Custom Date Formats in Mac OS Ventura

Question

Level 1

5 points

Custom Date Formats in Mac OS Ventura

In Venturer there is now only one option for setting the date format.

Up to Mac OS Monterey it was possible to set multiple date formats (Short, medium, long and full). This was useful for various aspects of data entry and for the some purposes (e.g. spreadsheets) fundamental to correct data.

I have noticed that downloaded csv documents from one particular provider when opened in Excel (2016 - which no longer updates) are now no longer able to display dates correctly. This makes the program unusable. I am switching files to Numbers, but I have many years of data in excel files and it is still important to be able to update it accurately.

I note that other community members are having difficulty as a result of this change as well.

I have asked Apple to restore the ability to reset multiple date formats, but with no result.

Elizabeth Gutteridge’s MacBook Pro 16"

Posted on Apr 7, 2023 7:25 PM

Reply

Answer 1

Top-ranking reply

Old Toad

Level 10

210,527 points

Apr 8, 2023 2:37 PM in response to franzeli

You can set the date format any way you'd like with this Terminal command:

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

You can change the MM/dd/y to any comgination you'd like.

Use Key Format Example

Short 1 dd/MM/yy 14/11/22

Medium 2 dd/MM/y 14/11/2022

2 y/M/dd 2022/11/14

Long 3 dd MMM y 14 Nov 2022

Full 4 EEEE, dd MMMM y Monday, 14 November 2022

From: Custom Date Formats in Ventura

Reply

Answer 2

Apr 8, 2023 2:29 AM in response to franzeli

Take a look at this article addressing the date format issue in Ventura:

https://www.caseyliss.com/2022/11/14/ventura-date-formats

Many users have solved the date/currency format shortcomings in Ventura using the proper Terminal command.

Reply

Answer 3

se.1961

Level 1

13 points

Oct 11, 2023 11:04 AM in response to Old Toad

This doesn't seem to work with long date formats. I am pulling my hair out! I have tried "MMMM dd, y" and many variations of that, and all that shows up is "MMMM. If I enter MMMMddy (no quotes) I get October112023, but the minute I insert spaces or commas, it reverts to just October. Or, if I use quotes, "October.

Help!

Reply

Answer 4

se.1961

Level 1

13 points

Oct 11, 2023 2:41 PM in response to VikingOSX

Thank you so much. I have been basically copying the syntax described in the post by @Old Toad, which works for date codes that don't have spaces in them. I'm not sure where to look in the document you linked for "how to use long date code [MMMM dd, yyyy] in terminal?" If you have any tips I would really appreciate!

Reply