In Writer, how to stop at each combining (floating) character using arrow keys, so that I can select it and apply formatting. Normally a whole character together with the combining ones is selected. I have a workaround, but it is not elegant.
It works in MS Word up to v2013, and in AbyWord.
I need it for applying coloured accents above and below the characters, as a separate style so that I can change colour en masse, or hide them altogether.
In Writer when positioning on a character with arrow keys, it goes from one character to the next, and ignores combining characters (floating accents). The only way to extract the combining character is via a nasty workaround:
- position right of a character, pres Alt+x, it produces U+xxxxU+yyyy unicodes of a main character and a combining character(s)
- copy the U+yyyy code, paste it at the beginning of a line, press Alt+x again, now it is on its own, and I may apply formatting or a character style
- copy the formatted character, and paste it where needed.