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NeoOffice

NeoOffice is a fork of openoffice, build to run natively on aqua on a mac. NeoOffice adapts OpenOffice.org code¹⁾ that uses the X11 windowing system and it then takes advantage of Mac OS X's cool Java integration to tap into the traditional Macintosh user-interface elements.

The description below is based on the following system:

Mac OS X 10.4.11 (2008-03-22)
NeoOffice 2.22
Java options in 'Preferences…': Use a Java runtime environment (Listed are Apple JRE: 1.5.0_13 and 1.4.2_16) enabled)
Keyboard-layout: MacBook Pro with English/US keyboard layout

In order to understand the mac key-nomenclature, the following can be helpful:

Symbol	Key	Note
⇧²⁾	Shift	This key can be helpful for selecting text in combination with other navigating keys
alt ⌥	Alt or option	Mac typical use: advancing cursor to next/previous word
 ⌘	Apple or command	Mac typical use: advancing cursor to beginning and end of line
fn	Function
◀ home	Right cursor key	Right
end ▶	Left cursor key	Left
←	Backspace	E.g. to delete a character, use [fn + ←]

Issues

When working with NeoOffice one may experience some 'features' a bit inconvenient. The features one may encounter are:

Some standard Mac osx commands for cursor movement like ⌘▶ (command + right) to jump to the end of a line or ⌥▶ (option + right) to advance to the next word doesn't work as expected. The reason for this difference is due to the unwillingness of OpenOffice.org engineers to accept a patch to allow Option (and Alt on Windows and Meta on Solaris) to be used as a modifier key³⁾. There is however a solution to let it resemble more the standard mac user-interface. See below for instructions how this can be realized.
NeoOffice has some 'Microsoft-typical' behavior in which it starts up with an empty text document, so you could type right away. For most users this is probably very convenient, however this is unnecessary if one only wanted to use the spreadsheet and not the writer. See the NeoOfficeforum for a solution in this: http://trinity.neooffice.org/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=3660

Keyboard navigating solution

The current version of neoOffice with which this solution works is 2.22. Basically some System Preferences… settings in OS X must be changed to add additional Application Keyboard Shortcuts and additional keystrokes and some changes must be done in NeoOffice to change some cursor navigating functions as well as add custom cursor navigating functions in a menu.

Shortcuts for cursor movement

In order to assign the proper shortcut for the cursor movement to jump to the beginning and end of line ⌘◀ and ⌘▶), we must change these shortcut keys in Writer with the Keyboard tab in the customize… option in the tools menu. Mind that (1) it holds already the functions 'To Word Left' and 'To Word Right', which functionality we want move to the alt (⌥) key and (2) the modifier for the alt (⌥) key is not available in neoOffice. We will deal with that later. For now, perform the following steps⁴⁾:

Navigating to begin and end of line
1. Open the Customize dialogue. (choose Customize… from the Tools menu.)
2. Click on the Keyboard tab.
3. Make sure that the radio button for Writer (on the top right of the dialogue box) is selected.
4. In the Category list (in the Functions section), choose Navigate.
5. In the Function list, choose To Line Begin.
6. In the Shortcut keys list (on the top left), choose ⌘Left.
7. Click on the Modify button (in the top right of the dialogue)⁵⁾.
8. Repeat steps 4 to 7 to change the definition of ⌘Right into To End of Line.
9. Repeat steps 4 to 7 to change the definition of ⇧⌘Left into Select to Begin of Line⁶⁾.
10. Repeat steps 4 to 7 to change the definition of ⇧⌘Right into Select to End of Line⁷⁾.
11. Click on OK to assign these new shortcuts.

First make sure you set the proper Java Runtime Environment (JRE) as prerequisite in order to use the ⌥ key for navigating to words ⁸⁾. NeoOffice should have JRE 1.4 enabled instead of JRE 1.5. Make sure you enable this, otherwise it will not work.⁹⁾

Enabling JRE 1.4 in Neoofice
1. In NeoOffice, select Preferences…
2. Open the NeoOffice branch, select Java.
Make sure 'Use a Java runtime environment' is enabled.
Click on the small circle at the line with version 1.4 (1.4.2_16).
Click on OK.
NeoOffice must be restarted.

The workaround for navigating to words is to add these navigating functions to a menu in NeoOffice and then use the Application Keyboard Shortcuts in the Keyboard & Mouse option in the System Preferences to set the proper shortcut¹⁰⁾.

Adding functions to a menu
1. In NeoOffice open the Customize dialogue. (choose Customize… from the Tools menu.)
2. Click on the Menus tab.
3. Select in NeoOffice Writer Menus the Menu Edit.
4. Click on the Add… button.
5. Select Navigate in the Category list and To Word Left in the Commands list.
6. Click on Add.
7. Repeat steps 4 to 6 to add To Word Right to the edit menu.
8. Repeat steps 4 to 6 to add Select to Begin of Word to the edit menu.
9. Repeat steps 4 to 6 to add Select to Word Right to the edit menu.
10. Click on the Close button.
11. For aesthetic reasons, select each of the four entries and move them with the down arrow to the bottom of this edit menu list. (If you like, you may add a horizontal ruler to this menu, by placing your cursor at the item just before the four newly added functions and click on Modify→Begin a Group)
12. Click on OK.

Quit NeoOffice¹¹⁾. Now manually add shortcuts to these newly added menu functions in the System Preferences¹²⁾.

Adding custom keyboard shortcuts
1. Open the Keyboard & Mouse pane of the System Preferences and click on the Keyboard Shortcuts tab.
2. (Scroll down to the bottom) and click on the Application Keyboard Shortcuts item, and then the + button at the bottom left.
3. Select NeoOffice.app as Application.
4. Enter exactly in the Menu Title To Word Left.
5. Enter in Keyboard Shortcut the more common shortcut ⌥◀ (alt + left).
6. Click on Add.
7. Repeat steps 2 to 6 to add Menu Title To Word Right with shortcut ⌥▶ (alt + right).
8. Repeat steps 2 to 6 to add Menu Title Select to Begin of Word with shortcut ⌥⇧◀ (alt + shift + left).
9. Repeat steps 2 to 6 to add Menu Title Select to Word Right with shortcut ⌥⇧▶ (alt + shift + right).
10. Close the Keyboard & Mouse pane.

Open NeoOffice, check in the Edit menu whether each navigate function has the proper assigned shortcut.

¹⁾

Url: http://neowiki.sixthcrusade.com/index.php/NeoJInfo

²⁾

This ⇧ key should appear as an arrow pointing upwards, however I use Firefox and see a strange T-like character, which is not correct

³⁾

See URL: http://neowiki.neooffice.org/index.php/NeoOffice_Menu_and_Keyboard_Shortcuts

⁴⁾

From the NeoOffice Wiki:
http://neowiki.neooffice.org/index.php/NeoOffice_Menu_and_Keyboard_Shortcuts

⁵⁾

Remove as well Home

⁶⁾

Remove as well ⇧Home

⁷⁾

Remove as well ⇧End

⁸⁾

JRE 1.5 has a bug, not recognizing the ⌥ key

⁹⁾

In JRE 1.5 the shortcut to the menu option seems to be selected, because the menu shortly flashes, but after that the expected action does not follow.

¹⁰⁾

Please see previous remark about selecting the proper Java Runtime Environment

¹¹⁾

Alternatively it should be restarted after the modifications in the System Preferences

¹²⁾

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NeoOffice

Issues

Keyboard navigating solution

Shortcuts for cursor movement

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NeoOffice

Issues

Keyboard navigating solution

Shortcuts for cursor movement

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