[Solved] Wishlist - replace with special character

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jsampson45
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[Solved] Wishlist - replace with special character

Post by jsampson45 »

I am new to OpenOffice Writer, being a frequent user of Microsoft Word. I would like to be able to replace a particular string with a special character such as en dash. This was easy to do in older versions of Word as en dash was in a drop down menu called "Special". Can I suggest that future versions of OpenOffice Writer have a similar facility? I apologise in advance if Writer already has this facility, but I have not been able to find it.
Last edited by MrProgrammer on Sun Dec 13, 2020 4:21 am, edited 1 time in total.
Reason: Tagged ✓ [Solved]
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robleyd
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Re: Wishlist - replace with special character

Post by robleyd »

I'm not familiar with Word; is the Special drop down in the Find/Replace dialog? If so, there isn't an equivalent in Writer, but you could perhaps use Insert | Special Character to add a character in your document, then copy it to the search/replace dialog.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Wishlist - replace with special character

Post by Hagar Delest »

Hi and welcome to the forum!

See: [Solved] Find and replace -- with an "em" dash.

See also this query if necessary.
If no solution, can you detail what kind of string you want to replace exactly?

Please add [Solved] at the beginning of the title in your first post (top of the topic) with the edit button if your issue has been fixed.
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jsampson45
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Re: Wishlist - replace with special character

Post by jsampson45 »

It is a non-printable string. I have no problem pasting that into the "Find" box, and finding it in the document works OK. It is replacing that can be done more simply in Word. My idea in posting this item was to suggest that a similar facility might be implemented in future versions of Writer. It should go in a wish list if there is one.
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Hagar Delest
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Re: Wishlist - replace with special character

Post by Hagar Delest »

You've to file an enhancement request: [Tutorial] Reporting bugs or suggestions.
But you should be more precise. What kind of non-printable string?
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jsampson45
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Re: Wishlist - replace with special character

Post by jsampson45 »

An example of the kind of string I want to replace is bytes E2 80 94. For this context it does not matter as far as I can see. I will post as you suggest.
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MrProgrammer
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Re: Wishlist - replace with special character

Post by MrProgrammer »

jsampson45 wrote:I would like to be able to replace a particular string with a special character such as en dash. … Can I suggest that future versions of OpenOffice Writer have a similar facility?
You have just described what Edit → AutoText does. Read about AutoText in Help → Index or in User Guides (PDF) or searching for topics about it in the Writer Forum.

If this solved your problem please go to your first post use the Edit button and add [Solved] to the start of the title. You can select the green checkmark icon at the same time.
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