Can I format the date in OSX's top toolbar?

April 9, 2005 12:56 PM

Mac OSX date formatting annoyance. Is there a way to change the way that the date is displayed in OSX's main toolbar? Instead of just saying Mon, Tue, Wed etc, I want it to show the day of the month in as well (eg Sat 9). I've played around with date formatting but that's doing nowt.
posted by TheDonF to Computers & Internet (8 answers total)

In OS 10.3.8:

AppleMenu > System Preferences > International > Formats > Dates: Customize

I don't see a way to handle abbreviations, but you can change the order of the elements and what if anything shows up.
posted by willnot at 1:11 PM on April 9, 2005

You might want to try this hack on MacOSXHints.
posted by Remy at 1:19 PM on April 9, 2005

Also, the formally free MenuCalendarClock can do it.

For a more abstract format (i.e. "five past ten"), you can try FuzzyClock.
posted by easyasy3k at 1:43 PM on April 9, 2005

I use wClock.
posted by invisible ink at 3:06 PM on April 9, 2005

I really enjoy the MenuCalendarClock mentioned by easyasy3k above. Having the drop-out menu is quite useful. It's got iCal integration that looks nice, though I'm stuck using Entourage, so it doesn't do much for me. Might be more relevant for you.
posted by heresiarch at 4:26 PM on April 9, 2005

heresiarch, objectpark software also offers MenuCalendarClock for Entourage.
posted by the biscuit man at 8:50 PM on April 9, 2005

Response by poster: Remy: interesting, but Apple seem to have changed that file and the clock settings now live in com.apple.menubarclock.plist. No amount of playing seems to want to change the date display and Google hasn't been any help. But, that looks like where it should be changeable.

willnot: that works for when you click on the date and get shown a greyed out full date, but doesn't affect the display "proper" unfortunately.

Mo Nickels: aye, tha' might onto summat!

MenuCalendarClock looks like a really useful app, might just have to pony up the cash for that.
posted by TheDonF at 1:25 AM on April 10, 2005

iClock lets you specify the format, fonts, color and size for both date and time. Also has iCal integration, handy timer, configurable list of "Time and date in other cities," fabulous link list of Mac-related sites and (my favorite part) restores the "Running Applications" menu under the current app's icon in the right hand corner.

(Restored because this was default behavior pre-OS X).
posted by pricklefoot at 3:35 PM on April 10, 2005