Apache OpenOffice Community Forum

Is there any way (short of editing the source code) to change Writer's behavior when scrolling through a document with the arrow keys? Currently, when it gets to the edge of the window, (top or bottom) it will jump several lines when you continue scrolling. (So if you were to hold the down arrow key in a big document the scrolling would seem to be very jumpy.) Every other text editor/wordprocessor I can recall using would scroll the text line by line, which is what I would like it to do. (So that if I'm reading through a large file I won't keep losing my place.)

I currently have the Windows 2.1 version.

No way to change that.

Be aware though, that using the arrow keys in a Writer document does not "scroll the window". What you're actually doing is moving the editing cursor. Writer then scrolls the screen to keep the editing cursor visible. It keeps the cursor a few lines off the bottom of the window, so the scrolling is jumpy.

I never trip on this, as I use the mouse's scrollwheel all the time.

If you're mostly reading when this happens, you can try toggling the "Edit File" icon on the toolbar: when the document is in read-only mode, there is no editing cursor and the arrow keys will simply scroll the window--no jumping. However, it will be a nuisance if you have to toggle editing on and off.

I would have thought accessibility tools should provide a way for people to use OpenOffice without a mouse, including scroll functions, but it doesn't. It supports an on-screen keyboard that people can use with a mouse. This completely disregards the possibility that some people are able to use a keyboard device but unable to use a mouse. If I were sight-impaired (or more so than I am), I might want to use my keyboard exclusively.

Three issues regarding this behavior:

Make it possible to scroll one line at a time in the word processor
Text jumping during vertical scrolling drives me nuts
option to scroll by one line at end of window

Comments indicate that this behavior will be difficult to change.

Read Only mode also scrolls by multiple lines when you use the arrow keys, though since there is no cursor it is more consistant. Same with using the mouse wheel. And I've been trying to avoid using the mouse wheel anyways because mine is wearing out. Since this issue has apparently been around for 5 years I guess it's not going to get fixed so I'll have to use something else when reading large text files and just use Open Office for file conversion.

EdrickV wrote:Read Only mode also scrolls by multiple lines when you use the arrow keys, though since there is no cursor it is more consistant. Same with using the mouse wheel. And I've been trying to avoid using the mouse wheel anyways because mine is wearing out. Since this issue has apparently been around for 5 years I guess it's not going to get fixed so I'll have to use something else when reading large text files and just use Open Office for file conversion.

I don't use a mouse at all, I use a peripheral touchpad that's nicely sensitive, much better than the ones built into laptops, and doesn't require any pressure to perform mouse functions (except on its two mechanical click buttons). It has scroll strips for vertical and horizontal scrolling, zooming, and paging back and forth through the browser... so you scroll by stroking the strip rather than by spinning a wheel. No moving mechanical parts, nothing to wear out. I suppose the sensors might wear out eventually, but I've been using devices like this at both home and work for years, nearly a decade on the home device, and they last much longer than a standard mouse.

The one I have at home is my favorite; a device that was designed and developed as a Cirque Cruise Cat, later taken over by Fellowes and marketed as a a Fellowes Touchpad... but for some unfathomable and frustrating reason, they discontinued it. It can still be found in a few locations on the Internet, but it is becoming more rare. Pity!! It was so useful and usable and so fully customizable that it was a device before its time. I hope someone revives it and brings it back to the market. It's the best ergonomic device I've found, especially for left-handers like me.

Anyway, Cirque continues to make touchpads, just not that particular model:
http://www.cirque.com/pages/index.asp?s ... 12&page=55

I use an A4Tech mouse which besides the scroll wheel has a very nice autoscroll function. I doeesn't work on every window that has scroll bars but it does work on OOo. I click middle button and the further away I move the cursor from the appearing target the faster it scrools. In OOo it scrools 1 line at a time, faster or slower but it's not smooth as in Firefox for example.

This chinese company started by making affor(A4)dable replicas of Logitech mice but now IMHO their products are far superior to Logitech. Anyway I expect Logitech mice might have a similar autoscroll ?!

@ EdrickV:
If this is the one issue that bugs you from useingOOo fix it. Checkout freeware AutoHotkey, asking for help on their forum as it's a pretty involved program (almost a programing language) but it's very powerfull in that it makes the keyboard and mouse do whatever you want it to do.