How do I change the date format from mm/dd/yy to dd/mm/yy in an Impress presentation?

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#1

I’ve tried right-clicking on the date field to change the format, but it only lets me decide between whether or not I want the day/month/year fully written out. It will still be in a mm/dd/yy format, which I can’t have.

How do I change it to dd/mm/yy?

#2

Have you checked whether your date is really a calc date or whether it is just text. Turn on View -> Value Highlighting (CTRL+F8) and if your date does not turn blue color, they you deal with text, while real calc dates are integer numbers counting the days past since 1899-12-30, which is day 0 and TODAY() is 44217.

  • If it turns out, that you have text, check for Data -> Text to Columns...
  • If you have real dates do not rely on the available options in selection list Format (the list is determined by the language setting of the cell) but directly enter DD/MM/YY into text field Format code (or change the cell’s language under Language from (probably) English (USA) to a language which supports DD/MM/YY - e.g. English (UK) )
#3

@anon73440385 I couldn’t find the option Value Highlighting, and pressing CTRL+F8 did nothing. Please mind that as per the tags and title, I am using Libre Office Impact, not Calc, therefore I’m not sure what cells you’re talking about.
However I know I added the date via Insert->Field->Date (variable) and when I click on it it appears highlighted in gray, as only fields do.
I don’t know where to find the text field Format code.

#4

I’m afraid you can’t.
I personnally never use Impress, but the restrictions to the functionality of TextField objects with numeric content (date fields are of this kind) regarding the formatting are caused by the fact that neither the impress document, nor its pages, nor its text containing objects can manage a collection of number formats (as Writer documents orCalc documents do).
Therefore date fields in Impress only support a very small collection of (silly) predefined formats - and you cannot even change the assignment by user code.

Tell me if I’m on error.

#5

@anon73440385: The question was about Impress.
In Impress you can insert date fields, and you may think, they are the same kind as in Writer. But they are limited as I told.

#6

Oooops - sorry, oversaw tag and had only Calc in my mind, please forgive me.

#7

Can I delete comments on Calc? Or it is better to leave they here?

#9
  • Insert the date field (menu Insert - Field - Date).
  • Select the field (click).
  • Select the date (double click).
  • Edit the field (menu Edit - Field…).
  • Select Language English (UK) or English (Australia) (not English (USA)) and Format 21/01/2012.

Tested with LibreOffice 6.4.7.2 (x64); OS: Windows 10.0.

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#10

thank you so much! this works like a charm!

#11

You’re welcome!

#12
#8

Referring to my comments above:
The only way to insert a reasonably formatted variable date into a Draw or an Impress document, is OLE.
In principle you can also use an embedded Writer model, but I would by far prefer a Calc model.

See attached example:
impressDemo1a.odp

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