How to stop Insert button invoking help page

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Greetings, I have an issue that I have not been able to find mention of. When using LibreOffice Writer, if I press the insert button on a generic keyboard it opens a browser to LibreOffice help page. Welcome to the LibreOffice Writer Help

The generic keyboard is used with MacBook Air 2022 M2 with latest software 15.6.1.
MacBook doesn’t have an insert button on its keyboard.

I wondered if it is possible to remove this function assigned to the insert button?

I’ve looked in the Customise box in Tools, and there are no shortcut keys set for the help functions.

F1 key brings up the page on both the generic and MacBook keyboards.

LibreOffice version is 25.2.4.3 (AARCH64) purchased from AppStore.

Thanks for reading this.

[ajlittoz]

What is assigned to Ins key in Tools>Customize? Don’t forget to look at both LibreOffice and Writer variants (radio buttons at top right in the dialog).

Another possibility is that your “generic” keyboard (an external device attached on USB?) does not send the correct keycode for the Ins key. What are the brand and model of the keyboard? I am no longer familiar with MacOS; under Linux, system configuration allows you to specify the exact model and brand of your keyboard and optionally to customise the keycodes.

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Thanks @ajlittoz. My apologies as I have not been able to reply sooner.

I have made a screenshot of The Customise options. There doesn’t appear to be any key assigned to Insert or Get Help Online function. If I’m looking in the right places?

Is my mistake, it’s not a generic usb external wired keyboard and is made by J Burrows, model JBKB620KB, basic flat shape.

I also have Linux and use Synergy to share this keyboard with both Mac and Linux monitors. The problem with Insert key on Mac was there before Synergy was installed.

On Linux the Insert key invokes a box to confirm overwrite mode. I don’t know where to go from here, or if maybe a different keyboard might help?

[ajlittoz]

Your screenshot shows the configuration window while you’re under Calc (your question was tagged writer). Notice the radio button labelled Calc. It turns to Writer when you’re under Writer. Clicking on it accesses the settings for the component. You can define two sets of shortcuts: one for a component (Writer, Calc, Draw, …) and one shared by all components. The specific shortcut for a component takes precedence over the shared ones.

Have a look to the shortcuts while you are under Writer and check if a Writer-specific shortcut is defined for Ins.

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@ajlittoz thanks again, I’ve changed that to Writer.

And looked through the list of shortcuts thrice, though can’t see anything related to Insert key or the help webpage that it opens. Under the Functions list, Insert still appears blank as before in Calc.

F1 key opens the same help page. F1 is shown from the top menu bar under Help/ LibreOffice Help.

Perhaps there’s an error on my keyboard configuration, with Insert key being assigned to this page as well, and at the moment there doesn’t appear to be anything in the customisation to reflect the assigned Insert key.

[ajlittoz]

Your screenshot does not show the current assignment for Ins. Its shows keys F1 to F11.

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@ajlittoz Ins or Insert key are missing from the list of shortcut keys. I have checked through the list several times and can’t see any reference to Ins. Unless there is another symbol that represents it?

I’m wondering if to lodge a bug report, though it may well be an issue with this keyboard.

[EarnestAl]

It seems to be the way Mac maps windows keyboards, see https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/960ny0/how_to_use_the_insert_key_on_an_external_keyboard/

You could try assigning Insert to Insert but choose LibreOffice radio button, not Calc nor Writer.

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@EarnestAl thank you, the linked post mentions why this is happening is because Apple assigns the Insert key to an obsolete help key. Also Karabiner-Elements software which I have used to disable the Insert key for now. https://www.reddit.com/r/mac/comments/960ny0/how_to_use_the_insert_key_on_an_external_keyboard/

There’s also an older post here I had missed about using the Insert and Overwrite toggle box. It’s found on the line at the bottom of Writer interface with Pages, words, characters and Default page style. How do I disable "overtype mode"?

Maybe these things can help someone else who is looking for this.

Thanks to all for your time and your help with this.

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@EarnestAl Is the screenshot of the customise box from Windows? I have looked at my MacOS version, this time with LibraOffice radio button selected and is the same as Writer. Insert is not found in Shortcut Keys. It’s only found in the Functions menu below, the same place as your screenshot, where it has nothing assigned to it and seems to be no way to change that.

[EarnestAl]

It is from Windows. I did wonder if the Insert key would be listed but if it did work it would be easier than using Mac’s Hidutil tool.

[Wanderer]

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Insert is not found in Shortcut Keys.

Makes sense, if there is no Ins-key on usual Mac-Keyboards.
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On other OS one can configure different types of keyboards for the OS. As I never installed a Mac I have no clue if this option exists for MacOS (or if a Ins-key would appear then).