am/pm in Date & Time

I've just been into the Date & Time preference to change the menu bar clock from 24 hour to showing am/pm - however am/pm is greyed out and I can't figure how to get around this.

I have searched around this forum for an answer, but have either found links to third party menu bar clocks, or a method which worked through Terminal.

Is it possible to get am/pm to appear in the menu bar simply from the Dat & Time preference?

Thank you.

MacBook Pro 2.33GHz, Mac OS X (10.5.1)

Posted on Dec 7, 2007 4:09 PM

Top-ranking reply

Michael Conniff

Level 7

33,149 points

Posted on Dec 7, 2007 4:14 PM

David Johnson7 wrote:
I've just been into the Date & Time preference to change the menu bar clock from 24 hour to showing am/pm - however am/pm is greyed out and I can't figure how to get around this.

In System Preferences > Date & Time > Clock you need to uncheck "Use a 24-hour clock" before you can check "Show AM/PM".

But if everything is greyed out, you probably haven't "Clicked the lock to make changes".

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20 replies

Dec 7, 2007 5:38 PM in response to David Johnson7

OK, I have now restarted the computer and "Show AM/PM" is still greyed out. This is very puzzling.

Dec 8, 2007 3:27 PM in response to Pascal Bouvier

Pascal & Mark,

I have tried this method, but with no luck - AM/PM still greyed out!

Dec 9, 2007 10:42 AM in response to David Johnson7

David,

Can I assume that removing the 3 .plists I mentioned above did NOT solve your problem?

Dec 9, 2007 1:43 PM in response to Michael Conniff

Thanks again Michael. Much appreciate your time.

Dec 8, 2007 1:40 PM in response to David Johnson7

Try this.
Open System Preferences then select International then Formats then under Times select Customize.

Now show the Long time format from the Show drop down menu and drag the AM/PM Time Element to the bar above.

With a little experimentation you can get the time looking just as you want. By adding the AM/PM Time Element you should find the Show AM/PM of your Date & Time System Preferences is no longer greyed out. I hope this helps.

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am/pm in Date & Time