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Big Sur doesn't allow me to change date/time format in menu bar

Since upgrading to Big Sur, I can no longer change the date/time format in the menu bar.


If I head to System Preferences -> Dock & Menu Bar -> Clock and change any of the date/time layouts then it doesn't reflect in the menu bar. I've rebooted but it's no different. In my case, I prefer a 12 hour clock and so 24 hour was already unticked, with an option for AM/PM (this is how I had it before I upgraded). However, the clock appears in 24 hours. If I untick and re-tick, nothing changes.


I've checked with others who have Big Sur and they're seeing the same thing (although one said it worked for them once but not after that).

MacBook Pro 13″, macOS 11.0

Posted on Nov 14, 2020 3:07 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Nov 29, 2020 8:07 PM

Go to Settings > Dock & Menu Bar > Clock and untick "Use a 24-hour clock", and enable "Show AM/PM" if you want.

9 replies

Nov 14, 2020 3:29 AM in response to Jet-iP5s

I'm not sure what changes you're pointing me to here, as it wasn't the time itself I wanted to change but the format of the menu bar date/time.


Never-the-less, this has lead me to a solution.


If you go to System Preferences -> Language & Region and then unclick "Time Format", it will now allow you to modify the menu bar format.

Nov 15, 2020 1:57 PM in response to dartiss

Hi, I'm trying to do this too to no success now that with Big Sur YOU CANNOT REMOVE THE CLOCK from the menu anymore because it's tethered to notifications. So, now I have two clocks on Big Sur. Apple once again "fixing" things that aren't broken. I've left feedback, but Apple has never changed anything I've suggested, so I seriously doubt anything will come of this.


I use iStat Menus which has an infinitely better clock, but I guess it's tough luck now.


I want:

2020 Nov 15 15:48.52 Sun


iStat Menus does this perfectly.


If Big Sur could do this, I wouldn't be griping. But, when I put all that into the "Language and Region" but it doesn't change the menu bar clock at all. It still says "Sun Nov 15 15:48:52".


I cannot for the life of me figure out how to change the display to what I want. I changed the format in "Language and Region" but it didn't change the menu clock at all.


My "fix" is to reduce the clock to as little wasted space as possible, and go to Preferences>Dock & Menu Bar>Clock and reduce everything to as small as possible (3:48) and keep my iStat Menus clock.


This update should have been called Big Mess. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of turning on automatic updates for systems, so I'm just out of luck.

Nov 16, 2020 2:48 PM in response to Wesley Johnson

Well this is crap. I go to the Dock/Menu Bar prefs for Clock, and deselect Show the day of... and Show date, but nothing changes. the options to change are there and I can toggle, but I still have Day of Week, Date, and time. Can't change to analog either and like others, I use iStat which is WAY better. Now I'm stuck with two date/time items in menubar. wtf?



Big Sur doesn't allow me to change date/time format in menu bar

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