How to customize format of "Date Added" and "Date Modified" display in middle pane?

ria3k
I'd like to change the way the Date Added and Date Modified columns appear in the center pane. I'd prefer something like year.month.day.24-hr-time -- even though my underlying Mac OS locale is English, United States (en-US), with some OS display customizations that Zotero does not honor.

I did find these helpful instructions buried in a related but closed thread:

"In Zotero Standalone, open about:config (Preferences->Advanced->about:config), set intl.locale.matchOS to false, and set general.useragent.locale to en-GB and see if it makes things look like you want them to."

This has clearly worked for some, but I'm afraid I haven't had success. I restarted Zotero and my computer a number of times. Probably I am I missing something. Any advice is appreciated, with apologies for reviving what was apparently a touchy subject some years ago.

(For the record, this is purely a matter of personal preference.)

Environment: Zotero Standalone 5.0 beta up-to-date. Mac OS 10.13.6. Default locale en-US.
  • Mejsel
    Hi, any answer to this question? I am having the same issue.
    I use windows in English language, but with Swedish regional settings.
    I would like to have date format to 2020.11.28 21.32
    instead now I get 11/28/2020 9.21p.m.
  • dstillman
    Zotero currently follows the system language/region, not any custom system date format. If the language is set to "English (US)" and/or the region is set to United States, it will use the US format. If you don't want to adjust your system settings, you can override Zotero's locale by changing the language in the Advanced pane of the Zotero preferences. (If you want it still in English but with non-US dates, choose "English (UK)", though that won't be YYYY-MM-DD.)
  • Mejsel
    Ok, so I am trying to get it to follow the ISO 8601 format. How can you get that in language settings? Tried eng - CA, which works for date, but you get 12h time format. Trying to have ISO YYYY-MM-DD 24H format.
    Must be possible to fix that somehow?
  • dstillman
    Not with English — web browsers (and therefore Zotero, which is based on browser technology) default to 12h for Canadian English and I believe all other English locales. "French (Canada)" will do it, but…then Zotero will be in French.

    We really want to leave date settings to the OS, but since browsers and Zotero won't pick up the OS time setting, we could consider adding a hidden preference to force either 24h time with the selected locale or just force ISO 8601 for dates regardless of locale.
  • CityPrincess
    +1 on this issue.

    24h format is preferable and frees up screen real estate in the center pane.
    Optimal is providing users the option to define how the date/time format will appear in the center panel. I understand how restrictions on use entry can be helpful, but the center pane display could be customized without creating data integrity issues. For example, I would like to turn off "seconds", hours and minutes are sufficient 98% of the time.
  • FeralFlora
    >We really want to leave date settings to the OS, but since browsers and Zotero won't pick up the OS time setting, we could consider adding a hidden preference to force either 24h time with the selected locale or just force ISO 8601 for dates regardless of locale.

    These config features would be great to have!
  • mshino
    +1 for separating date and time.
  • bdsatish
    edited March 21, 2024
    Another +1 from India (the world's 2nd largest English-speaking country). Would prefer a config option to override English (US/UK/CAN) setting.
  • jimi
    +1 for allowing ISO date as an option everywhere, regardless of whether any country uses it.
    +1 for allowing just date or date+time
    Also the "general.useragent.locale" config in Zotero 7 is now true/false, or I'm likely doing something wrong
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