Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 80604
lone alt keybinding in menu considered harmful
Last modified: 2013-08-07 15:31:14 UTC
Please allow an alt keypress not to select the menu. It is not only pointless (the menu items all have accelarator keys -- if I wish to invoke the menu then I'll type e.g. alt-f). But in my window manager, it interferes with a lot of normal window manager function. bug 44373 was closed because Frank wasn't able to reproduce the fault -- it turns out that that if you alt-tab to one window, then alt tab back, then openoffice correctly deactivates the menu. But if I alt+left click to put my OO window into the background (a function specific of course only to window managers that have this mouse binding activated), then when I come back into OO and start typing, it will start activating random menu items becuase it still thinks I want the menu activated. No other linux application acts like this, and I'm willing to bet no windows application does it either. If you must allow a single alt keypress to activate the menu (and not allow the user to disable this behaviour by configuration), at least deactivate the menu in all occasions when OO loses the focus, not just to alt-tab switching. Mind you, I press alt in other occasions that don't result in OO losing the focus too (alt-f9 will stop my CD player, etc), and I don't want the menu activated at all then, either. If you are having trouble reproducing this bug, perhaps you will see it a lot more obviously if your window manager is a focus-follows-mouse window manager, since OO has a lot less control over the focus in such WMs.
TM->requirements: Not a defect, but might be a wish for an enhancement. Please have a look, thanks !
Due to the way the alt key works it breaks sticky keys for accessibility. See: https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/285407 Marking this as a defect instead of an enhancement due to that.
set target 3.x
Using 3.0.1 on Ubuntu Intrepid. This may be related. Alt will randomly activate the file menu, with my hands nowhere on the keyboard.
I afce similar problem. The first item of menu (File) is automatically activated every 30 seconds approximately and disappears again automatically after a bit shorter time. There could be also a problem with F10 key ... OS Ubuntu 9.10 64-bit, OO 3.1.1 OOO310m19 (build 9420)
It'd be nice if alt key can be configured as non-sticky. Sticky alt key is ok in MS Windows because all other applications do the same. It is not good in linux (or in X, gnome, or WM?) to activate file menu when you press and release alt key -- quite incompatible with other applications in this environment. I'm not experiencing vladimircz's problem: my version behaves quite consistent, not random. 3.2.1 OOO320m14 (Build:9489), Japanese enabled.