LO writer: insert special characters by shortcut keys [closed]

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Here's a non-LibreOffice solution that will work in any Windows app, including LibreOffice:

1. Install AutoHotkey and start it
2. After it's running, right-click the program icon and click "Edit this script"

3. Insert lines like this:

   ::<<::« ;  left guillemet
   ::>>::» ; right guillemet
   

4. Save the script

5. Right-click the icon again and "Reload this script"

Now when you type >> in any program, it will be converted to ». If that happens too often, you can add some escape character like this:

::|<<::« ;  left guillemet
::|>>::» ; right guillemet

So it will only be converted when you type |>>, or you can make up whatever combination of keys you want.

Shortcut keys don't work but you can use the autocorrect option to insert your special characters.

Insert e.g. « into your text as you do normally, then highlight it and go to Tools->Autocorrect Options .. ; the replacement window pops up and has the symbol already in the "With"-box entered, enter << in the replace-box, check "Text only" and click New and OK.

Repeat for all special characters you want.

Next time you have only to type << and with the next character you type after that it changes to «.

I think almost as fast as a shortcut key.

These two are mainly use in Arabic text a lot. The easiest way to do it as follows bellow;

We are actually going to make it work as auto text...

1- enter both characters (« ») manually from Insert > Special Characters 2- select of them (say « ) and press ctrl+f3, Name it, and give it a shortcut (I use single quote ' for «, and double quote '' for »). 3- Click on Autotext dropdown menu, and choose "New". 4- Click Close.

Now, do the same for the next sign » and follow the above steps. Give it a different name and shortcut, I give double quotes '' as name and shortcut.

From now on, whenever you want to insert these signs, press the shortcut and then press F3, and you are done. عطاء رفیع

These answers seem much more involved than simply using an ALT+nnn combination (on the numeric keypad) in order to insert a special character. LibreOffice used to work this way: for instance, I could insert an a with an umlaut by simply holding down the ALT key and pressing 132 on my numeric keypad. However, this recently stopped working. Does anyone know if LibreOffice recently changed the way special characters are inserted, requiring the "Insert" menu?

I tried to repeat above explanations but Writer does not replace the short character string I type with the long character string set as replacement. When opening Tools menu there is a item AutoCorrect, clicking the item does not change the behavior of Writer. Is there somewhere a setting (check mark) needed to enable the AutoCorrection function?

LibO 3.5.7 on XP/SP3 .