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This is Appendix A of the OpenOffice.org 2.x Writer Guide (Third edition), produced by the OOoAuthors group. A PDF of this chapter is available from the OOoAuthors Guides page at OpenOffice.org.

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Shortcut keys: Introduction

You can use OpenOffice.org (OOo) without requiring a pointing device, such as a mouse or trackball, by using its built-in keyboard shortcuts. Tasks as varied and complex as docking and un-docking toolbars and windows, or changing the size or position of objects can all be accomplished with only a keyboard. Although OOo has its own extensive set of keyboard shortcuts, each component provides others which are specific to its work.

For help with OOo's keyboard shortcuts, or using OOo with a keyboard only, search the OOo Help using the “shortcut" or “accessibility" keywords.

Assigning shortcut keys

In addition to using the built-in keyboard shortcuts (listed later in this Appendix), you can define your own. You can assign shortcuts to standard Writer functions or your own macros and save them for use with Writer only, or with the entire OpenOffice.org suite.

To adapt shortcut keys to your needs, use the Customize dialog, as described in this section and in the section titled “Assigning styles to shortcut keys" in Chapter 7, “Working with Styles".

As an example, suppose you wish to apply a particular character style during document creation or editing, for example to add emphasis to a word, and you would like to do this using a shortcut key combination, rather than using the rather more long-winded menu access. You could assign Shift-F3 as a shortcut for this purpose, as described below:

1. 1. Select Tools > Customize > Keyboard. The Customize dialog (Figure 1) opens.
   2. To have the shortcut key assignment available only with Writer, select the Writer button (located at the upper right corner of the Keyboard tab); otherwise select the OpenOffice.org button which will make it available to every component.
   3. Next select Styles > CharacterStyles in the Category list and Emphasis in the Function list.
   4. Now select the shortcut keys Shift+F3 in the Shortcut keys list and click the Modify button at the upper right.
   5. Click OK to accept the change. Now the Shift+F3 shortcut will apply the Emphasis style to any selection.

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Saving changes to a file

Changes to the shortcut key assignments (and other configurations) can be saved in a keyboard configuration file for use at a later time, thus permitting you to create and apply different configurations as the need arises. To save keyboard shortcuts to a file:

1. 1. After making your keyboard shortcut assignments, click the Save button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog (Figure 1).
   2. In the Save Keyboard Configuration dialog, select All files from the Save as Type list.
   3. Next enter a name for the keyboard configuration file in the File name box, or select an existing file from the list. If you need to, browse to find a file from another location.
   4. Click Save. A confirmation dialog will appear if you are about to overwrite an existing file, otherwise there will be no feedback and the file will be saved.

Loading a saved keyboard configuration

To load a saved keyboard configuration file and replace your existing configuration, click the Load button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog (Figure 1), and then select the configuration file from the Load Keyboard Configuration dialog.

Resetting the shortcut keys

To reset all of the keyboard shortcuts to their default values, click the Reset button near the bottom right of the Customize dialog (Figure 1). Use this feature with care as no confirmation dialog will be displayed; the defaults will be set without any further notice or user input.

Running macros

You can also define shortcut key combinations that will run macros. These shortcut keys are strictly user-defined; none are built in. For information on macros, see “Getting started with macros" in the Getting Started book.

Shortcut keys for OpenOffice.org Writer

Table '1': Writer shortcut key combinations

Shortcut keys for tables

Table '2': Shortcut keys for tables in OpenOffice.org Writer

Shortcut keys for paragraphs and heading levels

Table '3': Shortcut Keys for Paragraph and Heading Levels