Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 1596
Select rectangular region of text should be possible
Last modified: 2013-08-07 14:42:49 UTC
It would be nice that using a switch (such as Alt in MS Word) it would be possible to select a rectangular region of writting, such as a column in a tabbed table. For instance: Foo Bar Yeah Foa Baru yeast Fou Barlu you Now make the B words bold. In Word you could click left of "Bar" hold [Alt] and move the mouse between "Barlu" and "you". There are other cases where this feature can be come rather handy (In the fixed-sized, monospaced-font wordprocessor time, this was easier ;-)
Reassigned to Falko.
Rectengular selection makes sense.
Enable vertical/block text selection in Writer. This feature is equivalent the ALT-modifier for selection in Word.
*** Issue 19395 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
23638 is also a duplicate of this that I entered.
*** Issue 9249 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 12588 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 19719 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
In addition to the selection of a column of text, it would be helpful to have the ability to add, say a column of numbers. This would permit a sum of a selected column in a Writer document.
in order to add a column of numbers you may want to use Text<->Table form the Tools menu and then use a formula to calculate the result (and use Text<->Table a second time to convert it back to regular text)...
Thanks, cloph. That solution works perfectly. It also works for copying columns from one position to another. Both the original and the copy are in Table format and need changing back to Text. In fact, this does exactly what I had wanted with the additional bonus that the format of the numbers can be defined.
I've used this feature regularly for years in MS Word to incorporate only specific portions of text output from various utilities (e.g. IP sanners) into reports and documents for management review. Although I could use two programs to achieve this result, a text editor and then a word processor, I find it easier to use just one. I vote on this issue because I was trying to use Writer instead of Word to perform this very function and could not. The solution go find another program and load it too. So, I vote that this feature be added to Writer.
Due to owner change the status started got reset to new.
reassigning & adding keywords according to new RFE process
I've added my vote because this is a very useful feature that I miss badly. I have frequently used rectangular cut and paste to take columns out of reports, log files, etc and would find it very useful in Writer. It is always possible to open text files in a spreadsheet, but I've had little luck in OOo calc in converting text files to multi-column spreadsheets. Rectangular cut and paste is an unusual omission, I am surprised I cannot do it. http://www.oooforum.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12044 shows I am not alone.
*** Issue 37107 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 46997 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Maybe this could help: I think this feature would be easier to implement, if - by a button - a kind of column-mode could be started/stopped, in which rectangular selections and/or column-manipulations were possible.
To tommyads: You can use "Tools" -> "Text <-> Table"
I don't believe that text-table is an appropriate solution. There are many possible layouts where no suitable clues exist to automatically align table cells in the appropriate place.
I believe this should be a function which can be assigned by the user to a hot key combination or to a button. Under Word, this function consists of pressing the ALT key, THEN clicking the mouse and swiping the text which marks and selects a rectangular box. As a work around, I suggest folks get a text editor like textpad or notetab until this is addressed.
*** Issue 55057 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
*** Issue 55958 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
umm, adding myself to cc, so i'll just ask - what is the status ? this is very old issue, but target still is ooo later.
I have used this feature for years in MS Word to select rectangular block of text to delete, move, copy etc. I don't think I could completely switch to Writer without this feature. I am voting for this and also adding myself to the cc.
*** Issue 61341 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
I have used this function with Word for many years and I find it extremely useful in order to make various types of operations. copy moves, occasional sums or arithmetical operations with column of numbers.
Andreas, please take over
*** Issue 75024 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
Planned for 2.3, CWS swcolsel.
Often I need make column selection to format first word in list. Copy to table or spreadsheet cause loss formating: first...........some text second..........some text third...........some text fourth..........some text I VOTE TO EXTEND SELECTION MODE IN STATUS BAR TO ADD-STD-EXT-COL
Added menu entry and short cut, changed files: sw/inc/cmdid.h sw/sdi/_textsh.sdi sw/sdi/swriter.sdi sw/source/ui/shells/textsh1.cxx sw/uiconfig/sglobal/accelerator/de/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sglobal/accelerator/en-GB/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sglobal/accelerator/en-US/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sglobal/accelerator/es/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sglobal/accelerator/fr/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sglobal/menubar/menubar.xml sw/uiconfig/sweb/accelerator/de/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sweb/accelerator/en-GB/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sweb/accelerator/en-US/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sweb/accelerator/es/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sweb/accelerator/fr/default.xml sw/uiconfig/sweb/menubar/menubar.xml sw/uiconfig/swform/accelerator/de/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swform/accelerator/en-US/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swform/accelerator/es/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swform/accelerator/fr/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swform/menubar/menubar.xml sw/uiconfig/swreport/accelerator/de/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swreport/accelerator/en-GB/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swreport/accelerator/en-US/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swreport/accelerator/es/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swreport/accelerator/fr/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swreport/menubar/menubar.xml sw/uiconfig/swriter/accelerator/de/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swriter/accelerator/en-GB/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swriter/accelerator/en-US/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swriter/accelerator/es/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swriter/accelerator/fr/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swriter/menubar/menubar.xml sw/uiconfig/swxform/accelerator/de/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swxform/accelerator/en-GB/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swxform/accelerator/en-US/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swxform/accelerator/es/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swxform/accelerator/fr/default.xml sw/uiconfig/swxform/menubar/menubar.xml officecfg/registry/data/org/openoffice/Office/UI/WriterCommands.xcu
Set target 2.4. Feature is nearly finished but nearly is not enough for our upcoming feature freeze date. So this feature will be integrated soon after the 2.4 code line will started.
Andreas, What is the current status of this enhancement? Thanks. WBR, KP.
Status: I will resync the CWS swcolsel in the next days. If nobody complains, it will be integrated soon. For all interested people: Please have a look at the specification: http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/selection_enhancement/Block_Selection_of_Text.odf The CWS swcolsel should cover this specification.
it seems the correct path is http://specs.openoffice.org/writer/selection_enhancement/Block_Selection_of_Text :)
This was just a test if somebody is interested ;-)
Ready for QA.
Fixed in CWS swcolsel
Created attachment 49473 [details] TCS for the block selection
Added TCS for the block selection.
Added link to the Spec in the URL field.
Verified in CWS swcolsel
Inegrated in m238