Date Format in Writer

users
#1

To avoid confusion between the mm.dd.yyyy and the dd.mm.yyyy date formats can we have the less ambiguous "International" yyyy.mm.dd format included as an option (default?) in the fields for Writer?

#2

Hi :slight_smile:
Good plan. It sounds like an "Easy Hack" and posting bug-reports like that can
help people learn how to write code for LibreOffice. So, please post a
bug-report
http://wiki.documentfoundation.org/BugReport
Good luck and regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#3

To avoid confusion between the mm.dd.yyyy and the dd.mm.yyyy date formats can we have the less ambiguous
"International"

It IS international, it's ISO 8601 (and also Swedish standard, lucky
me… ;P)! Except that there should be dashes, not dots: yyyy-mm-dd.

Kind regards

Johnny Rosenberg
ジョニー・ローゼンバーグ

#4

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahhah, great. I prefer dashes - because after reading too much for too long my
eyes get a bit muddled when people use / and dots still seem to confuse obscure
Windows systems sometimes. I was told that the / was the European Standard but
if - are used in one other country then that helps me argue the case with my
boss.

Regards from
Tom :slight_smile:

#5

Hi :slight_smile:
Ahhah, great.  I prefer dashes - because after reading too much for too long my
eyes get a bit muddled when people use / and dots still seem to confuse obscure
Windows systems sometimes.  I was told that the / was the European Standard but
if - are used in one other country then that helps me argue the case with my
boss.

I though that ”/” was the US standard… Here (Sweden) we follow the
ISO8601, except for time. Seems like we use dots instead of colons.
Wish we and the rest of the world could just adapt the ISO 8601. There
is a reason for why it was created… And personally I use it all the
time. And of course every ”dygn” (sorry, there is no English
translation for that word – yet…) is 24 hours, so why that silly 12
hour thing? If all analogue watches were made 24 hours, you could very
easily also use it as a compass, at least when you can see the sun (if
the hour hand point to the sun, then 24, or rather 0, will point to
north, 6 to east, 12 to south and 18 to west). How can it be easier
than that?

Regards

Johnny Rosenberg
ジョニー・ローゼンバーグ
2011-08-11 12:36:51

#6

menu:Tools>Options>LanguageSettings>Languges>Locale=Swedish
applies Swedish formatting to all numbers in all components unless the locale has been set explicitly.
When I send you a document where I explicitly applied the German locale, all numeric values look like 1.234,99 and 31.12.2011 regardless of your default setting.

In Writer you can define an auto text with an ISO formatted date field as content.

#7

Johnny

> Hi :slight_smile:
> Ahhah, great. I prefer dashes - because after reading too much for too long my
> eyes get a bit muddled when people use / and dots still seem to confuse obscure
> Windows systems sometimes. I was told that the / was the European Standard but
> if - are used in one other country then that helps me argue the case with my
> boss.

I though that ”/” was the US standard… Here (Sweden) we follow the
ISO8601, except for time. Seems like we use dots instead of colons.

"/" with mm/dd/yyyy is the normal US standard (sometimes mm.dd.yyyy
because "/" is mis interpreted in file names). Most Americans who have
dealt with international trade are comfortable with either US or ISO
styles and for dates.

Wish we and the rest of the world could just adapt the ISO 8601. There
is a reason for why it was created… And personally I use it all the
time. And of course every ”dygn” (sorry, there is no English
translation for that word – yet…) is 24 hours, so why that silly 12
hour thing? If all analogue watches were made 24 hours, you could very
easily also use it as a compass, at least when you can see the sun (if
the hour hand point to the sun, then 24, or rather 0, will point to
north, 6 to east, 12 to south and 18 to west). How can it be easier
than that?

When I was in elementary school we were taught a 12 hour cycle with AM
and PM to determine if it was morning or afternoon/evening. The US
military, I believe, uses the 24 hour clock because 0900 is always in
the morning while evening equivalent 2100 is always in the
evening/night, much less likely to be misunderstood.

#8

There is a limit to how comfortable such people can be, living in a
mixed envirenment and trying to juggle mm/dd/yyyy and dd/mm/yyyy. I
wonder how many schedules or appointments have been missed, how much
money lost, because of misinterpreting 8/11/2011 as a date in November
rather than one in August, or vice versa. Not to mention applications
that know only mm/dd/yyyy although the OS is set for dd/mm/yyyy (as
here), so that one must analyse every date that is displayed.

#9

Isn't it already there?

When entering a new field:
o Go to Insert | Fields > | Other... | Document.
o Under Type select Date and make the appropriate choice under Select.
o Under Format, you can select 1999-12-31. (As has already been suggested, the international format uses hyphens, in fact, not dots.)
o Alternatively, if you prefer the dots, under Format select "Additional formats..."; in the Number Format dialogue, under "Format code", enter "YYYY.MM.DD".

If you have an existing date field you need to modify, either go to right-click | Fields... or put the cursor in front of the date field and go to Edit | Fields... in order to reach the same dialogues and options.

Note that the default date format depends on the language of your text at that point - and the default language is that set at Tools | Options... | Language Settings | Languages | Default languages for documents | Western.

I trust this helps.

Brian Barker

#10

FWIW - I prefer yyyymmmdd or ddmmmyyyy where the 'm' is alphabetic; -
unambiguous!
nvsoar

#11

Hi :slight_smile:
+1
Unambiguous is best. It is just really nice to know there are ISO standards
that happen to fit my slightly mad preferences :wink:
Regards from
Tom :slight_smile: