I just installed version Log - 499f9727c189e6ef3471021d6132d4c694f357e5 - core - Gitiles
and I am having a difficult time getting it to automatically change a date field to MM/DD/YYYY format when I type in a format of MM.DD.YYYY
I have done so for so long in a previous version 3.4.3 OOO340m1 (Build: 302) that I forgot how I formatted that automatic text change to work.
Any ideas?
Either you format your cells or you don’t. If you don’t, you get some default format.
How to enter dates into a spreadsheet (Excel, Calc, Gnumeric, may be others):
1/ -->current month’s first day
1/2/ → this year’s first of February or second of January in US context
1/2/3 → first of February (or second of January) in the year 2003.
If you format your cells, they can show week days, full months, 4-digit years, quarters but the input scheme is independent from the appearance.
I like to input the format MM.DD.YY and have it auto-change to the format MM/DD/YYYY but I can’t get the cell to recognize the input to change it to a date. It works on previous version of Calc.
Try Tools>Options>LanguageSettings>Languages: “Date recognition patterns”
Sorry, I have Tools>AutoCorrect Options>Replace but nowhere does it say “Date recognition patterns”.
I have tried AutoCorrect>Replace, AutoCorrect>Exceptions, AutoCorrect>Options and AutoCorrect>Localized Options and cannot find anywhere to change one user-defined pattern to another.
Tools> AutoCorrect Options>
Tools> Options> 
Since you do not tell us your OS and you can’t find Tools>Options it must be a Mac. You know better than me where to find the application settings on a Mac.
The only choices under “Tools” are: Spelling, Automatic Spell Checking, Thesaurus, Language, AutoCorrect Options, Auto Input, Image Map, Redact, Auto-Redact, Goal Seek, Solver, Detective, Scenarios, Forms, Share Spreadsheet, Protect Sheet, Protect Spreadsheet Structure, Macros, Developement Tools, Extension Manager, Customize. Under Customize, there is an AutoCorrect Options. Now, under AutoCorrect Options in the Available Commands list is AutoFill Data Series: Automatic, but there is no obvious choice by which to replace the dots with forward slashes…
On Mac it is:
LibreOffice > Preferences > Language Settings > Languages: “Date recognition patterns”
Yes it is a mac. I have been looking through the toolbars and menus for days, and I cannot find any option or otherwise that allows the auto-correct of a date typed in dot notation. I was hoping someone else would know.
Winner winner Chicken Dinner!!!
LibreOffice > Preferences > Language Settings > Languages: “Date recognition patterns”
Thank you so very very very very much!!!
Thank you again, EarnestAl. That is exactly what I was looking for.