Ctrl F does not click into the search box

[djwebb1969]

Hi, I used Open Writer a lot as my main word processor, but it does have some infuriating poorly thought-out features. If you search for something, with Ctrl-F, it often seems not to click into the search box, and if you're not careful you have written something you were going to search for into the document and not into the search box. In fact, you often have to press Ctrl F three times to get it to click into the search box. How can you get CtrlF to always land you in the search box so that you can start typing your search query without messing up your document?

[floris v]

I tried a few times with my ancient keyboard in AOO 4.1.16 and it opened the Search box immediately every single time. So, it may not be particular to OpenOffice. Maybe the Ctrl+F combo doesn't work very well anymore for you due to wear and tear of your keyboard. Does it also happen with Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V? Maybe you hit Ctrl, release it without noticing it, and then press F. I used to press Ctrl+A when I really needed Shift+A and then lost a lot of text at the next keystroke. Just saying. We all make mistakes.
As we can't come to you to look over your shoulder to discover what's wrong, you will have to monitor carefully what exactly happens just before you find yourself typing in the main document instead of the search box.

[djwebb1969]

No, it has nothing to do with my keyboard. And yes, the Search box does open immediately each time, but the thing is that the cursor is not put in the search box. So the search dialogue opens, but unless you specifically click into the place where you need to type your search, you will be typing in the main document. This is just an error by Apache.

[Zizi64]

This is just an error by Apache.

Use the LibreOffice
https://www.libreoffice.org/download/do ... breoffice/

[RoryOF]

An Open file, followed by an immediate Ctrl F may fail, as OpenOffice is in the background repaginating the file and doing other housekeeping matters.

Once the file has opened and the background processing has ceased, for me CTRL F always opens the F&R dialog and places the cursor in the Search box.

[floris v]

No, it has nothing to do with my keyboard. And yes, the Search box does open immediately each time, but the thing is that the cursor is not put in the search box. So the search dialogue opens, but unless you specifically click into the place where you need to type your search, you will be typing in the main document. This is just an error by Apache.

I can't remember that ever happened to me.

[MrProgrammer]

If you search for something, with Ctrl-F, it often seems not to click into the search box …

I've used OpenOffice (beginning with 3.0 and currently 4.1.7) since 2010 and don't recall that I've ever experienced that difficulty. ⌘F (MacOS equivalent to Ctrl+F) always opens the Find dialog and puts the focus in the Search for field. I don't recall that anyone else on this forum has reported that problem. Are you sure you installed OpenOffice from Download Apache OpenOffice? Other copies of OpenOffice may contain Malware.

… you often have to press Ctrl F three times to get it to click into the search box.

In 15 years I'm quite sure I've never had that problem in any of the versions I've installed.

This is just an error by Apache.

Since I don't have those problems on MacOS, perhaps your problems are related to your operating system or it's configuration. I am not familar with your operating system and cannot offer any further advice.

[Bidouille]

Open Office 4.1.14, Ubuntu 20

Sure about this?
Ubuntu don't provide AOO in its repositories

[djwebb1969]

Maybe the replies I got relate to some other version than the Ubuntu 20 version of Open Office. I'm now using open Office 4.1.15 for Ubuntu 20.

[djwebb1969]

I think maybe this forum is composed of enthusiasts for Open Office who don't allow anyone to point out things that could be improved on.

I raised a question in the thread "Ctrl F does not click into the search box" (viewtopic.php?t=113411), got obtuse replies, mainly saying go and use Libre Office, or you should not be using ubuntu, or even that the CtrF does not put the cursor in the search box because the file is still paginating. Sadly these valiant attempts at answering were all incorrect.

I am now using the latest 4.16 version of Open Office, on Ubuntu 24.04.1 LTS Noble, and yes, the error is still there in both Writer and Calc. It seems the forum moderators' response to question THEY CAN'T ANSWER is to lock the thread.

[RoryOF]

Using Xubuntu 24.04.4 LTS and OpenOffice version 4.1.16 downloaded from the Apache OpenOffice site, when in Writer I press Ctrl F, the cursor is immediately blinking in the "Search for" box.

[djwebb1969]

Using Xubuntu 24.04.4 LTS and OpenOffice version 4.1.16 downloaded from the Apache OpenOffice site, when in Writer I press Ctrl F, the cursor is immediately blinking in the "Search for" box.

Yes, it does with a new blank file. But when working in an existing document it usually does not. But I am struggling to devise a rule for when it does and when it does not.

Is it possible to map CtrF to a macro that consistently places the cursor in the Search box? The amount of times I have overwritten my text and had to Ctrl Z it and press CtrF at least 3 times to get the cursor in the Search box is incredible. Working in the one file, this has happened to me hundreds of times. And I have published 5 books using Open Office and so I am very familiar with Open Office.

[djwebb1969]

If you open a file with text in and try CtrlF several times, you will see it does not consistently place the cursor in the Search box dialogue.

[RoryOF]

I have just tried with an existing 569,500 word file in .odt format. As soon as OpenOffice had stabilised after opening and I had clicked in the text (less than a count of ten), Ctrl F opened with cursor in the "Search for" box".

After a file opens and displays in OpenOffice Writer, I find one needs to click in the text area to commence any input to the application.

[floris v]

I think maybe this forum is composed of enthusiasts for Open Office who don't allow anyone to point out things that could be improved on.

There are a few problems with reporting bugs and problems with OpenOffice. The developers don't visit this forum. We are all users like you. If you want to report a bug, you have to file an issue at the bug tracker. We have a tutorial that can help you to do just that. Check out viewtopic.php?t=13490. There have never been nearly enough developers to handle all bugs and issues, many issues that users find important have been on that list for years. The situation is much worse now, development has practically stopped. Forget fixing minor bugs like this one (minor because there is an easy workaround). So, as we are practical people who want to help you get on with your work, regardless of what software helps you best. We advise people to work with MS Word if they have to share their work with users of MS Word professionally, and we recommend using LibreOffice to users who run into unresolved problems with OpenOffice that have been resolved in LibreOffice. Hope this helps.

[Hagar Delest]

I've merged your topics since they go back to the initial question.

It seems the forum moderators' response to question THEY CAN'T ANSWER is to lock the thread.

Actually, this is to prevent old topics to be brought back to life, or hijacked for some other issue by a new user. Some moderators are quite quicker than others to lock topics. Personally I'm not fond of locking topics because you can have some follow-up to post few weeks or months after but well, this is a community forum, bear with it.

Back to your problem, could it be the search window that has not the focus because the mouse pointer is not on it? Have you tried to change the desktop behavior for the window focus?