Why can't I disable/reassign the F1 key in LibreOffice?

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#1

I use Calc a /lot/ and I am constantly using the F2 key to edit. A lot of the time I’ll accidentally hit the F1 key, which is really annoying because it brings up a browser window and completely breaks my flow.

I saw someone close a similar topic that had been up here for years as “not relevant.” I’m sorry, I don’t see how this isn’t relevant. This is /very/ relevant. Other people have posted here, on Reddit and elsewhere and the reply is always , no doubt by people who don’t have to use the F2 key thousands of times a day.

You can reassign literally every other key in LO - the F1 key is greyed out, because someone decided that F1 shouldn’t be reassigned. I thought the point of open source software was to give choices to people.

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#2

I thought the point of open source software was to give choices to people.

No your thinking is misled - the point of open source software is, that the source code is publicly available and could be examined (and changed) by everyone.

And the fact that F1 cannot be deactivated has its origin in the fact that LibreOffice doesn’t control the assignment of F1. This key is controlled by the operating system (the desktop manager) and in almost all applications making use of the Visual Class Lib of the desktop manager in use, F1 is assigned to “Help”. Search the web for disable F1 key windows 10 and that’s probably the reason why people decided to rate such question as “off-topic” (there is no choice here to separate “off-topic” from “not relevant” and if you carefully read the closure reasoning then you’ll notice the use of conjunction or and not and).

#3

Thank you for the reply, but you are incorrect with respect to Windows 10. F1 is not controlled by the OS in Windows 10. Prior to my post here I performed a registry edit to disable F1 in Windows 10. Due to that edit, some apps (Bing, Firefox, and Windows in general) F1 no longer works. LibreOffice, however, still brings up a browser window.

Having been involved in open source since 1995, I don’t need an explanation of what the “point” of open source is, thank you. The movement was born in large part because proprietary vendors made it impossible to make changes or improvements without disassembling it. The /spirit/ of what I said holds - that we share code to make things better, and that arbitrarily making decisions like whether or not the F1 key can be disabled, or indeed whether or not to answer a valid question goes against the spirit of open source.

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#4

you are incorrect with respect to Windows 10. F1 is not controlled by the OS in Windows 10

Yes, F1 is actually controlled by LO. There are quite some hard-coded uses of KEY_F1 in code, like this.

The reasons might be historic, or just some misunderstanding, or using some common subset of supported platforms, or … Being involved in open source for so long, it’s great to have you with us, who may use own skills to fix what interests you.

#5

Thanks for clarifying that, Mike.

Thank you also for the invitation to contribute, that’s very kind of you. What I’m hearing is that there are multiple areas in what must be a very large codebase where a snippet of code would need to be inserted to allow F1 to be turned off?

I’ve not contributed to LO. Is a patch for this likely to be accepted and incorporated into the main branch? Or would it go against the desired direction of the project?

#6

What I’m hearing is that there are multiple areas in what must be a very large codebase where a snippet of code would need to be inserted to allow F1 to be turned off?

Correct (see here); and I don’t know what parts are relevant for this issue, or if there are more - e.g., where the key is referred by other means than KEY_F1.

Is a patch for this likely to be accepted and incorporated into the main branch? Or would it go against the desired direction of the project?

Any change that increases consistency, removes special-casing, and also hopefully (in this case) makes maintenance easier, is welcome.

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