Bug 131077 - [LOCALHELP] Add information about how to enter a single equal sign (=) into a table cell in Writer
Summary: [LOCALHELP] Add information about how to enter a single equal sign (=) into a...
Status: RESOLVED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Documentation (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium normal
Assignee: sdc.blanco
URL:
Whiteboard: target:7.1.0
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2020-03-02 17:25 UTC by MarjaE
Modified: 2020-11-15 10:02 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
Screen shot of something that pops up after trying to enter = (4.69 KB, image/png)
2020-11-13 20:19 UTC, MarjaE
Details

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Description MarjaE 2020-03-02 17:25:45 UTC
Description:
Searching here:

https://help.libreoffice.org/6.4/en-US/search

With = table cell, I get a lot of unrelated results involving table cells, but not how to enter = as an entry, without things going haywire. With just = "No documents match your query"

Searching here:

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/docs/en/html/search.html

Both ways, "Your search did not match any documents. Please make sure that all words are spelled correctly and that you've selected enough categories."

Using Clearview to search the Writer Guide:

Similar results to help.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Visit https://help.libreoffice.org/6.4/en-US/search
2. Search for table cell =
3. Search for =

Actual Results:
After 2, many other results involving table cells, but not how to enter = in a table cell.
After 3, "No documents match your query"

Expected Results:
Relevant workarounds for bugs involving =, e.g. how to enter = in a table cell, without triggering math functions.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:
Using LibreOffice 6.2.7.1 nbc for accessibility reasons. Similar behavior in NeoOffice. Cannot test LibreOffice standard due to blinking cursors.
Comment 1 Olivier Hallot 2020-03-05 21:56:30 UTC
To locate pages about formulas in table, search for "table formula text document". 

Your report is mixing issues in more than one service: Help, bugzilla and guide books.

Consider that this report should address the Help of LibreOffice. Please restate the issue you have. Is it the search feature of the Help page?

(Others source of information (bugzilla, Guides) have their own report and community).
Comment 2 MarjaE 2020-03-06 01:15:53 UTC
Yes, it's primarily the search feature of the help page.
Comment 3 QA Administrators 2020-03-06 03:00:13 UTC Comment hidden (obsolete)
Comment 4 BogdanB 2020-09-16 17:36:00 UTC
If you search how to enter the text "=" into a cell, you just need to press "=" and to press ENTER. This is what you was asking for?...
Comment 5 MarjaE 2020-09-16 20:22:44 UTC
Writing "=" in a table cell yields "=" not =.

Writing "=" in https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/docs/en/html/search.html yields "Your search did not match any documents. Please make sure that all words are spelled correctly and that you've selected enough categories." not a list of bugs and workarounds involving =.
Comment 6 sdc.blanco 2020-11-13 15:01:33 UTC
(In reply to MarjaE from comment #5)
> Writing "=" in a table cell yields "=" not =.
That is true.  

But did you try to put your cursor in a cell, then press the = key, followed by the Enter key.

When I do that, then I get  =  alone in the cell.

Is that what you wanted to do?
Comment 7 MarjaE 2020-11-13 20:18:37 UTC
That's what I wanted to do. Instead, if I type = in a table cell in a Writer document, the page flashes, and something pops up at the top of the screen. If I try to click another cell, the page flashes again, and something gets added.
Comment 8 MarjaE 2020-11-13 20:19:46 UTC
Created attachment 167287 [details]
Screen shot of something that pops up after trying to enter =
Comment 9 sdc.blanco 2020-11-14 09:28:29 UTC
(In reply to MarjaE from comment #7)
> That's what I wanted to do. Instead, if I type = in a table cell in a Writer
> document, the page flashes, and something pops up at the top of the screen.
Thanks for your quick reply.  BogdanB and I were describing the procedure in Calc.

In Writer, please do this.

1.  Put cursor in cell.
2.  Press spacebar =    (that is, enter a space and then enter = )
3.  Then move cursor back to the space (with mouse or with cursor key) and delete the space.

I believe this will achieve what you want.

You have discovered (by accident) the standard or expected behavior of tables in Writer.
(It is possible to use Tables in Writer to do operations that are usually found in spreadsheets.  There is no setting or option to "turn off" this behavior, so use the technique of adding and removing the space.)

I do not think this technique is mentioned in the online help, so I will confirm the bug and add a tip about the technique.
Comment 10 Commit Notification 2020-11-15 08:22:57 UTC
Seth Chaiklin committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/help/commit/0845c7e9549151fd01452ff55fb3539281f7c9dd

tdf#131077  add tip about how to enter an equal sign in a Writer table
Comment 11 sdc.blanco 2020-11-15 10:02:58 UTC
The result will be seen in:  https://help.libreoffice.org/7.1/en-US/text/swriter/guide/calculate.html

Have also added some index items, so you if write:  table  
into the index, then you will see an item:  table -- starting cell with =

But it usually takes a few days before the patch moves from master to the online help.

Closing as FIXED