Re: [libreoffice-users] Cannot Change Date Format in Calc

At 20:30 17/03/2014 +0000, Budgie Noname wrote:
> I have an .ods file and a column with dates in it resists all my 
> attempts to change the format.  The column was created when I opened 
> a .csv file in Calc and the dates were shown as, for example, 12 Feb 2014.
> At some time during the editing of this file the dates became shown 
> as 12-Feb-14 but I have not intended this change.  What I want is 
> date in DD/MM/YYYY format.  I can highlight the column and try and 
> format it but nothing changes.

The obvious problem that would prevent your changing the format is 
that you actually have text in these cells, not dates proper - though 
it's difficult to see how the unintentional change could then have 
happened.  If that's the case, there are two probable solutions:

1. Go back to the CSV file and select "DATE (DMY)" as the "Column 
type" - so you get dates instead of text.

2. If you've done too much work for that to be desirable:
o Create a new column with =DATEVALUE(Xn) - with the Xn being the 
existing text date value.  Don't worry if the new values look funny.
o Copy the new date values back over the originals, but using Paste 
Special with Formulas *not* ticked.
o Now format the new date values as desired.

Oh, but I see you've beaten me to this ...

Brian Barker


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