[Libreoffice-bugs] [Bug 130563] New: Default format for dates should be dd/MM/yyyy for Italian locale

[bugzilla-daemon at bugs.documentfoundation.org]

https://bugs.documentfoundation.org/show_bug.cgi?id=130563

            Bug ID: 130563
           Summary: Default format for dates should be dd/MM/yyyy for
                    Italian locale
           Product: LibreOffice
           Version: 6.4.0.3 release
          Hardware: All
                OS: All
            Status: UNCONFIRMED
          Severity: normal
          Priority: medium
         Component: Localization
          Assignee: libreoffice-bugs at lists.freedesktop.org
          Reporter: mauromol at tiscali.it

Description:
Opened from bug #46448 comment #25.

The default date format for Italian language in all the software I can think of
(including Windows and Linux OSes) is dd/MM/yyyy, that is with a four-digit
year.
The format dd/MM/yy is seldom used nowadays: it's used when handling legacy
electronic devices or specific contexts in which saving two digits in the year
can be useful. However, especially since year 2000, using the 4-digit format is
largely predominant in all contexts I can think of.

LibreOffice (as well as the original OpenOffice), however, seems to use the
dd/MM/yy format by default. Some examples in Calc include:
- typing a date value in a cell, changes its display format to dd/MM/yy (and
you have to change it back to dd/MM/yyyy in the cell format settings to get a
better result)
- importing CSV data with proper date column setup will make all date columns
show in dd/MM/yy format

Searching through the Internet it seems like many people are complaining about
this locale setting for the default date format (not only for the Italian
locale). The main suggested workaround is to change the cell format for the
"Default" style and save it as the new default template, but this breaks proper
recognition of plain numbers.

Other similar bug reports: Bug #30821 (where the reporter seems to use the
German locale, I suspect the situation is the same), Bug #46448 (which seems to
be a larger-scoped enhancement request to allow the user to change some
locale-sensitive defaults) and some of the latter duplicates.

Steps to Reproduce:
1. open Calc (ensure the current locale is Italian)
2. create a new spreadsheet using the default template
3. type a date in a cell, like: 10/02/2020
4. hit enter
5. see it be changed to 10/02/20


Actual Results:
The input is correctly recognized as a date, but from a display point of view
it's changed to 10/02/20, because the default dd/MM/yy format is applied

Expected Results:
IMHO, if the cell format is "automatic", once a value is recognized as a date,
its format should also be recognized and preserved, so that the user is not
surprised by a display change.
But this of course would be a whole bigger story.

For simplicity, and consistently with what happens with the other Number cell
formats, the default date format should be used to display the date, but this
default should dd/MM/yyyy, which is the most commonly used format for dates in
Italy (unless you opt for a long format like "20 febbraio 2020", which still
uses a 4-digit year anyway).


Reproducible: Always


User Profile Reset: No



Additional Info:

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