Bug 164994 - Add more Unicode character blocks to special characters dialog
Summary: Add more Unicode character blocks to special characters dialog
Status: RESOLVED INVALID
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: UI (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
24.8.4.2 release
Hardware: All All
: medium enhancement
Assignee: Not Assigned
URL:
Whiteboard:
Keywords: needsUXEval
Depends on:
Blocks: Special-Character
  Show dependency treegraph
 
Reported: 2025-02-02 11:06 UTC by fablecasey
Modified: 2025-02-03 15:00 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


Attachments
This is what I was trying to do. (39.49 KB, image/png)
2025-02-02 12:26 UTC, fablecasey
Details

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Description fablecasey 2025-02-02 11:06:11 UTC
Description:
Yu guys don't have a check mark as an option in the special characters table.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. Click "special Characters Icon on tool bar
2. Click "More options"
3. Type "Check Mark" Into search bar

Actual Results:
No results

Expected Results:
To find a check mark, one of the most basic symbols in the English language.


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No

Additional Info:
How can you guys not have a check mark?
Comment 1 Buovjaga 2025-02-02 12:02:19 UTC
There is a massive number of glyphs and symbols in the Unicode specification. The special characters dialog offers a selection of "character blocks", certain ranges in the Unicode spec. I could not find an existing request to add more character blocks. I guess we could ask the design team's opinion.

It is possible to conjure up any character, though: https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/04/01010000.html#hd_id541591272518903

Quote:

You can enter arbitrary Unicode characters in the document typing the Unicode hexadecimal code point and then pressing Alt+X (default). Type the Unicode hexadecimal notation and press Alt+X to toggle between the Unicode character and its hexadecimal notation. Selection is not necessary but the conversion will apply to the selected characters. Toggling occurs on the characters prior to the cursor position when these characters form a valid Unicode hexadecimal point. Hexadecimal code points with value in the range U+0000 to U+0020 are not converted.

(end quote)

So you could refer to any listing of Unicode characters, such as this one: https://unicodeplus.com/

There I searched for check and it listed a bunch of variants. Then in Writer, I could type 2713 and hit Alt+X and it turned into ✓

This check mark is in the char block called Dingbats: https://unicodeplus.com/block/2700
Comment 2 fablecasey 2025-02-02 12:26:16 UTC
Created attachment 198925 [details]
This is what I was trying to do.
Comment 3 fablecasey 2025-02-02 12:30:03 UTC
Don't get me wrong those instructions are easy to follow but it seems like a lot of trouble to go through for a check mark. Any other writing program I've used like word or google docs I could have just typed "check mark" into the search bar of the special characters menu and it would be right there.
Comment 4 V Stuart Foote 2025-02-02 13:23:42 UTC
Issue is not with the Special Character dialog implementation.

It was decided to not offer a composite font (or fill chart with fall back for missing glyphs), so the shown glyphs correctly reflect the Unicode coverage *of the selected font*.

You need merely select a font likely to include coverage of the glyph you are searching for, e.g. "Segoe UI Symbol" on Windows, or the LibreOffice delivered "OpenSymbol" font.

The search works against all blocks using the Unicode glyph name, so "CHECK MARK" or simply "CHECK", or if you know the Unicode point simply that--"U+2713"

Following Unicode convention, we do not abbreviate or translate the Unicode glyph names in their indexing or lookup.
Comment 5 V Stuart Foote 2025-02-03 15:00:40 UTC
=> Invalid as the current Special Character dialog correctly responds to those fonts with coverage in the Unicode BMP and the SMPs. Unicode block name exposed will be as reported by the selected font. As will the actual Unicode Name for each codepoint covered by the selected font.