Need shortcut key to insert Time(fixed) into a journal document

[mehalalel]

I insert the current time into a journal many hundreds of times a day as a way to journal the time things happen. I would use the Shortcut Key “CTRL+SHIFT+ALT+T” would insert the current time in a Time (fixed) field.

Now, after upgrading to LO 7.6.0.3, this shortcut is inserting “Time” fields that are updating to the current time every time the cursor touches them! This erases valuable data – the date and time when events occurred.

Because I record the time so many times in a day, I need a Shortcut key to let me do this quickly: it is not acceptable to me to have to click through four layers of menu to of Insert->Fields->More Fields->Time(fixed).

Can I change what kind of “Time” is inserted by default?

–edit-- LO 7.6.0.3 running on Windows 10, save format is ODT

[mariosv]

How to insert a fixed date or time

[Wanderer]

@mariosv - your answer works, but for Calc, not Writer

[mikekaganski]

tdf#139141

[AllanR]

As mikekaganski noted, the issue you discovered was caused by a recent bug-fix Bug 139141.

I’ve raised a new bug report Bug 157337 to request a fix for the regression it created.

[mehalalel]

Fixed for me in LO 7.6.6.3 .

https://git.libreoffice.org/core/+log/d97b2716a9a4a2ce1391dee1765565ea469b0ae7

Thanks AllanR for reporting the bug and thanks to the devs who fixed this issue!

[EarnestAl]

I find the Time Function changes on Win 11, 7.6.0.3

More reliable way might be to insert a fixed Time field, formatted the way you want it. Select it and click Tools > AutoText, choose which category you want it under, Give it a name, say Time Fixed and then overwrite the suggested shortcut with TF. Click AutoText button and select New. Close

Now you can enter a time field by typing tf and then pressing F3. It seems to work without problems

[mehalalel]

@EarnestAl

Now you can enter a time field by typing tf and then pressing F3. It seems to work without problems

This approach allows me to insert a “Time (fixed)” field that has been bound to the time at the point the creation of the AutoText macro. So if I create the macro at 11:21 AM, I’m able to type tf, F3 to insert 11:21:03 AM into the document many times.

What I actually need is to be able to insert a Time (fixed) into the document which is bound to the time of insertion.

[Lupp]

@mehalalel

What I actually need is to be able to insert a Time (fixed) into the document which is bound to the time of insertion.

This is exactly what such an AutoText entry as I described it in ,my answer would do and actually does for me.
Did you really try it?
You may use one of the respective fields from my attached example, and use it as the text range from which you create your new AutoText entry choosing New from the selection you get when clicking the AutoText button in the dialog shown as an image there.
If you actually think “time only” is sufficient for you, you can change the format (context menu Edit Fields...) of the field using the choice Additional Formats before you create the entry. You don’t need to change the field type for the purpose from Date to Time. Using Date instead of Time will later allow you to get the date from the field even if it not was shown in advance under the chosen format.

The fixing is done on insertion time, not using the time when the AutoText entry was created.

[EarnestAl]

There are places where setting up the AutoText might have failed:

• Insert a Time (fixed) field using the menu and select it before you open Tools >AutoText
• The important thing to do when you click the AutoText button is to select New; do not select the other option because text only literally means text only.

Click the Insert button, if you have Field shadings turned on you should see a time field showing the time at the instant you pressed the button. If you don’t then something has not been done correctly.

https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-GB/text/swriter/01/02120000.html?&DbPAR=WRITER&System=WIN

[mehalalel]

@EarnestAl

• The important thing to do when you click the AutoText button is to select New; do not select the other option because text only literally means text only.

I don’t seem to have a New option.

[EarnestAl]

You need to enter a name and a shortcut for the AutoText entry before you see all the options.

If you aren’t sure which category in which to put the entry then choose My AutoText or similarly named.

Please follow the order of operation which I gave in my initial solution

[ajlittoz]

Add your own shortcut with Tools>Customize, Keyboard tab.

1. In Category, select Insert, then in Function, Time.
2. Find an available key combination in the upper pane. Ctrl+Alt+Shift+T appears to be free, so select it.
3. Click on Writer radio button to limit the effect to Writer (should be done by default).
4. Press Modify.

You’re done.

It appears the Time function is mapped to the fixed variant of time.

PS: when asking here, always mention OS name, LO version (done) and save format. There are subtles differences between platforms and releases and solutions are often only valid with native format.

[mehalalel]

I updated my question with the operating system and save format.

These instructions didn’t work for me. I’m still only able to insert Time fields, not Time (fixed) when using the shortcut. If I right-click the inserted field and Click Edit fields..., the dialog indicates that it is a Time field.

What version/OS/save format are you running that this works for you?

[ajlittoz]

Here Fedora 38 (Linux) under KDE Plasma desktop, LO 7.5.5.2, .odt

[Lupp]

@mehalalel

I’m still only able to insert Time fields, not Time (fixed) …

??
Does this mean you want to insert Time (formatted in one or another way as) ordinary text instead of as a TextField (one cursor step only)?

[Wanderer]

I can confirm partly the problem of @mehalalel : The inserted field is not “fixed”, but it doesn’t update “every time the cursor touches them!” I can click the value and move over, but on save and load all previously different values get the time of loading the file again.
.
Win10 pro 22H2 - LO 7.6.0.3 x86

[LeroyG]

@ajlittoz

Time

For the fixed time, the function command is: .uno:InsertTimeField.

The command .uno.TimeField is the same that to choose menu Form - More Fields - Time Field, and changes the cursor to a cross to drag and draw the field.

Version: 7.4.7.2 (x64) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 723314e595e8007d3cf785c16538505a1c878ca5
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 10.0 Build 19045; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: es-MX (es_ES); UI: en-US
Calc: CL

Peering at the content.xml subfile, I can see that the difference between fixed and non fixed time fields is the text:fixed="true" argument in the fixed one.

No text:fixed attribute if the document is created with:
Version: 7.6.0.2 (x86) / LibreOffice Community
Build ID: 41d6f628ba3f046f16b5fa9fa8db8d4c2ab3b582
CPU threads: 4; OS: Windows 6.1 Service Pack 1 Build 7601; UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: es-MX (es_MX); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

[mehalalel]

@Lupp

fixing is done on insertion time, not using the time when the AutoText entry was created.

I see the result you achieved in your document – looks like what I want to do. But when I try to setup or edit an auto text entry, the time field gets bound to the time of macro creation.

[mehalalel]

@Lupp

Does this mean you want to insert Time (formatted in one or another way as) ordinary text instead of as a TextField (one cursor step only)?

I prefer to be able to insert a field since I sometimes parse content.xml later to extract times. However flat text would be better than a time field that is always updating.