<blockquote>
  <p>Dates and times are both formatted for the user’s preferred locale.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>You have to select your "preferred locale" when installing Craft. If you chose the wrong one  you (currently) can't undo it from the CP, but have to change it directly in the database (--> "craft_locales" table).</p>

<p>Another way would be to install a second locale (even if you don't need it at all). Because if your Craft site is multilingual you can switch between installed locales from the user settings in the CP though.</p>

<p><img src="https://i.sstatic.net/kC6BGm.png" alt="CP user settings - preferred locale"></p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2016-07-15T19:11:59.690Z
Whatever you do do not delete the original locale, and choose to assign the entries to the new locale. I just did this, and half the website content disappeared. Has to restore from backup.
Laurence Cope
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-18T11:03:13.233Z
Thanks for answering. Currently, the 'preferredLocale' for both users is 'NULL'. Checked another Craft site I built and it's the same.
hamishtaplin
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-18T11:06:52.917Z
Sorry @hamish, corrected my answer.
carlcs
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-18T11:07:16.467Z
If you have more than one system locale installed you can then select it for each user. This can all be done via CP, see: http://glui.me/?i=a9q5btaremqgrl1/2014-11-18_at_11.06_(1).png/ and  http://glui.me/?i=8y8kfmwwcd7vovr/2014-11-18_at_11.06.png/
Steve Abraham
CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-18T10:55:09.903Z
2014-11-18T11:17:40.117Z
2014-11-18T11:17:40.117Z
carlcs
<p>You can see the specifics, albeit a bit tedious to browse one locale at a time, <a href="https://icu4c-demos.unicode.org/icu-bin/locexp" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://icu4c-demos.unicode.org/icu-bin/locexp</a>, as to which each locale will display.</p>
<p>E.g. if one wished to have dates expressed YYYY-MM-DD (<em>q.v.</em> ISO 8601) you can browse each English language locale until you discovered that South Africa (en-ZA) does it this way.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, you then have to move to South Africa, of course, which can be rather expensive if you don't already live nearby.  Small price to pay for having your dates expressed properly, however.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2023-07-20T19:34:47.043Z
2023-07-20T19:36:23.503Z
2023-07-20T19:36:23.503Z
DrKC
<p>The date field is displaying dates in US format (mm/dd/yyyy) but I need the UK (dd/mm/yyyy) format. According to the docs:</p>

<blockquote>
  <p>Dates and times are both formatted for the user’s preferred locale. They are displayed in the site’s timezone, however they get stored in UTC like all other dates in Craft.</p>
</blockquote>

<p>How does one set this? The timezone is set correctly in the site config.</p>

CC BY-SA 3.0
2014-11-18T10:50:00.843Z
What locales do have you showing under `Settings > Locales`?
Steve Abraham
<field><datetime>
Set site locale to display correct date format in date/time field
# Set site locale to display correct date format in date/time field

(Asked by: username_0 on 2014-11-18)

The date field is displaying dates in US format (mm/dd/yyyy) but I need the UK (dd/mm/yyyy) format. According to the docs:

> Dates and times are both formatted for the user’s preferred locale. They are displayed in the site’s timezone, however they get stored in UTC like all other dates in Craft.

How does one set this? The timezone is set correctly in the site config.

**Tags:** field, datetime
> **Comments:**
> **username_1**: What locales do have you showing under `Settings > Locales`?  

---

## 2 answers

### Answer by username_2 on 2014-11-18. Score: 3 | Accepted answer

> Dates and times are both formatted for the user’s preferred locale.

You have to select your "preferred locale" when installing Craft. If you chose the wrong one you (currently) can't undo it from the CP, but have to change it directly in the database (--> "craft\_locales" table).

Another way would be to install a second locale (even if you don't need it at all). Because if your Craft site is multilingual you can switch between installed locales from the user settings in the CP though.

![CP user settings - preferred locale](https://i.sstatic.net/kC6BGm.png)

> **Comments:**
> **username_0**: Thanks for answering. Currently, the 'preferredLocale' for both users is 'NULL'. Checked another Craft site I built and it's the same.  
> **username_2**: Sorry @hamish, corrected my answer.  
> **username_1**: If you have more than one system locale installed you can then select it for each user. This can all be done via CP, see: http://glui.me/?i=a9q5btaremqgrl1/2014-11-18_at_11.06_(1).png/ and  http://glui.me/?i=8y8kfmwwcd7vovr/2014-11-18_at_11.06.png/  
> **username_3**: Whatever you do do not delete the original locale, and choose to assign the entries to the new locale. I just did this, and half the website content disappeared. Has to restore from backup.  

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### Answer by username_4 on 2023-07-20. Score: 0

You can see the specifics, albeit a bit tedious to browse one locale at a time, <https://icu4c-demos.unicode.org/icu-bin/locexp>, as to which each locale will display.

E.g. if one wished to have dates expressed YYYY-MM-DD (*q.v.* ISO 8601) you can browse each English language locale until you discovered that South Africa (en-ZA) does it this way.

Unfortunately, you then have to move to South Africa, of course, which can be rather expensive if you don't already live nearby. Small price to pay for having your dates expressed properly, however.


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