Calc: Date Format and Partial Entry
If you highlight the column and press CNTL-1 a dialog with options appears. Make sure the language is set to English.
When using Excel, a partial date entry such as MM-DD ie: 1-25 will automatically result in conversion to the configured format, for example MM/DD/YYYY or 1/25/2018. This does not occur by default in Calc because Calc doesn't recognize the dash as a date separator. This was not a problem in older versions (3.5x and earlier). Here's the fix: On the top menu click ( Tools -> Options -> Language Settings -> Languages ) and add two additional patterns to the field labeled "Date acceptance patterns:" so that the full contents of the field are as follows:
M/D/Y;M/D;M-D-Y;M-D
Apparently some smug little programmer decided that it was just plain wrong for folks to be using dashes in their date, so he removed it from the standard patterns. There have been multiple complaints and bug reports so it will likely be corrected in future versions.
Tip: CTRL + ; will automatically enter the current date in the active cell.
Calc: Text Wrap in a Cell
- When in the desired cell right click and choose "Format Cells"
- In the Format Cells dialog click on the "Alignment" tab
- Check the "Wrap text automatically" check box
By default the Vertical alignment will stick to the bottom.
Writer Glitches
LibreOffice Writer has too many glitches. Often I can't "Paste Unformatted" and their help forums just make excuses as to why, blaming the X.org and other factors. Other issues is the constant lockups and slowness. So, I found a fix that addresses all of the many problems with LibreOffice Writer. I use Abiword as an alternative. Despite all of the excuses LibreOffice makes, I can "past unformatted text" with Abiword by a simple click of the edit menu, and the writer has not once locked up or slowed on me since I have been using it.
Solution: Don't use LibreOffice Writer, it sucks. Too many problems! Suggested alternative: Abiword.