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macOS Ventura 13.0 - Language Region - Date Format

This morning when I started working with macOS Ventura 13.0 I noticed to my surprise that the Date Format only has two options: 8/29/22 or 2022-08-29. But I like my dates to be shown as 08/29/2022 (including zeros). I found out that you'll have to edit ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist (this is a hidden file) and add this:


<key>AppleICUDateFormatStrings</key>
	<dict>
		<key>1</key>
		<string>MM/dd/y</string>
	</dict>	


Of course you can customize the MM/dd/y part. Wanted to share this for people with the same question.

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Posted on Oct 25, 2022 6:40 AM

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Question marked as Helpful

Oct 28, 2022 1:57 PM in response to Sanderadio

This got me started, many thanks!


This can be performed from the command line, too, which is... easier:


defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "1" "MM/dd/y"


The dict indices, 1 through 4 correspond to the four "lengths" of dates, from short to whatever is longest. Easiest thing to do if you can find another macOS box that you'd used previously (still on macOS 12) is to run

defaults find AppleICU 

which will list out the names and related values in place on that machine (or like, get on and set things up the way you want, and then run that command to get the configuration.


My configuration is, btw:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "1" "ddMMMyy"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "2" "d MMM yy"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "3" "dd MMMM y"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "4" "EEEE, d MMMM y"


And I have some for time, as well.


Hope this helps!



33 replies

Oct 27, 2022 7:58 AM in response to R7un

Found this on Reddit. These are in dictionaries. (Some of) the possible keys of AppleICUNumberSymbols are:

  • 0 — decimal separator for numbers
  • 1 — thousands separator for numbers
  • 4 — starting character for digits
  • 8 — currency symbol
  • 10 — decimal separator for currency
  • 17 — thousands separator for currency

Example: If want to use a space as thousands separator and a . as decimal separator, you have to do:


defaults write -g AppleICUNumberSymbols -dict 0 '.' 1 ' ' 10 '.' 17 ' '


Haven't tried it myself.

Question marked as Helpful

Oct 28, 2022 1:57 PM in response to Sanderadio

This got me started, many thanks!


This can be performed from the command line, too, which is... easier:


defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "1" "MM/dd/y"


The dict indices, 1 through 4 correspond to the four "lengths" of dates, from short to whatever is longest. Easiest thing to do if you can find another macOS box that you'd used previously (still on macOS 12) is to run

defaults find AppleICU 

which will list out the names and related values in place on that machine (or like, get on and set things up the way you want, and then run that command to get the configuration.


My configuration is, btw:

defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "1" "ddMMMyy"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "2" "d MMM yy"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "3" "dd MMMM y"
defaults write NSGlobalDomain AppleICUDateFormatStrings -dict-add "4" "EEEE, d MMMM y"


And I have some for time, as well.


Hope this helps!



Oct 28, 2022 4:18 PM in response to Sanderadio

macOS Ventura seems half baked. How could they not include an option to further customize date and number formats? They used to have it!


I also noticed that the AirPods Pro settings calls noise cancellation at least 3 different ways all in the same setting window. It uses "noise control", "cancellation", and "noise cancellation". macOS Venutra 13.0 looks like it's still a beta product.

Nov 7, 2022 1:57 PM in response to Sanderadio

Thank for this.

I contacted Apple today about not being able to customize the date on Venture. Here on a German macOS Ventura i only had the choice between dd.MM.yy or yyyy-MM-dd. But many programs i use need a 4digit year in the format dd.MM.yyyy and unfortunately the programs use the regional settings of macOS. That was really a blocker.


It seems the customer support is not even aware that there is no way to customize date and number format in Ventura as it was possible in earlier versions. They asked me to create a new user account, start in safe mode and finally they wanted me to reinstall Ventura, which i denied.


Anyway, i got a solutions.

But i had to logoff and login again to get the changes in the file ~/Library/Preferences/.GlobalPreferences.plist recognized.


Using the shell commands 'defaults write .....' changed it immediately without the need to logoff and login again.


So thanks to all for you helpful comments.

Nov 7, 2022 9:02 PM in response to matthiasr

Apple Customer Support behaves like we are using our machines and phones for "entertainment". They told me to get in touch with Microsoft, because I was complaining about this experience in Excel. Microsoft in turns says, the time and date format is a system specific thing, I should consider downgrading to Monterey.


Maybe there are moles inside the Ventura development team, going to drive us towards using Windows, or something better than Apple. I am presently using South Africa as the region, as it provides me choice of number format. I am now a little tired of reporting issues with Apple's "unfinished" products being shipped to the market, without proper testing and dealing with customer support reps who do not understand the gravity of the matter. Just saying "I understand this is a matter of great concern to you, we are working to have your issue resolved at the earliest", while they give you a choice of "Jazz music" or "Pop music" on the phone call, is almost irritating.

macOS Ventura 13.0 - Language Region - Date Format

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