How to Change the Date Format in Windows 11

Method 1Changing Date Format in Settings (The Simple Way)

The Settings app is the quickest way to change the date format on a Windows 11 PC. It offers a list of presets, which is enough for most people. The change applies to your user account only, not to other accounts on the PC.

The same page also holds the Short time and Long time lists, so you can change the time format there as well. The steps below change the date format in Windows 11 using the presets in Settings.

1. Open Settings⚙️. Press Win+I, or click Start and then the Settings gear icon. The Settings⚙️ window opens with a list of categories on the left.
2. Click Time & language. It sits on the left side of the Settings⚙️ window, and the page for it opens on the right.
3. Click Language & region. Find the Regional format row near the top of the page.
4. Click the Regional format row. The row expands and shows more options.
5. Click the Change formats button. On current Windows 11 builds, the button sits inside the expanded row. A page opens listing Calendar, First day of week, Short date, Long date, Short time and Long time.
6. Open the Short date dropdown and pick a format. Each entry shows a live example, so you can see the result before you choose it. The short date is the one you see most often, on the taskbar🖥️ clock and in the Date modified column in File Explorer📁. The default for US English is M/D/YYYY.
7. Open the Long date dropdown and pick a format. The long date is spelled out, with the weekday and month name. It shows up in places like the taskbar🖥️ calendar flyout and some apps.
8. Check the date on the taskbar🖥️. Windows applies the change right away, so the clock should already show the new format. Apps that were open during the change may need to be closed and reopened before they pick it up.

That’s it. Your account now uses the short and long date formats you picked, and the taskbar clock shows them.

The presets in the lists depend on the regional format you chose. If the layout you want is missing, try a different regional format, or use one of the methods below.

To undo the change, go back to the same page and select your old format.

Method 2Using Control Panel for More Choices

Control Panel is the method to use when the Settings presets do not offer the layout you need. Here you can type your own short and long date patterns using letter codes. This works on both Home and Pro editions.

These steps change the date format with a custom pattern in Control Panel.

1. Open Control Panel🎛️. Click Start, type Control Panel🎛️ and select it from the search🔍 results.
2. Click Clock and Region. The category page opens with a few options.
3. Click Region. The Region window opens on the Formats tab.
4. Click the Additional settings… button at the bottom of the window. A new window called Customize Format opens.
5. Click the Date tab. You will see boxes for Short date and Long date, each with a dropdown of presets.
6. Type your pattern into the Short date box, or pick a preset. Use the codes listed below these steps. Repeat for the Long date box if you want to change that too.
7. Check the preview of today’s date. The Customize Format window shows how your pattern will look, so you can catch mistakes before you save.
8. Click Apply. The new pattern is saved for your account.
9. Click OK. You may need to click OK again in the Region window to close everything. The taskbar🖥️ clock should update straight away.

That’s it. Windows now shows dates in your custom pattern on the taskbar, in File Explorer and in apps that follow the system format.

• d for the day, and dd for a two-digit day
• M for the month, and MM for a two-digit month
• yyyy for the full year

For example, dd/MM/yyyy shows the date as 26/10/2023. Case matters. An uppercase M means month, while a lowercase m means minutes, so a pattern with the wrong case gives odd results.

To undo your changes, go back to Additional settings… and click the Reset button. This restores the defaults for your current regional format.

Method 3Editing the Registry Editor (For Advanced Users)

Registry Editor lets you change the date format directly by editing text values. It does the same job as the Control Panel method, with more room for mistakes, so use it only if you have a reason to. A typical reason is that you are checking or fixing a value another tool set. It is available on both Home and Pro editions.

Changing values here without understanding their purpose can make your system unstable. Before you start, back up the key. Right-click the key in the left pane, choose Export, and save the .reg file somewhere safe. Double-clicking that file later restores the old values.

These steps change the date format in Windows 11 by editing the date values in Registry Editor.

1. Open the Run box. Press Win+R. A small Run window appears at the bottom left of the screen.
2. Type regedit and press Enter. You can also click OK. If a User Account Control prompt appears, click Yes. Registry Editor opens.
3. Paste the key path into the address bar at the top of the window, then press Enter. Use this path: HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Control Panel\International This takes you to the settings⚙️ for international formats. The values appear in the right pane.
4. Find the date values in the right pane. They are string values (type REG_SZ). sShortDate controls your short date format. sLongDate controls your long date format.
5. Double-click the value you want to change, such as sShortDate. An Edit String box opens.
6. Type your preferred format in the Value data box. Use the codes from the Control Panel🎛️ method (d, dd, M, MM, yyyy). For example, to set the short date to Year-Month-Day, type yyyy-MM-dd.
7. Click OK. The new text appears in the Data column next to the value name.
8. Close the Registry Editor window. You do not need to save anything, because each value is written when you click OK.
9. Restart your🔄 computer. Windows reads these values at sign-in, so some apps keep the old format until you restart. Signing out and back in is sometimes enough, but a restart is the safest option.

That’s it. The date values in the registry now hold your new format, and Windows uses it after the restart.

Tip: The same location also holds the time formats (sTimeFormat, sTimeFormat), the AM/PM symbols (sAMDesignator, sPMDesignator) and the first day of the week (iFirstDayOfWeek). Take the same care if you edit those.

To undo the change, double-click the same value again and enter the old data, or import the .reg file you exported.

Method 4Using PowerShell for Command-Line Control

PowerShell lets you change the date format from the command line. That is useful if you want to script the change or apply it the same way on several computers. For a single PC, the earlier methods are usually faster.

These steps change the date format from a PowerShell window.

1. Open the Start menu⊞ and type PowerShell. Windows PowerShell appears in the search🔍 results.
2. Right-click Windows PowerShell and choose Run as administrator. A User Account Control prompt appears.
3. Click Yes on the User Account Control prompt. A blue PowerShell window opens.
4. Check your current formats. Type this command and press Enter: Get-Culture | Select-Object -ExpandProperty DateTimeFormat The output shows the current settings for the short and long dates. Make a note of them in case you want to go back.
5. Set a custom short date format with the Set-Culture command. For example, to set the short date to the ISO 8601 standard (yyyy-MM-dd), run this: Set-Culture -CultureInfo en-GB Replace yyyy-MM-dd with your preferred format codes. The codes are the same ones used in Control Panel🎛️, including the case rules.
6. Sign out or restart the🔄 computer. Some changes made with PowerShell will not show up in every program until you sign out and back in, or restart. If the taskbar🖥️ clock still shows the old format afterwards, restart Windows.

That’s it. Your account now uses the short date format you set from the command line, and you have the old values noted in case you need them.

Tip: You can change the sLongDate value in a similar way.

To undo the change, run the same command again with your old pattern, using the values you noted in step 4.

Summary

Windows 11 gives you several ways to change the date display, from the Settings app and Control Panel to the Registry Editor and PowerShell. Start with Settings. Move to Control Panel if you need a custom pattern. Keep the Registry Editor and PowerShell for repair work and scripted changes.