Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 62846
Unique hotkeys for common tasks in menus
Last modified: 2013-02-07 22:38:16 UTC
A very common task such as "Insert" - "Picture" should have a unique hotkey in its menu (the "Insert" menu). As things stand, to access this command using just the keyboard, I have to press "u" twice: the first time, the command "Duplicate slide" is highlighted, and the second time "Picture" becomes highlighted. Since this is one of the more common tasks performed when using Impress, it'd be great if it had its own hotkey within the Insert menu. Things would make a lot more sense, and it'd be much more intuitive, if this can be sorted out. I suppose this is complicated by the desirability of consistency across all components of OOo: so for example we shouldn't use "p" as that's assigned to the insert "Special character" command in Writer. However, there are inconsistencies elsewhere, so I don't see that as a showstopper: for example, insert "Formatting mark" has the hotkey "k" in Impress, but "g" in Writer and Calc. Personally I'd vote for "g" for inserting graphics (as in OOo 1.x).
Reassigned.
These are essentially all the same bug: PR 42780, PR 72271, PR 92862, PR 62846, and PR 76920. It is disappointing for those of us used to using the keyboard that none of them have been addressed in at least 4 years :-(
(In reply to comment #0) > ...I have to press "u" twice... Not just twice (pressing "u"), but also Enter for the end. And unfortunately, the number of colliding hotkeys grows, sometimes with no reason (as there are plenty available letters), in many language interfaces. Spanish users reported this problem too. I am using a Polish version - up till ver 3.2.1 Alt-PW caused "save all documents". Ver. 3.3 is "improved": this sequence does not so - I need to press Enter after Alt-PW, because a new option appeared in Alt-P menu, with "W" letter assigned. To be honest, all (non-Polish) letters in the name of the new option were already used as hotkeys for other options in Alt-P. But in this case it would be even better to replace the hotkey for the previously existing option, to avoid conflict. Well, the users would have to change their habbits - but currently they need it too: I had a habbit to press Alt-PW when I needed to go away, now I need to change this habbit to Alt-P W Enter! Or the new option name should be added a random letter (not used as a hotkey yet in this menu), which would become the hotkey, with no conflict. I opt for assigning a high priority to this issue, because many users post about this and nothing changes for many years. (Well, this is not true that nothing changes - but the changes go in the opposite direction.)
(In reply to comment #3) Three more remarks: - Alt-PW in Polish UI is assigned to 3 options! But don't worry: the third of them cannot be reached in this way: when I press W second time, the second option expands to a submenu. Neither next W nor Esc helps to reach ther 3rd option. In fact, this can happen even upon the first pressing W, because the first option assigned to W is sometimes inactive (this is "save all" - it there is nothing to save, it is grey). So I even could not learn a proper number of pressing W's. - To support my idea of using a letter that is not in the most natural option's name: The Insert>Footnote/Endnote feature is (in Polish UI) invoked by "." after "Alt-S". - And if the programmers have trouble with finding uncolliding letter, perhaps they should leave an option without a hotkey, like Insert>Picture in Polish UI. New options are seldom used (if they were needed often, they would appear in earlier versions), so the need of hotkey for them is limited.