[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 52069] Help says F9 updates cross-references. Not so; does not work in Mac

[bugzilla-daemon at freedesktop.org]

https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=52069

Roman Eisele <bugs at eikota.de> changed:

           What    |Removed                     |Added
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
             Status|UNCONFIRMED                 |NEEDINFO
                 CC|                            |bugs at eikota.de
     Ever Confirmed|0                           |1

--- Comment #1 from Roman Eisele <bugs at eikota.de> 2012-07-14 09:10:05 PDT ---
> Need documentation on how to update cross-references.
> 
> This is big issue; a main reason for going to LibreOffice is weaknesses in
> Pages and iWorks, such as no cross-referencing,

Thank you very much for your bug report!

Well, it is a bit difficult to understand what's going on. We would highly
appreciate it if you could give us more details when you report a problem with
LibreOffice (especially, which version of LibreOffice you use; which user
interface language; and it would be also useful to know the MacOS version you
use, the MacOS user interface language; all this can be necessary to know,
especially when we have to investigate in function keys and shortcuts, which
often depend on versions and user interface language).

But assuming that you use LibreOffice 3.5.5 (or so), I have tried to reproduce
the problem, and can partially reproduce it. I am using LibreOffice 3.5.5.3 on
MacOS X 10.6.8 (Intel), both with German interface, but have switched to US
English for this test, on a MacBook Pro (2010).

I can confirm that pressing F9 does NOT update cross references for me.
However, I have the impression that this is not a bug in LibreOffice, but a
general problem with function keys on newer MacOS X versions: if I remember
correctly, there are also other applications which don't react as expected to
pressing F keys. The reason behind this behaviour is that MacOS X now handles
the F keys itself instead of passing the F key to the current application (as
it was the case in earlier versions of MacOS (7, 8, 9) and MacOS X (10.1 to
10.4, if I remember correctly)).

For me, the solution is not to press just F9, but fn + F9; the fn key is the
special "function" key at the bottom left of my MacBook keyboard. However, I
don't know what to do on keyboards without an fn key; this is a question we
(you) should ask Apple or some Apple expert ;-)

@Lou:
-> Can you please state if this solves the issue for you, too? Just add a
comment to this bug report.


Alternatively, you can always (!) update cross-references via the menu bar:
select the "Tools" menu, then select "Update", and then, from the sub-menu
which appears right beside "Update", select "Fields" (or "Update All"). This
should work regardless of operating system, UI language, keyboard settings,
etc.

But you are definitely right that this information is missing from the
LibreOffice help! At least for me (LibreOffice 3.5.5.3), the Help just says:

  "Updating Cross-References

  To manually update the cross-references in a document, press F9."

And this is a bit stupid, given the fact that:
(a) selecting the command from the menu is IMHO the primary way to select any
command; keyboard shortcuts and F keys are only *alternative* ways to select
commands and are directed especially at power users;
(b) keyboard shortcuts and F keys may not always work, depending on user
interface language, keyboard type and settings.

-> THIS is a documentation problem, of course, which needs to be fixed!


> While I'm at it, documentation on math formula module is very poor. Screen
> shots do not match what's actually visible. No mention of how to get to
> Elements, etc.

This is a good hint, thank you! But could you please file a separte bug report
for this? I am sorry, but it makes live much easier for us (we are only
volunteers and not paid in any way!) and prevents misunderstandings and loss of
track when we get only one issue per bug report.

> If you like I can make up flow sheet for general equations.

This is a nice idea, thank you very much for your friendly proposal! It would
be best if you could sent a short e-mail about this proposal (and about the
shortcomings of math formula module documentation, if you want) to
  David Nelson <commerce at traduction.biz> or
  Sophie Gautier <gautier.sophie at gmail.com>
which are our friendly documentation experts. They can tell you best how your
flow sheet and other stuff could get added to documentation.

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