing a function key alone gives me the
normal function result and to get any of the extended functionalities I
have to press the <Fn>+<Function key> combination.

#20

(2014/08/14 12:39), Tim Lloyd wrote:

I downloaded Mint 17 which is running LO 4.2.3.3. I looked in writer and calc where F5 and F11 were behaving as normal (navigator & styles and formatting).

I have noted though that behaviour is not consistent across the distros you have tested which may point at Mint. I can't for the life of me think why though!

I was one of the respondents to your post on linuxquestions. A suggestion...let's give it another day for responses to filter through there. If nothing useful comes out, how about asking the linuxquestions admin people to move the post to the mint forum? I think reps of the distro hang around at that forum so may be able to advise one way or the other.

Cheers

(2014/08/14 10:55), Paul wrote:

Hi Thomas,

Paul

I also thought about that already, although I have currently no idea how to change that keyboard behavior.
BUT ... if that were true ..would / should LibreOffice not behave in the same way under Ubuntu (Unity desktop), Xubuntu (XFCE) and Mint (Cinnamon)?

If I revall correctly (this is an old PC of my daugther), I borrowed it a few years back when I had to spend a week away from home.
At that time the PC was running Windows Vista and I used LibreOffice in that environment, but do not remember any such behavior ...

Thank you all!
By now I figured out, that you have to combine EVERY function key with the Fn key.
If you do so, it works. Have not yet tested all possible combinations.

This is not perfect, but I will still with this, and not go back to Unity.