Operation Manual

On the right-hand side of the Language Settings – Languages page, change the User interface,
Locale setting, Default currency, and Default languages for documents as required. In the
example, English (USA) has been chosen for all the appropriate settings.
Figure 38: Choosing language options
User interface
The language of the user interface is usually set at the time LibreOffice is installed to match
the language of the operating system. If more than one language has been installed for
LibreOffice, you can select which language will be used for menus, dialogs, and help files.
Locale setting
The local setting is the basis for many other settings within LibreOffice, for example defaults
for numbering, currency, and units of measure. Unless you select something else here, the
locale of the operating system will be set as default.
Decimal separator key
If the Decimal separator key option is selected, LibreOffice will use the character defined by
the default locale. If this option is not selected, the keyboard driver defines the character
used.
Default currency
The Default currency is that used in the country entered as Locale. The default currency
determines the proper formatting of fields formatted as currency. If the locale setting is
changed, the default currency changes automatically. If the default currency is changed, all
dialogs involving currency and all currency icons will be changed in all open documents.
Documents that were saved with one currency as the default will open using the new
currency defaults.
Date acceptance patterns
Date acceptance patterns define how LibreOffice recognizes input as dates. Locale also
defines the default expression of dates. You can define additional date patterns, separated
by semicolons, using Y, M, & D for Year, Month, and Day. LibreOffice will always correctly
interpret dates entered in ISO 8601 format as Y-M-D and YYYY-MM-DD.
Caution
Data entered into a Calc spreadsheet or a Writer table must be entered in a format
defined by Local in order to be recognized as dates.
Chapter 2 Setting up LibreOffice | 55