Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 34417
Autocomplete should be off by default
Last modified: 2013-08-07 15:12:27 UTC
The AutoComplete feature doesn't work very well as indicated by following issues. I don't know many word processors that have autoComplete. But I know many people would want to turn off this feature after they install/upgrade openoffice. I believe AutoComplete is an accessibility feature that should be off by default. Please vote for this fix if you agree. Issue list (7 issues found) Mon Sep 20 18:56:14 -0700 2004 ID Type Pri Plt Owner State Result Summary 9380 ENHANC P3 PC bh NEW autocomplete could be more intelligent 18748 ENHANC P3 PC bh STAR Tab key doesn't work logically in Calc. Cannot jump 1 cell t 23612 ENHANC P3 All bh NEW Split autocorrect/autocomplete setting for application speci 24118 ENHANC P3 All bh NEW Enhancement to Autocomplete 29293 ENHANC P3 All bh NEW AutoComplete should review its word DB when words are change 23146 ENHANC P4 PC bh NEW Autocomplete should stop once the input length equals the su 32809 ENHANC P5 All bh NEW Ability to remove an autocomplete entry when proposed
MRU->SBA: pls evaluate and reassign if necessary.
SBA->ahung: It is not an accessibility feature in terms of "a help for disabled users". It is be a help for people writing the same long words repeatedly. Compared to the AutoText feature, the WordCompletion does not need "preperation" (storing personal AutoText that can later be triggered with <F3>) Some notes: 0. I am well aware that there will always be a lot of people who want to have an "electronic typewriter". In their case, a word processor is the wrong choice, a simple text editor will do. These are coming with the operating systems :-) 1. Turning off feature makes the vast majority of users NEVER ever searching/finding/using them. And some even ending up in requesting features that are already built-in. To advertise features, they have to be visible. 2. Being "annoyed" by a feature makes the user find a way to switch it off (i.e. to get his "typewriter" back , SCNR :-). As a side effect, he knows that this exists and it is his free choice to switch it on if needed or to toy with its settings. 3. The AutoComplete default was recently changed to "10 letters minimum" (see issue 31182) - I think that this is a good approach to "show" this feature only to those who repeatedly use long words while not "irritating" all the folks that don't want it. This is effective from developer build 680m54 on. Summary: I disagree to switch it off by deafult, especially because of (3.) - We should wait how the default "10 letters" is accepted by the world. A broad feedback can be obtained only after OOo 2.0 is released because not too many "average users" dare to use developer builds. Question: Should we really "park" this Prio5 issue for a long long time or simply close it and wait for "substantial critique based on OOo 2.0 instead. I'd propose the latter. Please comment, Thank you.
> 1. Turning off feature makes the vast majority of users NEVER ever > searching/finding/using them. And some even ending up in requesting features > that are already built-in. To advertise features, they have to be visible. I agree with you, but I doubt many people would request autocomplete feature that are not available in the majority of word processors. > 2. Being "annoyed" by a feature makes the user find a way to switch it off > (i.e. to get his "typewriter" back , SCNR :-). As a side effect, he knows that > this exists and it is his free choice to switch it on if needed or to toy with > its settings. I admit that this feature is easy to turn off. At the time I file this issue, I was actually annoyed by the autocomplete feature in spreadsheet because I wasn't able to turn it off the way I did with the word processor (under tools -> autocomplete menu). I did a search on the Internet and believed that the feature was centralled controlled by the word processor. After I filed the issue (with the spreadsheet), a developer informed me that the autocomplete feature is actually under tools -> cell contents -> autoinput menu. The problem probably lies in the asymmetry in menu design and their naming, which make it difficult to find and turn off. > Question: Should we really "park" this Prio5 issue for a long long time or > simply close it and wait for "substantial critique based on OOo 2.0 instead. > I'd propose the latter. I agree with your proposed change and thank you very much for listening.
SBA: Thanks for the quick response and your additional information. I adjusted the summary. Old Summary: "autocomplete is an accessibility feature that should be off by default". In total, it ends being a spreadsheet issue. SBA->OC: I had a look with PJ at the WordCompletion (AutoInput) in Calc. We found several usability hinderances and/or inconsistency: 1. It can be switched on/off only via Tools-Cell Content- "AutoInput" -> This is inconsistent (in Writer the corresponding feature is named "WordCompletion") 2. There is no way to modify the behavior and unlike in Writer, there is no minimum word length (The Tab page "WordCompletion" is NOT available in the Tools-AutoCorrect dialog and the settings in Writer don't affect Calc.) 3. The word proposals work only in the very column where the "source word" is. 4. After typing ONE letter, a proposals come up (in Writer it's 3) Summary: The feature LOOKS like Word Completion in Writer but lacks all kind of usability, even UI. For Calc, I think switching it off by default makes sense as a "quick solution", even for OOo 2.0. So I set this one to P4, NEW and target "OOo 2.0" Note: The Online reads: "AutoInput Toggles the AutoInput function, which automatically completes entries, based on other entries in this column. The column is scanned up to a maximum of 2000 cells or 200 different strings". (So the default setting is NOT mentioned :-) SBA->OC: Please have a look and write appropriate follow-up issues if you think we need a change here.
Hi Bettina, as Autocompletion in Writer and Autoinput in Calc are two very different things, I would like to close this as wontfix. As this is flaged as enhancement, it's up to you to decide what should be done. Frank
I might be the only user but I find it irritating when Calc assumes that I want to retype all the text in a previous cell. If I really wanted to then I would copy the previous cell. Perhaps this feature does need improvement; perhaps the option to complete individual words and specify the options: how many letters is needed before the option appears, what keyboard command to use to accept the suggested word (I think this in any case needs to be expanded upon in Writer; the same goes for Calc - suggest more keyboard commands as an option), etc. is something that would improve the program tremendously.
*** Issue 68187 has been marked as a duplicate of this issue. ***
When I found Calc 'helping me' with AutoInput, I had no idea how to turn the feature off. Unless you already know the feature is called AutoInput, it's very difficult to find in the Help. So I vote to have it off by default.
Still this issue isn't resolved... :-(
To grep the issues easier via "requirements" I put the issues currently lying on my owner to the owner "requirements".