Apartment Therapy Unplugged | How To... Display the Date and Time in Mac's Finder Bar

How To... Display the Date and Time in Mac's Finder Bar

Here's a minor tech pet peeve of mine that maybe some of you relate to: The Finder Bar on my Mac will only show the time and never the date. To display the date, I've got to select and hold the time to show a menu that shows the date. Like I said, it's a minor peeve because I can just look down on my phone for the date if I can't remember. But minor annoyances are the easiest and most satisfying to fix. The 2-minute instructions, via Geek Sugar, are under the jump...

Maybe this was a no-brainer for some of you, but I didn't think that there was an easy, non-hackable, non-downloadable solution like this, Thanks, GeekSugar!

Open up "System Preferences"
Click on "International"
Click "Formats"
Under the dates section, click "Customize"
Under "Show," use the drop-down menu to select "Medium"
Copy the month and date, then hit "Cancel"
Under the "times" section, click "Customize"
Under "Show," use the drop-down menu to select "Medium"
Paste the month and date at the end of the time format
Click "OK"

Now you should see the month and day just to the right of the time in your Finder Bar.

Comments (10)

Never would have thought to do this. Thanks for posting.

posted by Indy Jeffrey on April 8th 2009 at 9:08am
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And if you add a space or two in between the time and the date, it's even legible.

posted by Joan A. on April 8th 2009 at 9:42am
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Or you could just look at the dock and see the date on the iCal Widget. That's the only reason I've left it on my dock. I never actually use the program.

posted by LitNerd on April 8th 2009 at 9:51am
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I used to do this, but it took up too much space and I was annoyed that I couldn't click on it to see a full calendar context. Is this a leftover linux twitch?

So about 4 months ago I started using tinyCal and I have been singing its praises ever since. Not only is it small and unobtrusive, but when you click it expands to a full 2 month calendar AND it syncs to my google calendars. TinyCal shows any appts in google calendar and it has a quick add option where you can just click the and you can add an event to your google calendar without even going to a browser. I can't say enough good about it.

posted by Laurie on April 8th 2009 at 11:06am
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i love this. thanks.

posted by caslab on April 8th 2009 at 12:26pm
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Cool! Thanks!

posted by marlamischief1 on April 8th 2009 at 12:48pm
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Or you can install the shareware program MenuCalendarClock. It puts an iCal-style icon next to the time in the finder bar, and if you click on it you get an abbreviated look at your iCal for the current month/day. If you install it, look in the preferences for the option to display it only in the finder bar, because by default it displays in the dock as well.

posted by zero13 on April 8th 2009 at 1:49pm
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thanks for the tip!

posted by Matt. M on April 8th 2009 at 9:54pm
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Thank You. Thank You. Thank You! This has always been a major pet peeve for me. Now I can happily ever after check the date.

posted by thisisart on April 10th 2009 at 10:01am
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Thanks! But I agree that it does take up some space...
Pretty cool though.

posted by cojaclynsy on April 12th 2009 at 2:27pm
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