ISSUE We now have a really good, useful 'start screen' with thumbnails of latest documents, sheets, etc. plus good access to new and templates all from a nice looking dialog. However it is only available when you run LO for the first time, i.e. each time you start LO from scratch. FEATURE ENHANCEMENT REQUEST The 'start screen' could be a good way for users to navigate around their documents, etc. I believe it would enhance LO considerably if this screen were available from a button on a toolbar allowing users to go back to it at any time. RATIONALE I use a fairly limited selection of documents, sheets, templates, etc., probably like lots of people. I know that I can access all this from the file menu and via existing buttons (and probably other ways I haven't found) but it would suit me to be able to go back to the 'start screen' to get everything all in one place. I believe that it would also help new users of LO. LO's developers are looking to improve the UI and the 'start screen' has had a lot of love and development spent on it. This would increase functionality.
Hi David, (In reply to comment #0) > However it is only available when you run LO for the first time, i.e. each > time you start LO from scratch. Are you sure? When I close all document, LibreOffice remains active with just the start screen open.. thanks for describing your idea, By the way! Cor
woops... wrong entry
You are right, closing the last document reveals the 'start screen'. I would want to be able to get to the screen without closing documents, e.g. to open a new one or look at a previous one. Thanks for looking at the suggestion David
Start Center and its thumbnail view representation of the Recent Documents menu listing is only visible on launch of LibreOffice, and then again when the last open document is closed without exiting LO. Otherwise the thumbnail views are not available. Having implemented the Recent Documents listing as thumbnail views on the Start Center, it would be very useful to be able to return to that GUI listing at any point from any open LO component. Both to select/open an existing document, and to create a new document from the side menu. Seems it could be handled from the main menu add a "Start Center" item, or a maybe as a new toolbar button on the Standard toolbar. Setting NEW, and assigning component UX-advise
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Glad i didnt submit a new bug report for this, as i thought about the same thing. :) I dont think the standard toolbar needs to be cluttered with the button, as most users wont use the feature, IMHO, especially when the document they want inst already listed in the list, and when alot of users never actually get to the start center.
I thought the same thing, but some people doesn't understand the utility of this feature. However, it will be a good thing to acces on it anytime we want.
I second that request!
This enhancement is IMHO absolutely commendable. To say the truth, quite often I find myself in the incongruous situation where I close some files that I would actually leave open only to be able to get back again at the start screen, since this is the only way to have it back at the moment. The LO start screen is actually a simple but effective graphical interface to speed up managing and editing documents, I could actually find no reason why it should be available ONLY when you open the first document, especially in a modular, multi-format app like LO. Another proof that this would be sensible is the fact that most people I know who do not use LO keep on asking me why I do not go back to it when they look at me working with LO. A toolbar button and/or a keyboard shortcut to visualize it at any time would be the perfect way to effectively use this already existing functionality at 100% capacity.
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I assigned this issue to myself and I am working on it.
+1 on this feature It is a waste of an excellent interface that you can only use it once per session (unless you only work on one document at a time...) A suggestion: assign Ctrl+\ (a fast left hand combination) to open a new Start Center and add to the menu under File > Open Start Center (possibly before Open)
It's quite hard to find a non-ASCII character that is easy accessibly from any keyboard layout. To get Ctrl+Backslash you have to press Strg+AltGr+ß on a German keyboard, for example. That's why application wide shortcuts (ctr+key) use only chars from A..Z. See as well bug #90546.
Created attachment 115096 [details] MSO 2007 recent list
(In reply to Jay Philips from comment #15) > Created attachment 115096 [details] > MSO 2007 recent list Thank you for your efforts, but this doesn't do what I wanted - which was a simple button to reopen the Start Centre.
Jay, The start center is a modern, beautiful UI design. It's easy to use for both tablets and desktops, while providing quick access to common features. Now, I understand that we want to keep the standard toolbar clean. But if anything belongs there, this is one of them. A nice LibreOffice icon on the far left would be an ideal way to access it. I would happily sacrifice "Export to PDF", "Print Preview", "Clone", "Insert Table", "Insert Field", "Insert Footnote", and "Insert Endnote" ALL just to make room for a Start Center button. Yes, currently "alot of users never actually get to the start center." I almost never use it but that's precisely because of this bug, not because I don't want to. It's currently well hidden. If after a few major releases with this bug fixed, the UI metrics show that no-one is using it, I could see relegating it to the file menu. But for now we should place it front and center stage.
(In reply to Luke from comment #17) > I would happily sacrifice > "Export to PDF", "Print Preview", "Clone", "Insert Table", "Insert Field", > "Insert Footnote", and "Insert Endnote" ALL just to make room for a Start > Center button. Woow, lets not go this far now won't we? As useful as new button would be i wouldn't sacrifice really useful stuff to work with tables or print preview. Besides there're plenty space left.
Created attachment 115247 [details] MSO 2010 recent list I was mistaken when i uploaded the other screenshot. :D Might be useful to have it in the menu bar, similar to how MSO 2010/2013, so that its noticeable even when only the start center is open and possibly labeling it 'Home'.
Reading through the comments, I get the impression that there are actually multiple points being addressed: 1. if a LO window / document is already open, the Start Center can't be opened, not even from the command line using 'libreoffice'. In this case, the existing window is raised and not a new window created for the Start Center. 2. have calling the Start Center available as a command / function (so that people can add themselves a menu point, shortcut or toolbar entry using the Tools -> Customize... dialog). 3. integration in the GUI, as default, through menu point, shortcut and/or toolbar icon. Personally, I would really appreciate point 1 to be fixed, point 2 is less important to me but shouldn't break anything for anybody, and if point 3 isn't being implemented, then at least anybody can make it work for them as long as points 1 and 2 are implemented. Does this make sense? Could points 1 and 2 be implemented even if point 3 isn't finally decided?
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We're replacing our use of the 'ux-advise' component with a keyword: Component -> LibreOffice Add Keyword: needsUXEval [NinjaEdit]
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Is it possible to make an button to come to the start center? what's the .uno:xxx called?
(In reply to Yousuf Philips (jay) from comment #19) > Created attachment 115247 [details] > MSO 2010 recent list > > I was mistaken when i uploaded the other screenshot. :D > > Might be useful to have it in the menu bar, similar to how MSO 2010/2013, so > that its noticeable even when only the start center is open and possibly > labeling it 'Home'. I think the start center is way better than the ms thing. So please make it be available via .uno:
It's very frustrating with LibreOffice team. There is always no answer when there is an issue for Mac or when we ask for an improvement feature. If I were developer, I would do my best to integrate this feature because we need it.
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(In reply to andreas_k from comment #26) > Is it possible to make an button to come to the start center? what's the > .uno:xxx called? +1. added to UNO-Command metabug
Setting Assignee back to default. Please assign it back to yourself if you're still working on this issue
Removing needsUX because there is much acceptance to this idea. Due to the number of duplicates and +1 comments the importance is higher than normal.
It should be good to have this feature before the release of the 6.0 version.
(In reply to shunesburg69 from comment #33) > It should be good to have this feature before the release of the 6.0 version. 6.0 is essentially feature complete. And as there has been no recent work on this feature it won't happen. https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/ReleasePlan/6.0
I just downloaded the development version. In addition of no longer supporting the quickstart tray on Linux this missing feature costs me a lot of time. Right now I have to open Libreoffice6. It opens up writer instead of the start-screen as I normally have a lot of open documents a any given time. In writer I cannot drag-n-drop a calc file to open. So I am forced to click on open, and navigate to the file by hand. This costs quite a lot of time multiplied by times one opens a document. Please fix this, it seems like low-hanging fruit, not that hard to implement and could, at least in part, make up for the missing quickstart on Linux.
(In reply to Patrik from comment #35) > I just downloaded the development version. In addition of no longer > supporting the quickstart tray on Linux this missing feature costs me a lot > of time. Depends on your DE but quick start works as well on Linux (with a questionable functionality); enable it via Tools > Options > General > Right now I have to open Libreoffice6. It opens up writer instead of the > start-screen... Not when you just start LibreOffice (not Writer) - but again depending on how the distribution handles it. Nevertheless, your point will be taken into account.
Unfortunately the tray icon does not show up here on KDE Neon. I had some issues with the tray with other application and remeber that the gnome people could not agree with a common standard with the KDE people and the rest and needed to to their own thing. Now it's a mess. Anyway, that's not Libreoffices problem. Libreoffice has however deprecated the Quickstart IMHO, as I seem unable to find the Link which says so. It's therefore a temporary soltution at best. -- Regarding the Writer/Startmenu: It always starts Writer with a blank document, even if I open soffice or soffice.bin directly. My main problem is, that opening a document with ones own version of libreoffice is a pain, as one has to use the "open with" Dialog and no other option is possible. It would be nice if I could drag any document to, say, the menu bar and have it open in a new window with it's appropriate subprogram (writer, calc...). Right now I can drag-n-drop but it only allows me to insert the document in the existing, empty writer document. So to me it's just the Start-Screens ability to actually open the document via drag-n-drop from the file-manager, even though other commenters focus on other abilities of the start dialog, like the most recent documents or touch.
> (In reply to shunesburg69 from comment #33) > > It should be good to have this feature before the release of the 6.0 version. > any news about an uno command for show StartCenter?
I would also like to see this. StartCenter is useful, as it alows drag-and-drop of files from dolphin/nautius and opens the correct libreoffice component. It also shows the recent document list with previews. The bug is from 2014, there are duplicates. Some people seem to want it. It probably would take a programmer a very modest amount of time. As it seems everything is already in place. There just should be a command line parameter for startcenter as there is for writer, calc and every other component.
We need just an icon with the function to open the "Welcome window" (or "Start Center"). I'm pretty sure it's very easy to build, but without programming skill, it's a bit complicated.
Whats the name of the uno command l will make the icons.
(In reply to Shunesburg69 from comment #40) > We need just an icon with the function to open the "Welcome window" (or > "Start Center"). > I'm pretty sure it's very easy to build, but without programming skill, it's > a bit complicated. (In reply to andreas_k from comment #41) > Whats the name of the uno command l will make the icons. This is not a simple "assign a button" fix! There is no .UNO command to run this. And as the StartCenter is a module--backingwindow [1]--that interacts when launching any of the other modules, additional dev effort is needed to refactor interactions with modules already running. It was added as a menu entry for macOS [2], but IRRC it does not integrate with other running modules. =-ref-= [1] https://opengrok.libreoffice.org/xref/core/sfx2/source/dialog/backingwindow.cxx [2] https://opengrok.libreoffice.org/xref/core/sfx2/source/appl/shutdowniconaqua.mm?r=6f50961e#440
Jan, The Start Center was your brainchild. Do you have any thoughts on how this could be implemented?
Unfortunately I've forgotten much of the stuff here; but quickly re-reading the code seems to indicate that: CloseDispatcher::implts_establishBackingMode() from framework/source/dispatch/closedispatcher.cxx is responsible for filling the window with the start center when it is the last window that is closed. I hope it might be reasonably straight-forward to change the File -> New functionality in a way that it opens the Start center using similar stuff that is being done in the implts_establishBackingMode() (or even directly calling that instead of creating the new document right away). Of course, up to the Design team to decide if the File -> New should be changed, or if this should be done as separate functionality; and then of course we need somebody to actually implement this...
Changing priority back to 'medium' since the number of duplicates is lower than 5
Returned to high as 7 is higher than 5:) Duplicates (7): 77453 89584 97422 99241 102294 105713 106582 Also, 22 on the CC shows high interest in this feature.
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Hi Jan, Is there any progress with this feature? It is so hoped-for...
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There is an incongruity in the Start Center / LO Application closure If I have multiple LO apps open I can close them with Alt-F4 or the upper right corner X. Until the last one, then I have to use Ctrl-W or the little x to get the Start Center. IMO, if I load LO at system start, closing the last app should ALWAYS return to the Start Center regardless of the close keystroke.
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+1 for this feature I was looking for that is still missing.
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This needs to be done after so many years. Please god please I beg you
This would be a good idea. At least to give some sense to windowing environments where you can open multiple windows of the same application - that is to be in line with the last 40-something years of computing IMHO
Sorry, if this the wrong place for asking: Is there a way to fund the enhancement? How to get in contact with interested developers?
(In reply to Michael H from comment #58) > Sorry, if this the wrong place for asking: Is there a way to fund the > enhancement? How to get in contact with interested developers? That is a fair question here in association with this specific enhancement, but maybe the Ask instance is the better forum in general, while making a link back to a BZ issue like this. That said, the proven reality is that FOSS bounties don't really entice the work needed on a code base like LibreOffice's. But the Community of LibreOffice includes individuals and "Ecosystem" companies offering development support, per issue, but for their "branded" offerings of the LibreOffice "technology" they implement. An individual could directly employ one of the "certified" developers to implement a desired enhancement--but how deep are your pockets? An individual could support the Ecosystem partners in their business efforts by using their paid packaging of LibreOffice "technology" and your support and "enhancements" suggestions get rolled into their efforts. An individual can of course become a more involved Community member as a TDF "Trustee" and assist in the project, no programming skill required just willingness to contribute to the Foundation's operation and support of its projects. Some perspective can be gleaned from these past postings: https://www.libreoffice.org/community/get-involved/ https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Crowdfunding https://joelmadero.wordpress.com/2014/09/12/why-tdf-doesnt-do-crowd-funding/ https://lists.freedesktop.org/archives/libreoffice/2021-January/086741.html https://coss.fi/blogi/avoimeen-lahdekoodiin-erikoistunut-joukkorahoitus/ https://www.libreoffice.org/get-help/professional-support/ https://www.reddit.com/r/libreoffice/comments/10vc7be/does_libreoffice_have_any_paid_developers_to_fix/
Thank you for your advice and tips on how to support LibreOffice. I will continue with my question on the Ask site. If I find someone willing and able to make an offer for development, I will pass it on here - maybe some of the watchers of this ticket, will want to support.
To me it's not clear what "access to thumbnail view" means. The items are listed under File > Recent Documents. In addition we introduced the favorite attribute that allows to pin documents on top of this list. Sounds to me as if the request has been solved. => WFM In general, it is better to describe a workflow and shortcomings in the implementation rather than an envisioned solution.
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #61) It's simple: if the list of the File > Recent Documents is the same as the start center, then we can just drop the start center. If we see a value of the start center, then we can's even try to put an equal sign between the two. Period.
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #61) This is all about the big thumbnails of recent documents in the start center overview. You can find the document you are looking for at a glance. IMHO the attached screenshot of MSO 2010 is misleading big time.
I'm the original reporter of this feature request. All I wanted was a button on the toolbar to take users back to the start centre. This seems to have been forgotten. I apologise in advance if I offend anyone, but just how hard is it for a simple button to do this. I can't see how it's a programming issue as that function must already exist in the code. This is surely a UI issue. That having been said it has been nice to follow the discussion. Libreoffice remains the best office suite around and I push new users towards it when I can. Enormous thanks to all who put in their time and effort. I wish I could. Regards David
(In reply to Heiko Tietze from comment #61) > To me it's not clear what "access to thumbnail view" means. The items are > listed under File > Recent Documents. In addition we introduced the favorite > attribute that allows to pin documents on top of this list. Sounds to me as > if the request has been solved. => WFM > > In general, it is better to describe a workflow and shortcomings in the > implementation rather than an envisioned solution. This is firstly my response to comment 61 and secondly my proposal for functionality derived from it, on the basis of which I am, as announced in comment 60, obtaining a cost estimate so that I can set up a funding campaign and also document the procedure for extensions or bug fixes - with the help of the highly valued community. 1) The Start Center offers the possibility, regardless of the currently active module (writer, calc, impress), to open one of the recently used files from a thumbnail view either across modules or filtered by module. In the Start Center, it is also possible to pin and unpin selected files for quick access beyond desktop shortcuts. By calling up the Start Center from the modules and thereby being able to open pinned files or recently opened files (cross-module or module-specific), more rapidly usable functionality is available than with "Recent Documents". 2) Proposal Accessing the Start Center via an entry "Start Center" in the Window menu. >For me, the menu entry would be a very useful alternative to a Start Center button (possibly this is also simpler and therefore cheaper?) Accessing the Start Center via a keyboard shortcut. Here I am uncertain: which combination could work for Windows, Mac and Linux: ctrl+shift+9? I am very grateful for feedback. I hope my contribution is understandable.