[libreoffice-users] Focus issues on Linux

<Started a new thread, was <Fixing 5.0 appearance">

On Sat, 23 Dec 2017 10:59:12 -0800
Girvin Herr <gherrl@fastmail.com> dijo:

> > At this point I should also add that there has long been a bug with
> > floating toolbars on all Linux installations that I know of - that
> > is, if you have a toolbar floating it defeats the normal focus
> > actions of the Linux X-windows GUI. An example would make this more
> > clear. Let us suppose that I have only one Writer document window
> > open on the screen. While working on it I discover that I need to
> > use another program, e.g., Firefox, so I switch to a Firefox window,
> > leaving the Writer document on the screen. The Firefox window will
> > come up on top of the Writer document, as it should, but when I
> > later minimize the Firefox window I see the Writer document is now
> > completely visible again, but focus has not been restored to it. And
> > that means that clicking on its icon in the Xfce panel will not
> > minimize it until I click on the window to restore its focus. Also,
> > when I later restore a Writer document window quite often the
> > floating formatting toolbar fails to appear. I can go into View >
> > Toolbars and I see that it is still checked, but to get it back I
> > have to un-check it, then re-check it. And when I restore a document
> > to the screen by clicking on it in the Xfce panel it comes up on the
> > screen, but again without focus. I wish there was a hotkey to open
> > the Formatting toolbar, like F11 for the Styles toolbar, but I can't
> > find one. I tried to create one, but I failed.
> >
> > I have lived with this bug since forever, with all versions on OO and
> > now LO. I was hoping that this would have finally been fixed in the
> > new LO 5.4, but it remains unchanged. And a few years ago I asked on
> > one of these lists and after much discussion I tracked the problem
> > down to my floating toolbars, that is, if none of my floating
> > toolbars are on the screen the document window takes focus as it
> > should, like all other application windows. Also, the problem is
> > specific to each individual document window, e.g., as I write this I
> > have three Writer documents open, I closed the floating toolbars on
> > one of them and that window then took focus properly, but I left the
> > toolbars on the other two documents and they still did not take
> > focus properly.

> I, too, use xfce4 and this window focus problem might not be an LO 
> issue. I use several other apps and have experienced this frustrating 
> focus problem with them too. I usually don't notice it until after I 
> type some text and discover the text is not showing up in the window I 
> expected. It would be an interesting datapoint if someone in this
> forum who uses KDE or another Linux desktop would confirm or deny they 
> experience it with those desktops.

That is very interesting. I have hundreds and hundreds of applications
installed, as I do a lot of writing and desktop publishing, as well as
working with video and multimedia. LO is the only app where the focus
problem happens for me, although it does sometimes happen on web
pages, but that is surely a problem with the html code written by the
site developer. The browser itself has no problem when restored after
being minimized. I also have two computers, a laptop and a desktop,
both with Xubuntu 14.04, and I have the same focus problem on both of
them.

Yes, it would be very interesting to hear from other Linux users. We
might need to take this to another venue if the problem is not related
to LO. I originally researched this and discovered the connection
between the focus problem and floating toolbars at least a couple years
ago and I no longer remember where I asked - surely one of the OO or LO
listservs, and possibly the Ubuntu and/or Xfce forums.

I should also add that I don't believe that I ever filed a bug report.

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