Issue 110949

Summary: "Format – AutoCorrect – While Tpying" not available in calc
Product: Calc Reporter: Oliver Brinzing <oliver.brinzing>
Component: configurationAssignee: AOO issues mailing list <issues>
Status: CONFIRMED --- QA Contact:
Severity: Trivial    
Priority: P3 CC: elish, issues
Version: OOo 3.2   
Target Milestone: ---   
Hardware: Unknown   
OS: All   
Issue Type: DEFECT Latest Confirmation in: ---
Developer Difficulty: ---

Description Oliver Brinzing 2010-04-16 17:34:48 UTC 
In writer it is possible to enable/disable AutoCorrect (Format – AutoCorrect –
While Tpying). If disabled a spreadsheet document is not affected – AutoCorrect
is still working for spreadsheets.
In calc “Format – AutoCorrect – While Tpying” is not available at all.
Adding a menu entry .uno:OnlineAutoFormat has no effect – the entry is disabled
all time.
Comment 1 Joe Smith 2010-05-26 18:36:44 UTC 
I would like to highlight this request. Maybe it could be expanded to an
enhancement/feature request, something like:

Add a master option to enable/disable automatic input changes

It is important for Calc to have a single, convenient place to disable all
automatic changes to the user's input.

Strangely enough, it seems that people often want to use a spreadsheet as a
simple typing grid. In this situation, Calc's automatic changes to their typing
are very frustrating and it is difficult and confusing to explain how to prevent
Calc from changing what they type.

As far as I know, there are at least three steps necessary to disable all
automatic changes:
1) Format all cells (or change the Default cell style) to number format "Text"
2) Tools > Cell Contents > AutoInput: NO
3) Tools > AutoCorrect Options > Options > (all off)

#1 is complicated by the fact that the cell format only affects input on entry.
By the time a user knows something is wrong, there are already entries in the
sheet and changing the number format after the fact will have complex and
surprising behavior depending on exactly what is in the cell.

E.g. The user types: May 26
Calc converts this to a date and displays: 05/26/10
The user applies the "Text" number format, and now Calc displays: 40324
The input is now lost and the user has to re-enter the date.

#2 seems unlikely to be found by the user looking for an option
(Issue 8268 deals with simplifying access to the necessary options).

#3 is complicated by the fact that (at least some of) these options are shared
by Writer, and the user may want the corrections for text documents.
(This is Issue 6493)

#2 & #3 are application-level options and may need to be changed again if the
document is used on different computers.

I know this problem stems from a misunderstanding that the purpose of a
spreadsheet is to do calculations, but it's apparently a widespread
misunderstanding. If Calc can make it easy for these people to do what they
want, it would be a significant improvement.
Comment 2 Edwin Sharp 2013-07-29 08:29:39 UTC 
Confirmed on Rev. 1505643 Win 7