https://issues.apache.org/ooo/show_bug.cgi?id=124654

--- Comment #17 from Andreas Säger <[email protected]> ---
There is a difference betwenn the number format locales "Default - English(US)"
and "English(US)". The latter is explicitly set and should look the same on all
machines. The former is the number format locale which happens to be active
because nobody applied one.

Unless the cell locale is explicitly set, the cell locale is "Default -
English(US)" which means the same language in the same country as set in the
global options.
When someone sends me an English number 10,000 (ten thousands) to me I will see
it as a German 10.000 if my own locale is German. The cell's locale is shown as
"Default - German(Germany)
As far as I understand the matter, some kind of "translation" takes place
formats when the cell's locale is not set explicitly ("Default -
Lang(Country)")
#############################################################################
IF the cell's locale is explicitly set, the cell locale may be "English(US)"
(without "Default -"), which means an explicit language in an explicit country.
When someone sends me an English number 10,000 (ten thousands) to me with an
explicitly set number format locale, I will see it as a English 10,000
regardless of my own locale.

The request is: Drop any "Default - ..." locale setting for the cell's number
format. Apply the currently set number format locale, so that every receipient
of the same document will see the same number format. 
This behaviour would be similar to the text language (on the "Font" tab of the
formatting dialog) which is always set one way or the other because any string
of words is supposed to be written in some human language or "[None]" when the
language is abstract or unknown. An English text must not switch to German just
because it is opened on a German system. Contrary to words in human language, a
numeric value remains the same when displayed in some other locale context.
However, human reception may confuse 10,000 with 10.000 in any case. From plain
eyesight you can never know which is which.

The workaround I suggested in comment #9 is: Define an explicit number format
locale for cell style "Default" (root of all the other styles) and save it as a
template. Then you may use this template as your default template, so every new
spreadsheet will have an explicitly set number format locale in each cell.

-- 
You are receiving this mail because:
You are the assignee for the issue.
You are watching all issue changes.

Reply via email to