Bug 102193 - Add 'Select {Row, Column, Table, Cell}' to right-click context menu when working with tables
Summary: Add 'Select {Row, Column, Table, Cell}' to right-click context menu when work...
Status: RESOLVED INVALID
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Writer (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks: Context-Menu Writer-Tables-Enhancements
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2016-09-14 10:14 UTC by P.Otato
Modified: 2019-01-21 11:16 UTC (History)
4 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
mock-up for cell selection in context menu when working with tables in LibreOffice Writer (114.02 KB, image/jpeg)
2016-09-14 10:14 UTC, P.Otato
Details

Note You need to log in before you can comment on or make changes to this bug.
Description P.Otato 2016-09-14 10:14:34 UTC
Created attachment 127330 [details]
mock-up for cell selection in context menu when working with tables in LibreOffice Writer

When working with tables in LibreOffice Writer it would be really helpful to have the option "Select" in the right-click context menu since this improves the workflow.

I've attached a screenshot: The left side shows the current state (LibreOffice 5.2.1). The right side shows how I would imagine the implementation of such a feature.
Comment 1 Yousuf Philips (jay) (retired) 2016-09-14 18:28:37 UTC
Hi P.Otato,

Got your email so i'm responding. :D

Selection is primarily a function of the mouse left click, which is why i left the selection options out of the reorganization of the table context menu. We normally left click select and then right-click for options to do to the selection, like when we left-click select text and then right-click copy.

You can easily select a row, column or entire table in a similar way of doing it in calc, by left clicking above the column, left clicking to the left of a row or left clicking at the top left corner of the table. The only not-so easy selection is selecting a cell, which requires you to select 2 cells and then return to select a single one, which still is a left click selection option.

As it maybe difficult for users to do table selections, i added all the table select options to the table toolbar, though only the cell and table ones are shown by default because of size restrains.

I wouldnt be for adding the select submenu in the context menu because of the above reasons and in order to keep the context menu size to a minimal size, especially as some table functions (e.g. merge cells) in the context menu are contextual and only shown when they are enabled. That doesnt mean that you cant add them to the context menu yourself in Tools > Customize > Context Menus.

@Heiko, @Stuart, @Cor: what's your take?
Comment 2 Heiko Tietze 2016-09-14 20:57:25 UTC
I don't see any use case for select per right click. Furthermore didn't found such an option in any other app so users will wonder why its implemented. And likely there are issues in the workflow. INVALID in my opinion.

(Sorry if this sounds too harsh. Read too many requests about feature integration while we should aim for simplicity. If you, P.Otato, want this feature do it as an extension, how about that?)
Comment 3 P.Otato 2016-09-16 10:49:34 UTC
Hi,

thanks for caring. Your arguments make sense. The problem was indeed selecting a single cell.

I did not know that one can edit the context menu, so this information kind of solves my problem. Thank you for that! 
Nevertheless I will look into extension writing, because maybe someone shares the same need for a 'select' submenu.


Again, thanks to both of you.