How can I auto-insert vowels with macrons using autocorrect

[gojoppari]

OSX10.9.4
LibreOffice 4.3.0.4 (Build ID: 62ad5818884a2fc2e5780dd45466868d41009ec0)

I use macrons frequently in my writing. I have always used a custom autocorrect shortcut in Word.
Usually:

• ;a; = ā
• ;e; = ē
  etc.

With LO, I have tried this pattern as well as the following:

• ;;a
• /a/
• //a
• aaa

None of these autocorrect formulas works.
Autocorrect is functioning correctly, however, with English. Example: wokr = work

What can I do? This is a complete dealbreaker for me as much as I like LO otherwise.

Thank you in advance for any advice

[ROSt53]

You might not have set all parameters.

Tools > AutoCorrect Options > Replace: enter your characters and on the very top of this window you must select the language you are using in your document

and

Format > AutoCorrect > While Typing must be selected

[oweng]

The language for the document (paragraph being typed in) and that set on the AutoCorrect dialog (where the replacement combination is added) must also match. Replacement entry of ;a; with ā works here for me under GNU/Linux using v4.3.0.4 (en-AU).

[gojoppari]

Thank you both. Don’t have enough pts to upvote, but the trick was to select American English when creating the autocorrect options, not all languages – as oweng suggested.

Very grateful.

[oweng]

Thanks for confirming. You should have enough karma now.

[gojoppari]

Hmm… I spoke too soon.

LibreOffice can convert letters when they are isolated as words, i.e. with spaces on either sides, but can’t make the change in mid-word.

For example:
;o; = ō
T;o;hoku = no change

This doesn’t really solve the problem after all, which is quite disappointing.

Your further help would be greatly appreciated.

[manj_k]

You may try the extension ComposeSpecialCharacters as an alternative, see

• LO writer: insert special characters by shortcut keys

• Special characters · Part II.

E.g.: ...o-<Alt+F8>... = ...ō...

[gojoppari]

It took a lot of fiddling around, but I finally got CSC to work.
The trick was not to use the CSC dialog to set the key combination. Instead, I went directly to the Tools > Customize > Keyboard > LibreOffice Macros > user > ComposeSpecialChars > ModCode > ComposeSpecialChar and assigned a shortcut from there.
I also learned the hard way that combinations with Shift are fraught. For example, LO treats ⌘-Shift-Q the same as ⌘-Q. So be careful.
Thank you all for your patience and expertise!

[oweng]

Hmm… I spoke too soon.
LibreOffice can convert letters when they are isolated as words, i.e. with spaces on either sides, but can’t make the change in mid-word.

For example: ;o; = ō T;o;hoku = no change

Support for wildcard AutoCorrect entries is coming in v4.4 (currently only in alpha dev-builds of v4.4.0.0) and will hopefully be backported to the v4.3 series. A rule entry like .*;a;.* to ā will allow for any-context replacement of the type indicated. Refer fdo#55292.