Writer Guide

Assigning shortcut keys
In addition to using the built-in keyboard shortcuts (listed in Appendix
A), you can define your own. You can assign shortcuts to standard OOo
functions or your own macros and save them for use with the entire
OpenOffice.org suite.
Caution
Be careful when reassigning your operating system’s or OOo’s
predefined shortcut keys. Many key assignments are universally
understood shortcuts, such as F1 for Help, and are always
expected to provide certain results. Although you can easily
reset the shortcut key assignments to the OOo defaults,
changing some common shortcut keys can cause confusion,
frustration and possible data loss or corruption, especially if
other users share your computer.
To adapt shortcut keys to your needs, use the Customize dialog, as
described below.
1) Select Tools > Customize > Keyboard. The Customize dialog
opens.
2) To have the shortcut key assignment available in all components
of OpenOffice.org, select the OpenOffice.org button.
3) Next select the required function from the Category and Function
lists.
4) Now select the desired shortcut keys in the Shortcut keys list and
click the Modify button at the upper right.
5) Click OK to accept the change. Now the chosen shortcut keys will
execute the function chosen in step 3 above whenever they are
pressed.
Note
All existing shortcut keys for the currently selected Function are
listed in the Keys selection box. If the Keys list is empty, it
indicates that the chosen key combination is free for use. If it
were not, and you wanted to reassign a shortcut key
combination that is already in use, you must first delete the
existing key.
Shortcut keys that are greyed-out in the listing on the Customize
dialog, such as F1 and F10, are not available for reassignment.
524 OpenOffice.org 3 Writer Guide