Prevent OpenOffice Calc from converting pasted numbers with decimals into dates

2

Whenever I paste numbers that have dotted decimals in them (let's say, 5.05) into an OpenOffice Calc Spreadsheet, it insists on converting them into dates (the above becomes 15-05-05).

I usually set my spreadsheet cells to the Number or Text formats just to get rid of this annoyance. But doing so beforehand, does not prevent pasted data from being converted, at least if the source is from a web page.

How do I disable the date conversion feature?

Winterflags

Posted 2015-12-04T13:53:08.840

Reputation: 958

Have you tried paste special? – Lyrl – 2015-12-10T21:05:31.067

@Lyrl Yes, I have tried that – both Unfortmatted and from HTML source – and in both cases it automatically converts to a date format. – Winterflags – 2016-01-04T17:36:22.510

Btw, sorry for my late reply, I accidentally missed your comment. – Winterflags – 2016-01-04T17:36:38.167

Could you give an example of a website you are copying from, and also share what OpenOffice version you are using? I tested in OpenOffice 4.1.1 and was not able to reproduce the problem (although 5.05. - with a second dot - did enter as a date). I also tested in LibreOffice 4.4.4.3 and it always pasted as a number or as text (meaning 5.05 was a number and 5.05. was text). – Lyrl – 2016-01-04T18:50:29.453

@Lyrl This happens when I paste 5.05 from the question above. I'm using OpenOffice 4.1.2, but I'm pretty confident I had the same problem in the previous version. – Winterflags – 2016-01-04T18:52:48.017

2I would say that's either a bug in 4.1.2, or specific to an operating system or locale setting; that behavior is not present on my Windows 10 system with 4.1.1 and a US locale. – Lyrl – 2016-01-04T18:57:44.450

Answers

0

This problem had to do with my locale setting.

I had to change from a European locale to a U.S. one to use dotted decimals (.) without OpenOffice Calc interpreting it as dates. With the locale, it had a preference for colon decimals (,).

To change locale settings for Numbers data, without changing the locale of the entire software, I did this:

In Calc go to Menu > Format > Styles and Formatting, then right click Default and select Modify. Now go to NUMBERS and select Numbers data. Change Language to a US locale or something else that uses dotted decimals.

Winterflags

Posted 2015-12-04T13:53:08.840

Reputation: 958

Asked: 2015-12-04T13:53:08.840

Viewed: 505 times

Active: 2016-04-08T08:22:29.450