CTRL (SHIFT) SPACE blocked by keyboard layout switch - unable to insert non-breaking spaces in Writer

[crysman]

I've just figured out that I am unable to insert non-breaking spaces (CTRL-SHIFT-SPACE) any more in LibreOffice Writer because CTRL+SPACE now switches between keyboard layouts.

I consider this very unlucky, not only because non-breaking spaces, but also because many developer tools use CTRL-SPACE as function completion or similar.

We need a different default setup. Maybe classic windows ALT-SHIFT is offering itself - or is there any problem with that?

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 14.04
Package: xfce4 (not installed)
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 3.13.0-29.53-generic 3.13.11.2
Uname: Linux 3.13.0-29-generic x86_64
ApportVersion: 2.14.1-0ubuntu3.2
Architecture: amd64
CurrentDesktop: XFCE
Date: Sun Jul 6 23:10:21 2014
InstallationDate: Installed on 2013-10-26 (253 days ago)
InstallationMedia: Xubuntu 13.10 "Saucy Salamander" - Release amd64 (20131016)
SourcePackage: xfce4
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to trusty on 2014-06-11 (25 days ago)

[Christopher A. Chavez (chrstphrchvz)]

In the xfce keyboard settings, I don't even see ctrl+space as a listed shortcut for Change layout option. Nonetheless, if you are able to change this and it allows typing NBSP, then that is a workaround.
Two more workarounds:
- In LibreOffice, go to Tools > Customize > Keyboard and pick a different shortcut for NBSP.
- Or, go to Insert > Special Character and choose Subset > Latin-1, which should select NBSP (unicode U+00A0 (160)).

[Christopher A. Chavez (chrstphrchvz)]

I may have mislead myself by the description saying that Ctrl+Space was switching keyboard layouts (under XFCE), rather than controlling (e.g.) IBus as some other xfce/xubuntu users have found. See discussion over on bug 1344752, which may be a duplicate.

[crysman (crysman)]

Yes, there are workarounds, indeed... But why not to stick with a multiplatform standard? I believe CTRL+SHIFT+SPACE is used on most systems for non-breaking space...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.