If you want your cell data to be unaltered by any behind-the-scene wizardry, make sure that Table>Number Recognition is unchecked.
Alternatively, you can assign a specific format to a cell, just like you would do in Calc, with Table>Number Format. Code @ means “text”, i.e. no tampering on what you entered.
These features were introduced to give a very limited spreadsheet capability to Writer table, but they seem to rather confuse users.
##Table styles
First of all, they are not “styles” like paragraph, character, frame, page and list styles. They are in fact a set of macros which are fired when various events occur. This means you can’t reformat simultaneously all tables based on the same “style” by modifying said style, were it possible.
The fact that the macros are implicitly relaunched to reformat the table, e.g. when you add a row or column, conflicts with user formatting of cell. Upon relaunch, the macros reset every cell formatting to its own internal design, wiping out any user modification.
If you accept as a whole the formatting defined by the “style”, you’ll have no problem. But if you use a “style” as a base for a user-modified table and add fancy formatting, be it a number format, you’re in trouble because the macros will work on your back.
IMHO, present macro-based table styles are probably an experimental implementation to ease simple spreadsheet-like cases. But, as they restrict user liberty and creativity, they should be avoided in user-decorated tables. When creating tables, the safe choice is None style. Of course, you’re then faced with a tedious manual formatting task but this formatting is guaranteed to be persistent.
CAVEAT EMPTOR!
Following OP’s request, I add this warning for whoever may be concerned.
A table “style” is “sticky”: once you have created a table with a style or formatted it with Table>Autoformat Styles, you can no longer revert to no style at all. The Default Table Style in Table>Autoformat Styles is just another macro-based “style” which will erase your user-applied additional cell formatting.
The only no-style-at-all possibility is to create a table with Table>Insert Table with a None style. There, you keep all formatting possibilities offered by Table>Properties. And, since no macro is involved, your formatting will be persistent.
The present table “style” behaviour has been frowned upon in bug tdf#138453.
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