Bug 168483 - Shortcut Keys for LibreOffice Writer help page: Alt+Enter description misleading
Summary: Shortcut Keys for LibreOffice Writer help page: Alt+Enter description misleading
Status: VERIFIED FIXED
Alias: None
Product: LibreOffice
Classification: Unclassified
Component: Documentation (show other bugs)
Version:
(earliest affected)
unspecified
Hardware: All All
: medium minor
Assignee: Olivier Hallot
URL: https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/e...
Whiteboard: target:26.2.0
Keywords:
Depends on:
Blocks:
 
Reported: 2025-09-19 15:40 UTC by Philippe Cloutier
Modified: 2025-11-14 20:43 UTC (History)
3 users (show)

See Also:
Crash report or crash signature:


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Description Philippe Cloutier 2025-09-19 15:40:15 UTC
According to the Shortcut Keys for LibreOffice Writer page (https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/swriter/04/01020000.html), one of the effects of keyboard shortcut Alt+Enter is:
> Inserting a new paragraph without numbering inside a list. Does not work when the cursor is at the end of the list.

The last sentence appears to be wrong. Moreover, the phrasing assumes that the list is numbered, while it can be unordered (bullet points). Also, this inserts a line break, not a new paragraph. Finally, most descriptions are not phrased in the continuous.

I suggest:
> Inside a list: Insert a new line (without adding a list element)
Comment 1 Philippe Cloutier 2025-09-19 15:41:46 UTC
It would be nice to clarify if this corresponds to the "Insert Unnumbered Entry" button (in the list toolbar). That button does not advertise a shortcut.
Comment 2 nutka 2025-09-19 16:40:08 UTC
Tip of the Day 141/225 reads:

"Need to include a list item without a bullet or number? Use “Insert Unnumbered Entry” in the Bullets and Numbering toolbar."
Comment 3 BogdanB 2025-09-19 17:04:27 UTC
Much better: 

Inside a list, it creates a new unnumbered line directly below (for extra information).
Comment 4 BogdanB 2025-09-19 17:15:15 UTC
If any change is aproved I can do the changes after that.
Comment 5 Philippe Cloutier 2025-09-19 18:03:50 UTC
BogdanB:
1. Technically, it does not really create a line which is new. It adds an EOL, which splits the current line in 2. If there is text after the cursor, the line below will already have content.
2. In an unordered list, pressing just Enter also "creates" an unnumbered line, so that is not what we mean.
3. I would consider it superfluous and inconsistent to specify "for extra information". We do not specify that for Ctrl+Enter, for example.
4. Your suggestion does not match conventions there, where the first phrases are not full sentences. Colons are best to isolate context, as Ctrl+Backspace exemplifies.

Looking at this better, either the 2 rows for Alt+Enter should be merged, or this one should move to "Shortcut Keys for Paragraphs, List Paragraphs, Outline Levels and List Levels".
Comment 6 Philippe Cloutier 2025-09-19 18:08:52 UTC
I am sorry, the last sentence is not quite wrong. Alt+Enter does not work when the cursor is at the start of a line, as reported in ticket #35220.
Comment 7 Philippe Cloutier 2025-09-19 18:13:22 UTC
The second function of Ctrl+Backspace also needs to be rewritten. It only removes a newline, not a paragraph, and it only works when the cursor is at the start of a line.
Comment 8 Philippe Cloutier 2025-09-19 18:19:42 UTC
Thank you nutka, I confirm. That needs rewriting, as Insert Unnumbered Entry does not insert a list item, but a line inside an existing item.

The Bullets and Numbering Bar help page also needs to talk about a line rather than a paragraph: https://help.libreoffice.org/25.2/en-US/text/swriter/main0206.html?System=WIN&DbPAR=WRITER&HID=HID_NUM_TOOLBOX#bm_id3154267
Comment 9 Olivier Hallot 2025-11-12 19:19:49 UTC
Using the spotlight feature we see that Alt+Enter inserts a line with same paragraph style but no bullet or numbering.

Step to reproduce:

- Enable spotlight
- Edit style Numbering 1 ( or List 1) and apply a list in "Outline & List".
 -Insert the contents, apply the paragraph style Numbering 1 or List 1, Spotlight shows color code on the left margin
- Insert Alt+Enter. The new paragraph has style Numbering (List) 1 but no numbering or bullet.
- Spotlight shows same style applied but no numbering/bullet.
Comment 10 Philippe Cloutier 2025-11-12 20:43:14 UTC
Thank you very much Olivier. I now recognize that the shortcuts splits the paragraph in 2 and apologize for my misleadingness.

To clarify what Olivier wrote:

> Steps to reproduce:
> - Enable Styles Spotlighting and ensure your display mode is normal (not Web).
> - Edit style Numbering 1 ( or List 1) and apply a list in "Outline & List".
> - Insert the contents, apply the paragraph style Numbering 1 or List 1.
>   (Spotlight shows color code on the left margin.)
> - Type Alt+Enter.
> 
> Results
> The new paragraph has style Numbering (List) 1 but no list marker (bullet).
> Spotlight shows same style applied.

Based on that, I retract comments #7 and #8. The tip of the day nutka mentioned could be rewritten as:
> "Need to include 2 paragraphs in a single list item ?
> Use “Insert Unnumbered Entry” in the Bullets and Numbering toolbar."

As for the problematic entry in the Shortcut Keys for LibreOffice Writer page, I suggest:
Inside a list: Split the paragraph in 2, without adding a list element (the second paragraph will contain the part of the split paragraph which follows the cursor). Does not work when the cursor is at the start of a paragraph.
Comment 11 Philippe Cloutier 2025-11-12 21:34:55 UTC
(In reply to Philippe Cloutier from comment #7)
> The second function of Ctrl+Backspace also needs to be rewritten. It only
> removes a newline, not a paragraph, and it only works when the cursor is at
> the start of a line.

So, this is actually way more complicated than I thought. In a list item, Ctrl+Backspace will sometimes remove the preceding "newline" if it is right after a paragraph or list item break, but I believe I have seen it do that even when a few text characters preceded it (in the first "word" of the line). And it also deletes text when inside a word. For sure, it can remove part of the previous paragraph.

Ctrl+Del has the same issue: depending on where it is, it can delete part of the next paragraph.
In Writer 25.2.6.2, a document with the following 4 lines (not even in the list) yields massively unpredictable results:
> Type Ctrl+Del right here←,
> Type Ctrl+Del right here→,
> Type Ctrl+Del right here→
> (),.+word

So both Ctrl+Backspace and Ctrl+Del need to be revised and my tests seem to highlight behavioral bugs, so this definitely exceeds this ticket’s scope.
Comment 12 Commit Notification 2025-11-13 00:56:36 UTC
Olivier Hallot committed a patch related to this issue.
It has been pushed to "master":

https://git.libreoffice.org/help/commit/9ea21fcc6dca1c2f313b0b7494c00cdd4a42c774

tdf#168483 Writer: Alt+Enter description misleading
Comment 13 Olivier Hallot 2025-11-13 00:58:36 UTC
To be clear on Alt Enter in lists:
"Inserts a new paragraph within a list without a bullet or number, while preserving the list’s paragraph formatting. To resume numbering or bulleting, press Enter after adding content to the new paragraph. This shortcut does not work if the cursor is at the very beginning of a list paragraph."
Comment 14 Philippe Cloutier 2025-11-14 20:43:27 UTC
Thank you very much Olivier.


Olivier's changes solved most of what this initially reported, so I carried the leftover to ticket #169426.

As for comment #11, this was even more complicated than I thought, but quite minor. I reported my findings in ticket #169447.