How to Display Day of the Week on Windows 11 Taskbar
Displaying the day of the week on your Windows 11 taskbar adds the full day name, like Monday, next to the date by the clock in the bottom-right corner of your screen. It is a small region settings change. You can see the current day at a glance without opening the calendar flyout.
Open Settings Time & language Language & region, click Administrative language settings, then click Additional settings on the Formats tab. On the Date tab, type dddd M/d/yyyy into the Short date field, click Apply and OK. The taskbar clock shows the day name, such as “Monday 6/10/2024”, after you sign out and back in.
The change comes down to one custom format. Type dddd M/d/yyyy into the short date format box. Here dddd is the full day name, M is the month, d is the day of the month and yyyy is the four-digit year. The taskbar then shows something like “Monday 6/10/2024”. The box is not in the main Settings page, so the steps below show where to find it. You do not need an administrator account, because the setting applies to your user profile only.
- Open Settings and go to Settings Time & language Language & region
- Scroll down to Related settings and click Administrative language settings. The Region dialog opens.
- On the Formats tab, click Additional settings…. The Customize Format window opens.
- Click the Date tab.
- Clear the Short date field and type the format above.
- Click Apply, then OK. Click OK again to close the Region dialog. The taskbar clock should now show the day name before the date.
If the day does not appear straight away, sign out and back in. A restart is not needed.
Technical Workarounds and Registry Modifications
Some advanced users change the same value directly in the Registry Editor instead. Warning: Always back up your registry before making changes to 🗝️HKEY_CURRENT_USER\
Double-click that file later to restore it. If you are not sure about editing the registry, use the Region dialog above. It writes the same setting and is much harder to get wrong.
Third-Party Clock Utilities
If you prefer not to change system-wide date formats, you can use third-party tools like ElevenClock or TaskbarXI. These utilities allow you to customize the taskbar clock without affecting other system apps. Always download software from trusted, official developer websites to ensure security.
Keep in mind that these tools are not made by Microsoft. A big Windows update can break them until the developer releases a fix. If one causes trouble, you can uninstall it and the normal taskbar clock returns.
Summary
Windows 11 hides the day of the week by default, but you can show it by changing your regional format settings. Open the Settings app, go to Time & language, and adjust your short date format to include the day. The day then appears next to the clock on your taskbar, so you always know what day it is at a glance.
The short date format is shared with other parts of Windows, so File Explorer and some apps may also show the day name in their date columns. To undo the change, go back to the same Customize Format window and click Reset, or type your old format back into the Short date field. Then click Apply and OK.
- Windows 11 does not show the day of the week by default.
- You can change this through the Time & language section in Settings. This works the same on Home and Pro.
- Use the Administrative language settings menu to access custom date formatting.
- Type
dddd M/d/yyyyinto the Short date field to add the day name. - Click Apply and OK to save your new settings. If the taskbar does not update, sign out and back in.
- Consider third-party tools if you want to avoid changing global system date formats.
Have a question about this guide?
Answered by AI from this guide. Good questions may be added to this page — please don't include personal details.
Did this guide fix your problem?
About the Author
Richard
Tech Writer, IT Professional
Richard is a writer at Geek Rewind who turns complex IT tasks into clear, step-by-step guides. He draws on years of hands-on experience in system administration and enterprise IT operations, focusing on Windows, Linux and WordPress: the problems people actually run into, and the fixes that work. His server and WordPress guides come from systems he runs himself. Richard builds and maintains the platform behind Geek Rewind, from its Ubuntu servers and Nginx configuration to its custom WordPress plugins. Many new tutorials start with readers' questions, and he's always glad to answer them in the comments.
Thanks so much for this tip which removes one of several Windows 11 annoyances for me.
and to think…I was about to buy a wall hanging “DAYSCLOCK”
Neat little tweak, Thanks a LOT!
Thanks for this. Additional point – to customize the taskbar date format to include the day of the week you need to *type in* dddd into the *short date* field.
Is there any way to make this a 3 line system eg time / DOW / Date on separate lines? That is how it displays on W10 and I would like to continue that.
PERFECT!! thanks alot
Thank you, you made it easy. for me anyway.