•1 min read•from Microsoft Excel | Help & Support with your Formula, Macro, and VBA problems | A Reddit Community
Why doesn't Excel's short date format match the System settings?
Excel's short date formatting is based on the System's short date format, but does not match it. WHY?!?!
I've learned to live and work around this issue, but it still bothers me so much. Is there some setting or configuration in Excel to change this?
Example:
System: dd MMM yyyy = 26 Feb 2026 Excel: dd-MM-yyyy = 26-02-2026 Clarification edit: I am speaking of the default Short Date format. Per MS Excel documentation, the default Short Date format can only be changed by updating system settings. Excel clearly reads the sShortDate value from the HKCU:\Control Panel\International Registry key, but does not truly respect it. My frustration is Excel lying about respecting the user's regional settings.
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