Getting Started Guide 7.2

Appendix A
Keyboard Shortcuts
Using LibreOffice without a mouseCopyrightThis document is Copyright © 2021 by the LibreOffice Documentation Team. Contributors arelisted below. You may distribute it and/or modify it under the terms of either the GNU General
Public License (https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html), version 3 or later, or the CreativeCommons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), version 4.0 or later.
All trademarks within this guide belong to their legitimate owners.

Contributors
To this edition
Jean Hollis Weber

Kees Kriek

To previous editions
Jean Hollis Weber
Olivier Hallot
John A Smith

Rafael Lima
Steve Fanning

Kees Kriek
Ron Faile Jr.

Feedback
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mailing list: documentation@global.libreoffice.org

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Publication date and software version
Published September 2021. Based on LibreOffice 7.2 Community.
Other versions of LibreOffice may differ in appearance and functionality.

Documentation for LibreOffice is available at https://documentation.libreoffice.org/en/Contents
Copyright............................................................................................................................2Contributors.............................................................................................................................. 2Feedback.................................................................................................................................. 2
Publication date and software version.......................................................................................2

Introduction........................................................................................................................4
Assistive tools in LibreOffice.....................................................................................................4
Tip for Macintosh users............................................................................................................. 4

Getting help........................................................................................................................5
General keyboard shortcuts.............................................................................................5
Opening menus and menu items..............................................................................................5
Accessing a menu command....................................................................................................5
Running a toolbar command.....................................................................................................6Navigating and selecting with the keyboard..................................................................6
Controlling dialogs............................................................................................................6Controlling macros............................................................................................................7Managing documents........................................................................................................7Editing.................................................................................................................................8
Selecting rows and columns in a database table..........................................................8
Shortcut keys for drawing objects..................................................................................8Defining keyboard shortcuts............................................................................................9
Further reading..................................................................................................................9Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts | 3

Introduction
You can use LibreOffice without requiring a pointing device, such as a mouse or touchpad, byusing its built-in keyboard shortcuts.
This appendix lists some of the most common built-in keyboard shortcuts that apply to multiple
components of LibreOffice. For shortcuts specific to Writer, Calc, Impress, Draw, Math, or Base,read the relevant component guide or search the application Help.
To assist the user with identification of useful keyboard shortcuts, their existence is indicated bytext on menu items and in the tooltips of toolbar icons. For example, in Writer:•The menu item File > Open includes text indicating that Ctrl+O is an equivalent shortcut.

•The Underline icon in the Formatting toolbar has a tooltip indicating that Ctrl+U is anequivalent shortcut.

•The Paste item in the right-click context menu includes text indicating that Ctrl+V is anequivalent shortcut (providing that Tools > Options > LibreOffice > View > Visibility >Shortcuts is not set to Hide).

LibreOffice provides further information about the available shortcuts in the list presented on theKeyboard tab of the Tools > Customize dialog.

WarningSome of the shortcuts listed here may not work if your operating system uses thesame shortcuts for other tasks.
To resolve any conflicts, assign different keys to these shortcuts by reconfiguring
either LibreOffice (see Chapter 14, Customizing LibreOffice, in this book) or youroperating system (see system documentation).

Assistive tools in LibreOffice
In addition to keyboard shortcuts, LibreOffice supports some assistive technology tools likescreen magnification software, screen readers, and on-screen keyboards. Please note thatexcept for the Windows platform, accessibility support relies on Java technology forcommunications with assistive technology tools. This means that the first program startup may
take a few seconds longer, because the Java runtime environment has to be started as well.
A current list of supported assistive tools can be found on the Wiki athttps://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Accessibility

Tip for Macintosh users
Some keystrokes are different on macOS from those used in Windows and Linux. The following
table gives some common substitutions for the instructions in this chapter. For a more detailed
list, see the application Help.
Windows orLinuxmacOS equivalentEffect

Right-click

Control+click and/or rightclick depending on
computer setup

Open a context menu

Ctrl (Control)⌘ (Command)

Used with other keys

F11⌘+TOpen the Sidebar Styles deck

4 | Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts

Getting help
Shortcut Keys

ResultF1

Opens the LibreOffice Help contents in your default browser. If thelocal Help package is not installed, LibreOffice opens the online
Help located at https://help.libreoffice.org.

Shift+F1

Turns the cursor into the What’s This? question mark. Shows the tipfor an item underneath the cursor. The shortcut does not work withthe online help.

Shift+F2

Shows tip for a selected item. The shortcut does not work with theonline help.

General keyboard shortcuts
Opening menus and menu items
Shortcut Keys

ResultAlt+<?>Opens a menu where <?> is the underlined character of the menu
you want to open. For example, Alt+F opens the menu File.
With the menu open, you will again find underlined characters. You
can access these menu items directly by pressing the underlined
character key. Where two menu items have the same underlined
character, press the character key again to move to the next item.
There may be instances where an item in a menu has no underlined
character. This will have to be clicked directly.

Esc

Closes an open menu.

F6

Repeatedly pressing F6 switches the focus and circles through thefollowing objects:• Menu bar• Every toolbar from top to bottom and from left to right• Every free window from left to right• Document

Shift+F6

Switches focus through objects in the opposite direction.

Ctrl+F6

Switches the focus to the document.

F10 or Alt

Switches focus to the Menu bar and back.

Accessing a menu commandPress Alt or F6 or F10 to select the first item on the Menu bar (the File menu). With theright-arrow, the next menu to the right is selected; with the left-arrow, the previous menu. TheHome and End keys select the first and the last item on the Menu bar.
The down-arrow opens a selected menu. An additional down-arrow or up-arrow moves theselection through the menu commands. The right-arrow opens any existing submenus.
Press Enter to run the selected menu command.

General keyboard shortcuts | 5

Running a toolbar commandPress F6 repeatedly until the first icon on the toolbar is selected. Use the right and left arrows toselect any icon on a horizontal toolbar. Similarly, use the up and down arrows to select any icon
on a vertical toolbar. The Home key selects the first icon on a toolbar, and the End key the last.

Note
If the first object in the toolbar has an editable text field, like the Load URL or theParagraph Style, the Home, End, left and right arrow keys work on the text instead.
In these cases you can use Tab and Shift+Tab to navigate to other objects.
Press Enter to action the selected icon. If the selected icon normally demands a consecutive
mouse action, such as inserting a rectangle, then pressing the Enter key is not sufficient: in thesecases press Ctrl+Enter.
Press Ctrl+Enter on an icon for creating a draw object. A draw object will be placed into the
middle of the view, with a predefined size.
Press Ctrl+Enter on the Selection tool to select the first draw object in the document. If you wantto edit, size, or move the selected draw object, first use Ctrl+F6 to move the focus into thedocument.

Navigating and selecting with the keyboard
You can navigate through a document and make selections with the keyboard.
•To move the cursor, press the key or key combination given in the following table.

•To select the characters under the moving cursor, additionally hold down the Shift key
when you move the cursor.
Key

Function

Plus Ctrl key

Right, left
arrow keys

Moves the cursor one character tothe left or to the right.

Moves the cursor one word to theleft or to the right.

Up, down
arrow keys

Moves the cursor up or down oneline.

Moves the cursor up or down one
paragraph.

HomeMoves the cursor to the beginningof the current line.

Moves the cursor to the beginningof the document.

End

Moves the cursor to the end of thecurrent line.

Moves the cursor to the end of thedocument.

PgUp

Scrolls up one page.

Moves the cursor to the header.

PgDn

Scroll down one page.

Moves the cursor to the footer.

Controlling dialogs
When you open any dialog, one element (such as a button, an option field, an entry in a list box,
or a checkbox) is highlighted or indicated by a dotted box around the field or button name. Thiselement is said to have the focus on it.

6 | Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts

Shortcut KeysResultEnter

Activates selected button. In most cases where no button isselected, Enter is equivalent to clicking OK.

Esc

Closes dialog without saving any changes made while it wasopen. In most cases, Esc is equivalent to clicking Cancel.
When an open drop-down list is selected, Esc closes the list.

SpacebarChecks an empty checkbox. Clears a checked checkbox.

Up, down arrow keys

Moves focus up and down a list. Increases or decreases valueof a variable. Moves focus vertically within a section of dialog.

Left, right arrow keys

Moves focus horizontally within a section of a dialog.

Tab

Advances focus to the next section or element of a dialog.

Shift+Tab

Returns focus to the previous section or element in a dialog.

Alt+Down Arrow

Shows items in a drop-down list.

Controlling macros
Shortcut Keys

ResultCtrl+* (multiplication
sign:
on number pad only)

Runs a macro field. (See Chapter 13 for more about macros.)

Shift+Ctrl+QStops a running macro.

Managing documents
Shortcut Keys

ResultCtrl+F4 orAlt+F4

Closes the current document. Closes LibreOffice when the last open
document is closed.

Ctrl+O

Launches the Open dialog to open a document.

Ctrl+S

Saves the current document. If you are working on a previously
unsaved file, the shortcut launches the Save As dialog.

Ctrl+N

Creates a new document.

Shift+Ctrl+N

Opens the Templates dialog.

Ctrl+P

Opens the Print dialog to print the document.

Ctrl+Q

Closes the application.

DelIn the Save and Open dialogs, deletes the selected files or folders.
Items can be retrieved from the Recycle Bin (Trash), if your operating
system has one.

Shift+Del

In the Save and Open dialogs, deletes the selected files or folders.
Items are permanently deleted: they can not be retrieved from theRecycle Bin.

BackspaceIn the Save and Open dialogs, shows contents of the current folder’sparent folder.

Managing documents | 7Editing
Shortcut Keys

ResultCtrl+X, Shift+Del

Cuts selected items.

Ctrl+C, Ctrl+Ins

Copies selected items to the clipboard.

Ctrl+V, Shift+Ins

Pastes copied or cut items from the clipboard.

Ctrl+Shift+V

Opens the Paste Special dialog.

Ctrl+Alt+Shift+V

Pastes unformatted text.

Ctrl+A

Selects all.

Ctrl+Z

Undoes last action.

Ctrl+Y

Redoes last action.

Ctrl+Shift+Y

Repeats last command.

Ctrl+F

Opens the Find toolbar.

Ctrl+H

Opens the Find & Replace dialog.

Ctrl+Shift+F

Searches for the last entered search term.

Ctrl+Shift+I

Shows or hides the cursor in read-only text.

Selecting rows and columns in a database table
These shortcuts apply after the database table has been opened by Ctrl+Shift+F4.
Shortcut keys

ResultSpacebar

Toggles row selection, except when the row is in edit mode.

Ctrl+Space bar

Toggles row selection.

Shift+Space bar

Selects the current column.

Ctrl+Page Up

Moves pointer to the first row.

Ctrl+Page Down

Moves pointer to the last row.

Shortcut keys for drawing objects
Shortcut keys

ResultSelect the toolbar with F6. Use
the Down Arrow and Right
Arrow to select the desired
toolbar icon and press
Ctrl+Enter.

Inserts a drawing object.

Select the document with
Ctrl+F6 and press Tab.

Selects a drawing object.

Tab

Selects the next drawing object.

Shift+Tab

Selects the previous drawing object.

Ctrl+Home

Selects the first drawing object.

Ctrl+End

Selects the last drawing object.

Esc

Ends drawing object selection.

8 | Appendix A Keyboard Shortcuts

Esc (in Handle Selection Mode)

Exits Handle Selection Mode and returns to Object
Selection Mode.

Up/Down/Left/Right Arrow

Move the selected point (the snap-to-grid functions
are temporarily disabled, but end points still snap toeach other).

Alt+Up/Down/Left/Right Arrow

Moves the selected drawing object one pixel (inSelection Mode).
Re-sizes a drawing object (in Handle SelectionMode).
Rotates a drawing object (in Rotation Mode).
Opens the properties dialog for a drawing object.
Activates Point Selection mode for the selecteddrawing object.

Spacebar

Selects a point of a drawing object (in Point Selectionmode) / Cancel selection.
The selected point blinks once per second.

Shift+Spacebar

Selects an additional point in Point Selection mode.

Ctrl+TabSelects the next point of the drawing object (PointSelection mode).
In Rotation mode, the center of rotation can also beselected.

Ctrl+Shift+Tab

Selects the previous point of the drawing object (PointSelection mode).

Ctrl+EnterA new drawing object with default size is placed in thecenter of the current view.

Ctrl+Enter at the Selection icon

Activates the first drawing object in the document.

Esc

Leaves the Point Selection mode. The drawing object
is selected afterwards.
Edits a point of a drawing object (Point Edit mode).

Any text or numerical key

If a drawing object is selected, switches to edit modeand places the cursor at the end of the text in thedrawing object. A printable character is inserted.

Alt key while creating or scalinga graphic object
Shift key while creating or
scaling a graphic object

The position of the object’s center is fixed.
The ratio of the object’s width to height is fixed.

Defining keyboard shortcuts
In addition to using the built-in keyboard shortcuts listed in this Appendix, you can define yourown. See Chapter 14, Customizing LibreOffice, for instructions.

Further reading
For help with LibreOffice’s keyboard shortcuts, or using LibreOffice with a keyboard only, search
the application Help using the “shortcut keys” or “accessibility” keywords.

Further reading | 9