Libreoffice calc disable auto date formatting

[COKEDUDE1]

I am trying to put dates similar to 01/21/2022 in my libreoffice calc file. Unfortunately it keeps getting changed to to 01/21/22 and changes the alignment to the right. Is there a way to avoid this? I would like it to stay 01/21/2022 like I am putting it in. Also not change my alignment.

I did see this idea but unfortunately I am copying and pasting so this will not work for me.

How do you disable date formatting in LibreOffice Calc?

The truest answer is that no, you cannot disable it. Thank you very much Mike Kaganski for the work around which is summarized here: Highlight and right click the cells you want to leave unformatted. Click “Format Cells…” Click on the tab “Numbers” Under the category select box click “Text” Click “Ok”. Your text should no longer be interpreted as date/decimal/currency etc for the selected cells. A few caveats. If you insert a cell then the LibreOffice Calc will revert to it’s old behavior fo…

The truest answer is that no, you cannot disable it. Thank you very much Mike Kaganski for the work around which is summarized here:

Highlight and right click the cells you want to leave unformatted.
Click “Format Cells…”
Click on the tab “Numbers”
Under the category select box click “Text”
Click “Ok”.

Your text should no longer be interpreted as date/decimal/currency etc for the selected cells.

A few caveats. If you insert a cell then the LibreOffice Calc will revert to it’s old behavior for that cell. This includes dragging and dropping the contents of a cell to somewhere lower in the document. The spaces made will revert back to the old behavior.

[robleyd]

Cross posted at Libreoffice calc disable auto date formatting (View topic) • Apache OpenOffice Community Forum where a solution has been offered.

If you cross post, please let us know that you have done so, otherwise it leads to several discussions and a waste of time because several identical answers may be posted by different users.

[Villeroy]

It would be “auto date formatting” if the program would constantly change the number format according to your input method. Either you format cells or you don’t. If you don’t and your input is recognized as a date, some default date format applies. The most important thing is that the entered value is correct. Formatting (color, font, border, number format) never changes the cell value.
How to enter dates into a spreadsheet (Excel as well) easily:
1/ enters the first day of current month
1/2/ enters this year’s fist of February or second of January in US context
1/2/3 enters 1st of Feb (or 2nd of Jan) of year 2003. By default the year 1930 marks the threshold to decide if a one or two-digit year falls into 20th or 21st century.

Regarding the alignment, a spreadsheet aligns numbers to the right border and text to the left until you force it to do otherwise. Either you format cells or you don’t.

[schiavinatto]

With the cell selected, menu Format / Format Cells under Category Date, in Format Code MM/DD/YYYY.