Properties: let the user customize the way Dates/Times are displayed (independently from OS)

I think they specifically mean comments that only say “+1” (or equivalent) with no additional content, which are discouraged by the FAQ they linked to (and are annoying if you want to follow the conversation but inevitable because the Like button isn’t an obvious enough way to upvote).

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I have the problem that the dates are shown in my preferred format (DD.MM.YYYY), but the input has to be YYYY-MM-DD.
So, I have written all dates as DD.MM.YYYY in the properties, but since the last update it shows the wrong dates, when I set the properties to visible.

Example:
When I write the date “29.09.2023” into the date section in the properties, the output is “20.09.2029”.
If I input it as “2023-09-29”, the date is parsed correctly and shown as “29.09.2023”.

Does anybody know, whether it’s possible to change the input format for the properties?

Obsidian 1.4.14
Windows 11 Pro 22H2
Short date format on OS: DD.MM.YYYY

When I write dates in the frontmatter I (almost) always go for YYYY-MM-DD. As it is now, Obsidian Properties View will render dates as MM-DD-YYYY, which is neither of my two “accepted” formats.

My take:

  • Obsidian should not assume my preferred formatting. What I want in Obsidian is not necessarily the same as what I want from other applications, or my OS in general.
  • Using USA based units or formats as the default is a bad idea (sorry), especially if you want to attract/keep international users.

Side note:
Why are document properties still rendered in reading mode when I’ve both disabled the Properties View plugin and set Editor > Properties in document to Source?
Even after restarting Obsidian.

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The Properties view plugin is only for the Sidebar tabs (Show all properties & Show file properties). For hiding the Properties view in Reading mode, you could use the CSS snippet here.

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Ah, right.
Thank you for clearing that up :+1:
And thank you for the snippets!

Same here. My system setting is in 24 hr and it’ll be nice to display time in 24 hr in Obsidian as well.

It’s not Obsidian. Try this on Windows 10:

I found that page by opening the console; the definition looks like

input[type='datetime-local']

My system’s time/date settings were set to Swiss German defaults, DD.MM.YYYY, Obsidian still showed it as MM/DD/YYYY, which is a pain to read for me.

My Windows Language was set to “English (United States)”. I changed it to “Deutsch (Schweiz)” and everything is fine.

Since you won’t be able to fix Windows, I would suggest to let people define their own format. Hey, it’s Obsidian, right? :wink:

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I can also verify that it is broken

Win 10.
I use English as system language and Sweden as region. My preferred date format is yyyy-mm-dd

date properties at set as mm/dd/yyyy

need it to work as daily notes, give me a property to define my date format…

I use json/csv importer to import trading data and this date issue is breaking my dataview queries.

On the screenshot you can see that my old imports (left) display properties in the correct format (yellow)
New imports (right) use slashes even tough the handlebar template is set to date and displays it correctly.

If I use '=this.openPeriod' is also shows me the dates in the US format on the right and German format on the left

On an related issue I also can not import my CSV rows as dates anymore. (purple) They all become underscores as file.name which now renders my queries obsolete… : (

+1. I’m facing the same issue

I wouldn’t call it a “feature request”. This is a bug.

Windows 11 Pro 22H2 build 22621.2428 (English).
Obsidian v. 1.4.16.

Windows time format: YYYY-MM-DD
but Obsidian shows: MM/DD/YYYY (the stupidest possible format).

All we need is Date/Time format in “Apperance” (in the same way that we could define it in “Templates”).

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How does the date on Windows taskbar look like?

Another cry for help here.

My windows panel:
image

Calendar settings:
image

What I have in properties:
image

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Hey there, just adding to the list.

My formats are set to french :

My languages are set this way so that everything is in English, which is far better for debugging stuff than french :

But here is what my Obsidian is giving me ever since the property plugin exists :

image

I don’t get it.

  • Are you using win 11?
  • How is the date shown in windows’ clock in the system tray?
  • Did you restart obsidian after making these changes on your OS?
  • What does it show in source mode?
  • If you open chrome go to this page. How does the date input look like?

I moved this comment to the appropriate topic:

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