Suppose you are using Calc to hold data, and you have a column of surnames. You enter True and it turns into TRUE: OO has decided you wanted a Boolean. Similarly, you enter a date as 12 Jan 09: it may appear in that format, but you can't search for Jan 09, only for 01/09.

Is there any way one can set the data type of a cell as text, or prevent OO from carrying out unwanted type conversions?

I suspect the answer will be no; I can't find anything in the help pages, and I suspect the developers would say I should be using Base. Well, I don't want to use Base: I want my data displayed spread-sheet style

There is a solution: to insert non-breaking spaces in dates and after words like "true", but it would be nice if the problem could be fixed just once.

Select the cells concerned and use the Format > Cells > Numbers tab
In the category change it to text
Works for both problems
You won't find Jan 09 if the cell contains 12 Jan 09 unless you use regular expressions.

Are we talking about the same program? The solution suggested makes the following transformations:
1 Feb 10 → 40210
True → 1

Obviously, OOO doesn't think I should be using Calc as a database! I'm sure I never had that sort of problem with Lotus123.

If it is only text, precede your text with ' (single quote) or " (double quote) and text will remain text. Right or left justified.

jlinkels

Have a look at this :
http://files.headru.sh/images/calc.jpg

Of course the entry will change if it was entered under a different format.
Change the format first !

Try Tools->"Cell Contents" and clearing AutoInput.