Hello, I have upgraded LO to new version and now every now and then (not always but often enough that it’s annoying) when I hold right Ctrl and right Shift together - to highlight a section of the text - the whole paragraph seems to change layout and typing changes to right to left. I’d very much like to turn this bogus function off, but can’t find the way to do so. It doesn’t help that I don’t even know what exactly it does and why.
The problem seems similar to the one solved here: Writer: How to disable Ctrl-RightShift to switch to RTL
Unfortunately thhe options in Tools have changed in the meantime, and even though I managed to find Complex Text Layout section I have no idea whet to check or uncheck in the current options there.
Thanks in advance for any help.
Some languages needs this. (But I admit, LibreOffice would be much smaller, if everything somebody don’t need is removed… Use your favorite editor and start coding.)
Current help seems to indicate another path, but I cant try now…
https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/optionen/01140000.html?&DbPAR=SHARED&System=UNIX
The simple solution if you don’t use any RTL languages is given by @Wanderer
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If you are on Windows, then Right Ctrl+Right Shift is a Windows shortcut to switch LTR to RTL. You can test with Notepad if you like.
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You will need a keyboard remapper to change the shortcut. Microsoft Power Toys has such a thing, Remap Keys and Shortcuts with PowerToys Keyboard Manager | Microsoft Learn
tdf#169787 — [26.2] Ctrl + Shift changes horizontal alignment
Thank you for attempting to help me. Alas, none of these suggestions solved the issue. It’s possible it’s a windows 11 “feature”, however in my case this behaviour is unique to LO Writer. Notepad and Notepad++, as well as typing in web browsers is not affected.
I’ve tried the method suggested by Wanderer (actually I tried it even before asking for help), but with no success.
I’va also tried unassigning (is this the right word?) key sequence to switch input language and keyboard layout in windows Time & Language settings, as Right Ctrl + Right Shift apparently was used to change keyboard language. Nothing changed, though.
In Writer pressing Right Ctrl + Right Shift results in the same as pressing Ctrl+Shift+D. It’s driving me crazy, because I constantly need to highlight sections of text with Ctrl+Shift+cursors, but after pressing Ctrl+Shift the direction of typing changes, and using right arrow results in highliting text on the left. (After all the changes so far, at least I can keep typing left to right, but it still doesn’t solve my problem).
I’m still looking forward to suggestions. Please, ask me if needed for further clarification of this issue. English is not my first language, and I’m aware that what I’m trying to explain may not be clear enough.
Thanks again.
I have now tested, I think you need to a RTL language set in Windows before the shortcut takes effect. This question in Microsoft shows where it comes from Disable Right Ctrl+Shift Switching Notepad from Left-to-Right to Right-to-Left, Windows 11 - Microsoft Q&A
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A new keyboard layout won’t work, you need to actually change the keyboard assignment for the shortcut. Note that you cannot set the shortcut to None, you have to set another shortcut, maybe Right Shift+Right Ctrl+9 or something.
I also tried to force a somewhat crude solution that I guessed could work in my case (in which I never need to use right to left typing or this kind of mirror-reflection-highlighting). I went to Tools->Customise, and in the window that opened I picked Keyboard tab, in it I found Ctrl+Shift shortcut and assigned Left-To-Right function to it. For good measure I also deleted the Right-To-Left function from Ctrl+Shift+D shortcut.
It seemed to work for a while, but now the right-to-left highlighting with Ctrl+Shift+right arrow is back again.
It’s super frustrating.
Re: EarnestAI: Do you mean that I need to change the keyboard assignment in Writer or somewhere else (like Windows?)?
Yes, in Windows
Hmm, I’ve tried PowerToys KM. It looks like a fun utility, but also didn’t solve my LO Writer issue. It still keeps switching to Right-To-Left after pressing RCtrl+RShift even though I tried to disable this shortcut in PTKM (unsuccessfully for some reason - it told me some changes couldn’t be applied, which was this particular change), and though I removed any trace of Right-To-Left shortcuts in Writer’s own Tools->Customise options, as well as I added Left-To-Right to these options in Writer. I’ve been using Win11 and LO for many years with great pleasure, but since installing both on a new PC a few days ago, I can’t do any work. Grrrr.
OK, I’ve downgraded to the verion of LO I used previously - 24.2.2.1 - and in this version this issue is nonexistent. For now I’ll stick to the old one. It would be advisable that authors look into this problem, as it turns out it’s not a windows 11 issue (and is not replicable in other editors). Unfortunately it’s unique to the latest version(s) of LO.
Thanks to everyone who tried to help me solve it.
Create a bug-report at bugzilla then.
Just to make sure, did this start happening when you upgraded to version 26.2?
In that case, it may have to do with the decision to turn on RTL/CTL support for all users by default .
This is clearly a bug for me.
I often press the (either side) ctrl+shift combo along with a further key… unless I change my mind, do not press the third key, and the LTR or RTL function gets triggered in vain. Then I need to spend my attention to notice and revert the change…
As a rule of thumb, simpleness of shortcuts should correlate with frequency of use. Input direction change is hardly a frequently used function for anyone.
Anyway, since user habits differ, shortcuts should be able to be changed or disabled.
v26 has brought a nice performance boost to me: it became usable for large documents. However, such a nuisance, if it persists, may urge me to find a different word processor eventually.
If that’s easier than filing bugs…
Hi, and I’m sorry for late reply - I was on short holidays away from the PC.
I’ve noticed this only in the latest version. Previously I used 24.2.2.1 in which everything was nice and smooth, and which I’ve currently downgraded to. This version is a hundred percent good enough for me, but I’ll file a bug report in spare time. Thanks to robleyd for the link 
I have no problem with it being the default option (though it still seeems to me that the most people in the world write left to right, but I’m okay with it if it makes others feel seen). The problem is that there doesn’t seem to be an option to set up a left to right typing as the only/default direction for individual users. I couldn’t see an option to turn it off at all. The other huge complaint is that the shortcut for changing the direction is the combination of keys so frequently used for other super common things (such as highlighting a text), and it can’t be remapped by individuals who never use this function…
If the figures at Languages using right-to-left scripts are anything to go by, on the order of one in eight people are likely to use RTL.
What you are experiencing is a change in paragraph direction. Some civilizations on Earth use scripts written from Right to Left rather than from Left to Right. See this map:
When we change the direction of a paragraph, we also typically have it start on the other end of the page, to progress into the empty space rather than into the margin and off the page.
Now, you would ask “Why is LibreOffice suddely switching ‘direction’ like this?” - the answer is that, until version 26.2, LibreOffice defaulted to having full support for Right-to-Left languages be turned off, with users able to switch it on. Now, it is always on (as is enhanced support for languages which may be written vertically, like Chinese, Japanese etc.)
I am not saying that this change was necessarily the right thing to do. This was a choice made in light of the following problem:
tdf#164250: RTL, CTL, CJK users do not see full RTL-CTL/CJK support enabled
There were several proposed courses of action for ameliorating this problem:
- tdf#161255: Expand heuristic for enabling RTL-CTL and/or CJK language support
- tdf#161258: Enabling full RTL-CTL, CJK support: Enable by default, disable by heuristic - rather than other way around
- tdf#164571: Actively suggest enabling RTL/CTL (resp. CJK) when first editing RTL/CTL (resp. CJK) content
- tdf#168719: Always show RTL/CTL and CJK editing features
These options were discussed in a design meeting, although in fact it was after the fourth option was committed. The minutes from the design meeting discussing this are here. I was personally wary of this change due to its having detrimental/inconveniecing effects on users who do not need RTL-related or CJK-related features; but I accepted the compromise of letting the change stand with the possibility of reverting it if users complained.