Tip #1027: Quick fix for the date format in portals

When I roll out the new Dynamics 365 portal, especially for a demo, the first thing I want to do is to change the date format. Why? Because of this comprehensive map of all countries that use the MMDDYYYY date format:

Comprehensive map of all countries that use the MMDDYYYY date format

In Dynamics 365 go to Portals > Portal Languages and open English record. Change the LCID to a locale with a suitable date format, e.g. 3081 for Australian, 2057 for United Kingdom, etc (see the full list here).

You’d still have to put up with ‘Z’ instead of ‘S’ and deal with colors not colours, but at least you won’t turn up for a meeting scheduled for 1/2/2018 on the 2nd of January.

7 thoughts on “Tip #1027: Quick fix for the date format in portals

  1. Mehul Mehta says:

    Thanks George. It works like a charm.

  2. David Y says:

    This is not the proper way to do this. There is documentation for how to configure the date and time formats using site settings here:

    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/dynamics365/customer-engagement/portals/behavior-format-date-time-field

    • Some people reported that the portal setting didn’t work for them hence the hack (note the duct tape image hinting at what I think about this approach).

      Also, the documentation you referred to says:

      By default, the portal uses the standard date/time formats specified by the website language settings.

      So why is this approach “is not the proper way”?

  3. Elaiza Benitez says:

    Hey George, the link for the full list of Locale ID values is https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms912047(v=winembedded.10).aspx.

    The one you provided originally might have been updated as it was showing different information.

    I first tried the usual Site Setting method as I’ve used this in the past. As you mentioned, I experienced it wasn’t working for me.

    I came across this Tip after Googling and it worked after I updated the Portal Language English record Locale ID to Australian. Thanks for sharing this Tip!

  4. Anil Antony says:

    Is there any way to show British summer time with date format.

    I’m showing date and time of a transaction on portal but its 1 hour behind current British time.

    • Anil,

      the locale deals with the format, not the timezone or datetime value recorded in the Dynamics 365. I suspect that your values are recorded 1 hour off – have you checked the actual values in Dynamics?

      Thanks
      George

  5. Anonymous says:

    What about East Asian and Hungarian languages with 2018/1/2 as 2018, January 2nd?

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