Thunderbird 24h time format (regardless of the system settings)
I'd like to just tell Thunderbird to use 24h clock format for dates.
My system is configured to use English (us) with US keyboard but with 24 hour clock. I'm guessing that Thunderbird just takes the "US" part and assumes everything else.
Is it possible to manually override settings that Thunderbird guesses from the system ? It would be nice if the default (or auto-detected) setting could be changed.
(I've checked other similar topics and was kindly asked to post a new question/topic).
Chosen solution
I think I will answer my own question (feel free to correct me if I am wrong);
No. Thunderbird cannot have it's own settings for displaying time with a 24 hour clock. Thunderbird relies completely on the system settings.
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Thunderbird uses whatever you have set up on your computer.
Control Panel > Date and Time to set time to 24 hour.
Control Panel > Regional and Language Options This allows you to choose the format of various things.
Click on 'Customise this format' button Select 'Time' tab Capitals are used for a 24 hour clock. eg: HH:mm:ss Click on 'Apply' Click on OK
Click on 'Apply' Click on OK
My system is already using a 24 hour clock. Thunderbird is not.
That said, there are cases where the system might be 24h and the user may want their calendar to be AM/PM or vice versa.
Regardless, in my case, I've got the system on 24h, yet Thunderbird is not.
You mention the date time is set for 24 hours but have you got the format set to use : HH:mm:ss in Regional and Language section? where the hours are capital H
Thanks Toad-Hall, but I'm really not sure where are these "Regional and Language" settings, should they be within Thunderbird or are you talking about the operating system or desktop environment ?
re: I'm really not sure where are these "Regional and Language" settings, should they be within Thunderbird ? No. Thunderbird uses your computer settings.
In my earlier post I refered to your computers 'Control Panel'. 'Regional and Language' is located in your computer Control Panel. You are looking to change the date/time/number Formats. AS I do not know what OS you are using, here are a few examples of info you can find on the internet. eg:
I'm using Debian GNU/Linux stable (Stretch).
As I already mentioned, a few times, including in the initial post, my system is using a 24 hour clock while Thunderbird is not. I'm not sure what else I can add.
BatManuel said
I'm using Debian GNU/Linux stable (Stretch). As I already mentioned, a few times, including in the initial post, my system is using a 24 hour clock while Thunderbird is not. I'm not sure what else I can add.
See http://kb.mozillazine.org/Date_display_format and http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=2086955
Just remember in Linux it is possible to have the system clock display something completely different to the operating system time display format.
I'm sorry, but my question is :
Is it possible to make Thunderbird use a 24h time format, regardless of the system settings ?
BatManuel said
I'm sorry, but my question is : Is it possible to make Thunderbird use a 24h time format, regardless of the system settings ?
I'm sorry you have that information., It is not mentioned in the article because someone is hiding things from you.
What information ? I don't think I follow what you are replying about.
I believe my question is quite simple. Is it possible (yes/no), and if it is, then how. I have no clue why the only replies are barely related to the question.
It would have helped if you had mentioned what OS you were using from the start. All responses are always geared up for a Windows OS as it is the most commonly used unless the forum is told otherwise. For future reference always mention important information such as the OS and version of Thunderbird as it really helps to understand the issue.
Matt has very helpfully mentioned that in Linux it is possible to have the system clock display something completely different to the operating system time display format.
Even in Windows OS you have to set both time and the Format that it displays.
So you need to understand your OS and how to set system time AND OS time display format.
Matt also supplied two excellent links that offer alot of information. read comments posted by rsx11m and WildWoodKing which refer to setting local and format as the person has the same issue with format of time as you. http://forums.mozillazine.org/viewtopic.php?f=39&t=2086955 http://kb.mozillazine.org/Date_display_format section : Configuring the date/time system settings on your computer ...In Linux, these settings are based on your 'locale'.
In addition here are a few more links which may offer more insight into understanding your OS. http://kb.mozillazine.org/Time_and_time_zone_settings https://unix.stackexchange.com/questions/76710/changing-timezone-on-debian-keeps-local-time-in-utc https://wiki.debian.org/DateTime https://www.oreilly.com/openbook/debian/book/ch07_05.html
Just located this bug which may or may not be effecting you. It really depends upon what setting you have got set up for Local. What are you using? LC_TIME is set to what? https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=1426907
Chosen Solution
I think I will answer my own question (feel free to correct me if I am wrong);
No. Thunderbird cannot have it's own settings for displaying time with a 24 hour clock. Thunderbird relies completely on the system settings.
As mentioned in information and info within links.
Thunderbird uses whatever you have set up on your computer.
quote from a link: Thunderbird takes it's date, time and formatting of both from your OS settings.
Like your comment Thunderbird relies completely on the system settings. These are somewhat general statement informing you that Thunderbird gets the information from your computer.
The original info given would assist anyone reading this who uses a 'Windows' OS.
Once it was known that the OS in question was Linux, then it was made clear that the computer has a sytem time and a system local time; thunderbird uses the latter to get formatting of date and time.
in Linux it is possible to have the system clock display something completely different to the operating system time display format.
quote from a link: In Linux you need check the system locale settings as mentioned in that article. It's entirely possible for applications, including the desktop clock, to show the time in a different format to the OS default format.
Configuring the date/time system settings on your computer ...In Linux, these settings are based on your 'locale'.
quote from a link: just because the desktop clock or other application displays a particular format doesn't mean it reflects the system default. GTK/Gnome, KDE, etc. tend to have their own settings for date and time formats that most (GTK and KDE) applications use in preference to the system defaults, but Tb doesn't honour those settings - it goes straight for the locale. To find your system settings, type locale in a terminal window.
In Linux, these settings are based on your locale. If the environment variable "LANG" is set to "en_US", for example, Thunderbird will show the date in "MM/DD/YYYY" format. To override the locale only for showing dates, set the "LC_TIME" environment variable (for example, "LC_TIME=en_GB"). If you want the ISO 8601 date format (YYYY-MM-DD), use the "en_DK" locale.
It really depends upon what setting you have got set up for Local. What are you using? LC_TIME is set to what?
Hopefully, this plus additional info from links supplied should point in the correct direction for setting up the formatting of date and time, so that Thunderbird displays date and time as desired.