Thunderbird calendar date format is stuck on American month/day/year
My Thunderbird calendar refuses to display dates in European format, namely day-month-year. I have read lots of helpful hints on the forums and tried everything, but nothing changes. My system is Ubuntu 25.04 with Cinnamon 6.4.8. Thunderbird version is 140.3.0esr (64-bit). Some of the suggestions refer to settings that are no longer there compared to earlier versions. For example, Settings > General > Language and Fonts has no format options. I have also used the config editor while TB was not running and added ntl.date_time.pattern_override.date_short and ntl.date_time.pattern_override.time_short, without any effect. Dates in the calendar still always appear in the illogical American month-day-year format. This is confusing, to say the least ! Has a solution been found to EASILY select the locale and formats that should be used? At the moment, the settings are under different menus and in different locations, and TB seems to be making it as difficult as possible to get these set - permanently ! - to the user's preference.
ప్రత్యుత్తరాలన్నీ (4)
I think if you used the correct hidden preferences it would help,
https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/customize-date-time-formats-thunderbird
I am linking to the en_us version of the article in case there is a translation issue with another language that you have been viewing.
But as described in the article this is a method to over ride what the operating system is setting. Check your locale setting using the command line. See https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Locale
Unlike the author of that wiki page I do not think the GUI does the right thing very often at all.
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Thanks for the suggestions but .... the first link you posted dates from 2022, and the options mentioned there are no longer in Thunderbird. The actions in the second link have no effect at all. The system is set to en_GB but the date still appears in American month-day-year format. WHY ???? This must be hard-coded somewhere ....
So ..... I haven't found this explanation anywhere else, but if you search in the Ubuntu Menu for "Language", you will find a new window called 'Language Support'. In the 'Language' tab you can drag-and-drop your language to bring it to the top of the list, even if it is greyed out. (As mine was grey, I assumed it wasn't loaded/available, which was wrong). Then go to the 'Regional Formats' tab. HERE is where you can change the format of dates and currencies etc. Unfortunately there is no setting for English with the Euro currency for the 1.2 million Brits living on the mainland. Of course, the window title 'Language Support' really has nothing to do with the format of your dates or your currency. Shame you can't set each one separately .... (hint, hint).
davidjmuso said
Thanks for the suggestions but .... the first link you posted dates from 2022, and the options mentioned there are no longer in Thunderbird. </blockquotre> Did you get to the part where the actual hidden preferences are named. And named differently to what you posted. I guess not. However they are used for mail formatting, If they have any effect in calendars but I really can not be bothered to look.The actions in the second link have no effect at all. The system is set to en_GB but the date still appears in American month-day-year format. WHY ???? This must be hard-coded somewhere ....I don't mess with Ubuntu, life is just to short as far as I am concerned. They have been at it now for decades and it is still not the year of the Linux desktop. You tell me the system is set to en_GB and everything I saw in that link was about settings ending in utf8 Even this page which appears to describe your solution still says you can use sudo to set the locale using a file ending in utf8.
The original link also provides the warning in it's troubleshooting suggestions that the gnome desktop manager has it's own settings and that "You may want to examine GDM's cache".
So, I think we can agree the problem exists in your operating system, not Thunderbird is that correct.
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