Simple question

[Jeff & Celia <ja...@bigpond.com>]

  Hi guys

  I've recently downloaded Openoffice version 4.1.4 and am having a funny little problem.

  I've searched thru the help fields and can't find anything there.

  I registered for your users forum but, try as I might, I couldn't even work our how to post a question.

  So I thought I'd try this.  As I said, I think (hope) my issue is a simple one.

  Until recently I've used an old version of Word on my Windows XP computer but that seems top have died, hence now using OpenOffice.

  Several times a year I have to put together a list with names and dates.  The dates are shown at the top of columns 
  and I have always just written them as, eg, Feb 5 for February 5 or, say, Sep 19 for September 19. In context of what I'm doing I don't need 
  anything else. Just Feb 5, Sep 19 and so on.

  My problem is that when I write Feb 5 then tab to the next column, it changes to 01/02/05. Sep 6 changes to 01/09/06.

  Any ideas as to how I stop what I want changing to something I don't want?

  I'd appreciate anything you can offer.

  Regards
  Jeff Pohlmann
  NSW Australia 

Re: Simple question

[Brian Barker <b....@btinternet.com>]

At 16:16 07/12/2017 +1100, Jeff Pohlmann wrote:
>Until recently I've used an old version of Word on my Windows XP 
>computer but that seems top have died, hence now using OpenOffice.
>
>Several times a year I have to put together a list with names and 
>dates. The dates are shown at the top of columns and I have always 
>just written them as, eg, Feb 5 for February 5 or, say, Sep 19 for 
>September 19. In context of what I'm doing I don't need anything 
>else. Just Feb 5, Sep 19 and so on. My problem is that when I write 
>Feb 5 then tab to the next column, it changes to 01/02/05. Sep 6 
>changes to 01/09/06.
>
>Any ideas as to how I stop what I want changing to something I don't want?

I'm having to guess here, because you suggest you are using columns 
in a text (Writer) document, but your comment about tabbing to the 
next column suggests that instead you have a table. If so...

You can disable this function by removing the tick from Tools | 
Options... | OpenOffice Writer | Table | Input in tables | Number 
recognition | Number format recognition. If you prefer, you can 
disable number recognition completely by removing the tick from Tools 
| Options... | OpenOffice Writer | Table | Input in tables | Number 
recognition instead.

But there is a simpler solution. Before entering the data, go to 
Table | Number Format... | Category (or right-click |  Number 
Format... | Category) and set the format to Text. Then your input 
values will not be reformatted.

Alternatively, you could choose to allow OpenOffice to adjust your 
values, but set the format you wanted. To do that, go to Table | 
Number Format... (or right-click |  Number Format... )  and enter 
"MMM D" (no quotes) in the Format code box at the bottom. That will 
show today's date as "Dec 7" from any of a range of possible ways of 
inputting it.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker


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