I have set my Date format to use the ISO 8601 international standard of 2023-04-09 for today's date.
Finder does not display the dates in this format for all directories after installing macOS 13.3.1. Finder did display the date correctly in all directories prior to installing macOS 13.3.
How do I get Finder to use the ISO 8601 standard in all directories?
iMac 27″ 5K, macOS 13.3
Hey Merton Crockett,
Let's try the following steps as shown from the user guide here:
Change how dates, times, and more display on Mac
1. On your Mac, choose Apple menu> System Settings, click General
in the sidebar, then click Language & Region on the right. (You may need to scroll down.)
2. Click the pop-up menu next to Region, then choose a geographic region to use the region’s date, time, number, and other formats.
The formats that appear depend on the selected region and current language. See Change the language your Mac uses.
3. To customize formats, do any of the following:
* Calendar: Choose the type of calendar used to display dates and times.
* Temperature: Select the preferred temperature format, such as Celsius.
* Measurement system: Select the preferred measurement system, such as Metric.
* First day of week: Choose the first day of the week.
* Date format: Choose the date format, such as day, then month, then year.
* Number format: Choose the format for numbers, such as when a comma appears.
* List sort order: Choose the sort order for names. This option is available only for some primary languages.
* Term of address: Choose your preferred term of address (feminine, masculine, or neuter) to make your device feel more personal. Turn on “Share with all applications” so that all apps personalize how they address you. These options are available for these supported languages.
These are the steps to help you change the dates and times under Finder. Let us know if this helps!
Best regards.
Merton Crockett wrote:
BrianK90: Clearly I didn't explain the problem correctly. The problem involves the implementation of Finder in the macOS Ventura 13.x releases. Finder does not consistently apply one's date format when displaying directories.
I don't need instructions on how to set date formats. I have been doing it for over 40 years in RSX, IAS, VMS, Unix, Linux, Mac X, and macOS as I dealt with government customers around the world.
...
This inconsistent behavior seems to be a product of the macOS Ventura 13.x releases.
The current stable release of Ventura including bug fixes, security updates is macOS Ventura 13.3.1
Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support
Keep your Mac up to date - Apple Support
To be proactive you can file a bug report /submit your Apple Feedback here: http://www.apple.com/feedback
Hey Merton Crockett,
To isolate the issue further, test to see if you can duplicate this in safe mode. Safe mode is a way of starting your Mac that prevents certain software from opening, that could contribute to the issue: How to use safe mode on your Mac
If this still continues, create a new admin user and test to see if you're able to duplicate the issue. This will let you know if the issue system wide or specific to your user, so you can determine your next steps. Change Users & Groups settings on Mac
We hope this helps!
Sincerely.
BrianK90: Clearly I didn't explain the problem correctly. The problem involves the implementation of Finder in the macOS Ventura 13.x releases. Finder does not consistently apply one's date format when displaying directories.
I don't need instructions on how to set date formats. I have been doing it for over 40 years in RSX, IAS, VMS, Unix, Linux, Mac X, and macOS as I dealt with government customers around the world.
When I put my home directory in Finder's sidebar and click on it, the directory is displayed correctly using the date format that I specified in System Settings. I can switch between the three ISO 8601 date formats offered in macOS: YYYY.MM.DD, YYYY/MM/DD and YYYY-MM-DD. Finder will display my home directory using whatever date format I choose. If Finder is open and displaying my home directory when I switch formats, Finder changes the display to the selected date format.
The problem is that if I select any link in the sidebar other than my home directory, Finder changes the date format to April dd, YYYY or APR dd, YYYY. The second format is only used when I select the link to my Finance directory in the sidebar. All other links in the sidebar use the first format.
When my home directory is being viewed in Finder, I can click on the > next to any subdirectory and the dates are displayed in the ISO 8601 date format that is currently active. However, if I click on the subdirectory name and display it in a new tab, the dates are no longer displayed in the selected ISO 8601 date format.
This inconsistent behavior seems to be a product of the macOS Ventura 13.x releases.
JessS19: I have 3 accounts on my macOS 13.3.1 system: <user>-root, <user>, and test2. The test2 account was created after macOS 13.3 was installed to help identify why I couldn't login to my <user> account on an external drive. The <user>-root account is my emergency account on Macintosh HD. All three accounts are configured for using ISO 8601 date & time displayed for all files.
Finder does not translate Apple's internal file time stamps to the ISO 8601 format on any directories for test2 or the <user>-root accounts. My <user> account only displays the ISO 8601 format for the <user> account but not any subdirectory opened with Finder.
This behavior suggests that Finder applies the date and time settings in System Settings only to the user's home directory or that Finder ignores the date and time settings in all cases. The latter case would imply that one of the <dot>hidden files in my home directory contains something that instructs Finder to display dates in the ISO 8601 date format.
Finder doesn't use correct file format in all directories
