AutoComplete interferes with Tab and Enter in the OpenOffice Spreadsheet

Question

When I have a large data-entry task, I like to uses tab to move to the next cell in a row, and enter to move to the beginning of the next row. When I type into a cell and OpenOffice can autocomplete the information in the cell (from the rows above it in the same column), I can hit enter to accept the current completion and move to the next row, but I can't hit tab to accept the current completion and move to the next cell. Is there any way to fix this?

Answer 1

There's no way to mimic it exactly, but here's a workaround

Edit the keyboard to allow you to set Ctrl-A to do the same thing as Ctrl-Backspace.

Ctrl-Backspace navigates to the current cell and allows you to continue to use your Tab key for right movement, and leaving the Enter key to take you down a row and back to where you started using the Tab key.

Ctrl-Backspace however isn't an easy Keyboard short-cut or at least it isn't for my hands, so I added Ctrl-A to do the same thing. A is right next to the Tab key so it's a fairly fast keyboard click.

Tools>Customize>Keyboard> Under Functions In Category, select Navigation Function, select To Current Cell

Answer 2

Yes, this is maddening, and should definitely be an option. (Maybe it is, but the options settings are so cluttered I can never find anything.)

Meanwhile, when an autocomplete suggestion appears, just press Delete. You should then be able to press Tab to go to the next cell.

Answer 3

Use the right arrow key instead of tab.

Answer 4

There really is no way to do what you are asking. The software is, in a lot of ways, remarkably inferior to Excel, but it is free.