11

I have ubuntu 10.04 running Thunderbird 14.0

How do I change the date format to international standard? (eg; 2012-07-26)

My system date already shows this format.

Rinzwind
  • 309,379
James
  • 111

8 Answers8

7

How to get YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM date format in Thunderbird 60

sudo ln -s /usr/share/i18n/locales/en_DK /usr/share/i18n/locales/root
echo 'root.UTF-8 UTF-8' | sudo tee -a /etc/locale.gen
sudo locale-gen
LC_TIME=root.UTF-8 thunderbird

Why LC_TIME=en_DK.UTF-8 thunderbird no longer gives this date format

Thunderbird and Firefox now use CLDR (Unicode Common Locale Data Repository), which does not have the ISO 8601 date format in en_DK.

References

Håkon A. Hjortland
  • 3,606
3

I know of 4 ways to alter TB's date. Take your pick ;) (you just need 1)

  • Quick Locale Switcher add-on for TB. Might be the easiest one.

  • Mozilla's official documentation in changing date formats.

    In Thunderbird, choose Tools –> Options –> Advanced –> General > Config Editor

    Options:

    mail.ui.display.dateformat.today    
mail.ui.display.dateformat.thisweek     
mail.ui.display.dateformat.default

    Values:

    V   Meaning                                 Example date and time
0   No date                                 10:23 AM
1   Your system's long* date format         Friday, December 31 2003 10:23 AM
2   Your system's short* date format        12/31/1999 10:23 AM
3   Year and month, separated by a slash    1999/12 10:23 AM
4   Abbreviated day name                    Fri 10:23 AM

  • Change the startup command to 

    export LC_TIME=en_GB.UTF-8 && thunderbird %u

    (Dash Main Menu > Internet > Thunderbird > Properties) Ofcourse change en_GB.UTF-8 to what you need

  • Change your custom locale (/usr/share/i18n/locales) as explained on ubuntuforums.org.

Rinzwind
  • 309,379
3

Does depend on what you want to achieve - in Ubuntu 12.04 I got stuck with US locale settings (mm/dd/yyyy), wanted to switch to UK (dd/mm/yyyy), and couldn't find any tips.

Then I stumbled on system settings-> language support -> regional formats tab, change to English (United Kingdom). Easy!

Hope this helps someone

senick
  • 39
1

Since Thunderbird 60.0 you need to set LC_TIME as stated in the other answers but you now also need to change the "Date and Time Formatting" option in the advanced preferences in the "General" tab.

abu_bua
  • 11,313
Tom Kunze
  • 11
1

How to get YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM date format in Thunderbird 78.7.1

sudo locale-gen lt_LT.UTF-8
sudo update-locale

LC_TIME=lt_LT.UTF-8 thunderbird

References

Håkon A. Hjortland
  • 3,606
1

Unfortunately those answers don't show you how to set the date to YYYY-MM-DD format.

If you follow these instructions, setting the LC_TIME variable to en_DK.utf8 (I'd advise putting it in a script that calls Thunderbird) it will show YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM in the message view and give you the option of using YYYY-MM-DD in the calendar as the 'short' format.

http://kb.mozillazine.org/Date_display_format

Bojangles
  • 11
1

The fastest, very reliable and solid way to change the date, is to download the Super Date Format addon.

Go to Menu > Add-ons, then in Add-ons manager select the Extensions tab and search for Super Date Format add-on on (on the upper right).

When you download and install it, go to Super Date Format preferences (Display > Date Format) and customize the format.

You are going to have a format like this:

/%Y-/%m-/%e   %H:%M %p

In which:

  • /%Y is the full year
  • /%m is the month
  • /%e is the number day

It may seem difficult but the whole configuration is super-easy when you open the configuration tab, because it explains everything you need to know.

NB

This works on Ubuntu 16.04 LTS and the Thunderbird 54.* but is not limited to this version only.

It also works on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS with Thunderbird v52.9.1. There may be warnings that the extension is not compatible but you can ignore them.

Zanna
  • 72,312
Manolis Lykos
  • 41
  • 5
0

How to get YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM date format in Thunderbird 91+

Create the following new string preferences:

intl.date_time.pattern_override.date_short      = yyyy-MM-dd
intl.date_time.pattern_override.time_short      = HH:mm
intl.date_time.pattern_override.connector_short = {1} {0}
              "En space" special character (U+2002) ⤴

Restart Thunderbird for the changes to take effect.

Date / time separator (connector_short)

A slightly wider space character, an en space, can be used to give a bit more separation between the date and the time. Two spaces seem to be automatically collapsed to one space, hence the use of the special space character. Copy and paste the "{1} {0}" string above, or insert the Unicode character U+2002 between "{1}" and "{0}" when setting the preference. Here is a comparison of different connector_short settings:

connector_short options

How to create new string preferences

  1. ≡ > Settings > General > Config Editor...
  2. Search for e.g. "intl.date_time.pattern_override.date_short"
  3. Choose "String" and press "+"
  4. Fill in the value for the new preference and press "✓"

Reference

Håkon A. Hjortland
  • 3,606