How to Change Default Date Format from US to UK in Excel (3 Ways)

Get FREE Advanced Excel Exercises with Solutions!

Excel offers the feature to change the date format country-wise. And the way is so simple in Excel if you know the tricks. So this article will provide you with 3 quick ways to change the default date format from US to the UK in Excel with sharp steps and clear illustrations.


Download Practice Workbook

You can download the free Excel template from here and practice on your own.


3 Ways to Change Default Date Format from US to UK Standard in Excel

To explore the methods, we’ll use the following dataset which represents 5 nominated movies in the best picture category for the Oscar award 2022. Have a look at the dates in US format. Let’s change it to a UK format using the following methods.


1. Change Regional Settings to Change Default Date Format from US to UK in Excel

One of the easiest ways is to change the Country Region from the windows settings. Because windows show the dates format by default according to your selected country region in the settings. Let’s see how to change.

Steps:

A dialog box named Region will open up.

Change Regional Settings to Change Default Date Format from the US to the UK in Excel

  • Select English (United Kingdom) from the Format box.
  • Finally, just press OK.

Change Regional Settings to Change Default Date Format from the US to the UK in Excel

Now see that the dates are changed to UK format.

Read More: Fix Excel Date Not Formatting Correctly (8 Quick Solutions)


2. Create a Custom Date Format to Change Default Date Format from US to UK in Excel

Another easy way is to create a custom date format from the format settings in Excel. We’ll change the region here too using the format settings.

Steps:

  • Select the range of dates.
  • Later, click the icon from the Number section of the Home tab as shown in the image.

Soon after, the Format Cells dialog box will open up and it will take you to the Date format settings directly.

Create a Custom Date Format to Change Default Date Format from the US to the UK in Excel

  • Select English (United Kingdom) from the Local (location) box.
  • Finally, just press OK.

Create a Custom Date Format to Change Default Date Format from the US to the UK in Excel

Then you will get that Excel has changed the date format exactly as you wanted.

Read More: How to Convert a Date to dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm:ss Format in Excel


Similar Readings:


3. Use Text to Columns Wizard to Change Date in Text Format to the UK Standard

If you store dates as text values and after that, if you use the above methods to change the format from the US to the UK then nothing will happen. You will have to change the text format to date format using the Text to Columns Wizard and then you will be able to change the date format. Have a look at the image below, the dates are stored as Text and as US format. And we know text values are aligned to the left in Excel.

Use Text to Columns Wizard to Change Date in Text Format to the UK Standard

Steps:

  • Select the range of dates.
  • Then click as follows: Data > Data Tools > Text to Columns Wizard.

Soon after you will get a dialog box with 3 steps.

Use Text to Columns Wizard to Change Date in Text Format to the UK Standard

  • In the first step, mark the Delimited option.
  • Then press Next.

Use Text to Columns Wizard to Change Date in Text Format to the UK Standard

  • From the second step, unmark all options and press Next.

Use Text to Columns Wizard to Change Date in Text Format to the UK Standard

  • In the final step, mark the Date.
  • Then select MDY from the drop-down beside the Date option.
  • Finally, just press Finish.

Now have a look that the Text format is changed to Date format as UK format.

Read More: How to Convert Text to Date with Excel VBA (5 Ways)


Conclusion

I hope the procedures described above will be good enough to change the default date format from the US to the UK in Excel. Feel free to ask any question in the comment section and please give me feedback.


Related Articles

Md. Sourov Hossain Mithun

Md. Sourov Hossain Mithun

Hello! I am Md. Sourov Hossain Mithun. Welcome to my profile. Currently, I am working at Exceldemy as an Excel and VBA Content Developer. Excel is amazing software. Here I will post excel related useful articles. I am a graduate of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. I love to learn new things and work with them. Thank you.

2 Comments
  1. How to change the date format of the timestamp in Excel comments. It’s in US mm/dd/yyyy format despite all my Windows, Office, SharePoint, browser, MS profile settings specifying English(Australia) which like almost all locales is dd/mm/yyyy.

    • Reply Avatar photo
      Nazmul Hossain Shovon Nov 14, 2022 at 11:03 AM

      Hi Mike,
      You can try the following steps to change the date format in excel comments:
      1) Type intl.cpl in the Windows Search Box.
      2) Now, under Date and time formats, click on the Short date drop-down and choose the date format that you want to use in the comments in excel.

Leave a reply

Advanced Excel Exercises with Solutions PDF

 

 

ExcelDemy
Logo