The date must be formatted as: YYYY – The year – you can skip the first two digits/century MM – The month of the year, from 1 to 12. DD – The day of the month, from 1 to 31. On your Mac, choose Apple menu System Preferences, then click Date & Time. If the lock at the bottom left is locked, click it to unlock the preference pane. Click Date & Time, then set the date and time automatically or manually. Automatically: Select “Set date and time automatically,” then choose the network time server for your region.
It is rare for a Mac to display incorrect Time and Date. However, this can happen on a Mac that has been laying idle or not connected to the internet for a long time. Fortunately, fixing the clock on a Mac that is displaying incorrect time and date is easy in most cases.
Date Format Key: YYYY — The year (the first two digits/century can be omitted). MM — The month of the year, from 1 to 12. DD — The day of the month, from 1 to 31. Setting Up Mac OS X Time Zone and Date: This video will show you simple steps to change time zone and date in Mac® OS X™.Content in this video is provided on. Most of the shareware / freeware on this website is out of date, and will run only on older machines using Mac OS 7 or 8. Please do not email me about its obsolescence assuming I do not know this. This website is run completely out of my own goodwill. I pay a monthly fee to keep this website online.
In general, Mac’s are set to update their clocks automatically by connecting to Apple’s reliable time service (time.apple.com) using an internet connection. This explains why a Mac that has not been connected to the internet for a long time can end up showing incorrect Date and Time.
Apart from this there can be other reasons for your Mac showing incorrect Time, ranging from a change in Time Zone (while travelling) to minor software glitches which can prevent a Mac from updating its clock.
Let us take a look at How to Fix a Mac that is showing incorrect Time and Date.
The simple process of restarting a Computer has the capacity to fix minor software glitches and fix problems. Hence, you should never shy away from this simple step of restarting your Mac to see if it can fix the incorrect time and date problem on your Mac.
1. Click on the Apple icon in the top left corner of your screen, and then click on Restart from the Drop-down menu.
Follow the steps below to make sure that your Mac is indeed configured to set its time automatically by connecting to Apple’s time service.
1. Click on the Apple icon in the top Menu bar on your Mac and then click on the System Preferences option in the drop-down menu.
2. On the System Preferences screen, click on Date & Time option.
3. On the next screen, make sure that the option to Set Date and Time Automatically is enabled (See image below)
4. Enable the option for Set Date and Time Automatically, in case it is not enabled on your device.
Note: You need to be logged in to your Admin Account in order to Enable or Disable the option for “Set Date and Time Automatically”.
As mentioned above, your Mac can end up displaying incorrect time whenever you happen to cross a time zone while travelling and also due to minor software glitches on your Mac. In such a case, you can correct the clock on your Mac manually by following the steps below.
1. Click on the Apple icon in the top Menu bar on your Mac and then click on the System Preferences option in the drop-down menu.
2. On the System Preferences screen, click on Date & Time option.
3. On the Date & Time screen, first uncheck the option to Set Date and Time Automatically and then correct Date and Time Manually as required (See image below).
In case you are a frequent traveler, you can configure your Mac to Set Time Zone Automatically by making use of Location Services. This option is suitable in case you travel frequently and you do not have any problem enabling Location Services on your device.
1. Click on the Apple icon in the top Menu-bar on your Mac and then click on the System Preferences option in the drop-down menu.
2. On the System Preferences screen, click on Date & Time option.
3. On the Date & Time screen, first click on the Time Zone tab and then enable Set Time Zone Automatically option (See image below).
4. You will next see a popup, informing you that Location Services are not enabled on your device. Click on Open Privacy Preferences… button.
5. On the Security & Privacy Screen, first Enable Location Services and then click on the Details… button located next to System Services (See image below).
6. On the next screen, Enable the option for Setting Time Zone and tap on Done.
With this setting, your Mac will be able to update Date and Time based on the location of your device. Whenever you cross time zones, your Mac will make use of Location Services to track your location and make use of an appropriate time zone to adjust Date and Time on your Mac.
Are you bad at remembering dates? Do you have to constantly open the Calendar app just to figure out what date/day it is? How about adding the date to the menu bar, so one glance is all that’s needed to know the date?
By default, the menu bar on Mac OS X doesn’t show the date. It shows only the time. The date and day will be shown right next to the time display on Mac’s menu bar.
Step 1: Click on the “Apple Menu.”
Step 2: Select “System Preferences” (You can also right click on time shown at upper right of your Mac desktop, followed by selecting “Date & Time” option available.)
Step 3: Choose the “Date & Time” option.
Step 4: Click on the “Clock” tab.
Step 5: There should be two check boxes available next to Date Options. Check the box having the label “Show Date.”
Step 6: That’s it. The menu bar time display will now show the date too. If you selected Show day of the week, you wouldn’t have to open the calendar to figure out what day it is.
Older Macs:
Mac users who are using older versions of OS X should follow the following process. Launch System Preferences > International panel > Formats > Customize and arrange the date format as you wish to see on the menu bar. This can be a little complicated because you will have to manually edit and add the handles for the time and date values.
That’s all folks!
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