Libreoffice Writer Em Dash Troubles With Compose Key

[begtognen]

OS: Linux Mint XFCE 20.2

I've just upgraded to 20.2 and am having troubles with the em dash using Libreoffice Writer 6.4.7.2. In my previous install I'd followed this advice:

Launch the System Settings application and select Keyboard. Select the Layouts tab, click on Options, and then click on Position of Compose Key. Select a Compose Key from the listing. I use Right Alt. Now when you press the Compose Key and then press --- you will get an em dash ( — ). You do not need to press and hold the Compose Key while you type --- . If you want an en dash ( – ), use --. (that is dash-dash-dot).

And it worked just fine. Now I have the Compose key set to Right Alt, but it doesn't seem to have any effect. Any ideas about what I'm doing wrong?

Thanks for any help/suggestions.

[BenTrabetere]

The built-in dash conversion should do what you need. To enable it go to Tools > AutoCorrect > AutoCorrect Options > Options and select “Replace Dashes”. Then when you type a word, followed by two hyphens, then another word, and finally a space, the two hyphens will be replaced with an em-dash.
This will generate an en-dash if one hyphen is surrounded by spaces between two words. So that word - word becomes word – word

If you want the conversion to occur automatically go to Tools > AutoCorrect and tick the While Typing box.

[begtognen]

Hi Ben, thanks for replying. The compose key work-around that used to work creates an em dash (longer than an en dash) which is why I was using it instead of the autocorrect option.

But in the process of double-checking what I'd already tried, I found out that I could use the Autocorrect / Autocorrect Options / Replace to just assign "---" to an em dash. (Under Autocorrect / Autocorrect Options / Options, "Use Replacement Table" must be checked.)