When working with Power BI desktop, you can define whatever date format you want to use for each date field in your model. That works well on Power BI desktop, and on the Power BI service (the browser). However, there’s one annoying case where your format is ignored, and I’m here to help with that, after a recent tough struggle. That case is when you use a date field in a slicer, shown as a slider:
The date format used in this case has nothing to do with what you may have defined as the format of the field. It will show as dd/mm/yyyy or mm/dd/yyyy and that’s usually OK, but which one will it be? dd/mm or mm/dd ?
Apparently there are a few places where you can define it, or you think you can define it. There’s the Power BI desktop language attribute, here:
There’s the Windows regional settings:
In browsers other than Microsoft’s browsers, there’s a language definition, here’s how it looks in Chrome:
And last but not least, the Power BI service language settings:
All together, this is really confusing. After a few cases I’ve encountered, I think I’m now able to determine exactly what works, and here it is.
There are two cases we need to look at: using Power BI Desktop, and using Power BI service (browser, powerbi.com).
In the Power BI desktop case, the only setting that matters is the windows regional settings. Changing the definitions under the “options” menu in Power BI desktop doesn’t change anything. I live in New Zealand, and over here the common format is dd/mm/yyyy. Setting the windows regional settings to English(New Zealand) allows that. Setting it to English(US) changes the format to mm/dd/yyyy. Note that a Power BI desktop restart is usually needed after a change.
For Power BI service (browser), it depends on which browser you are using. If you are using Microsoft browsers(Internet Explorer or Edge), the way to change your date format is the same as it is with Power BI desktop, via the Windows regional settings. If you are using a different browser, you need to do two things. The first one, is set the desired language, like English(US), or English (New Zealand) as the top option under your browser’s selected languages. It’s not enough to set it as the default, it has to be at the very top of the list (example in chrome):
Then, under the Power BI service language setting, set it to use the browsers default:
You’ll probably need to refresh your Power BI page for the changes to kick in.
I hope that helps!
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16 Comments. Leave new
Thanks very much for this – you have solved my problem! Power BI Desktop date sliders were showing in US format and I couldn’t work out why, given I have the Power BI Desktop Locale set to Australia!
I’m happy to hear that Martin.
Thanks for your feedback.
Windows region is set to Australia, with date format set to dd/MM/yyyy however, after the most recent update to Power BI, date format in date slicer on the desktop is displaying mm/dd/yyyy. when viewing the report in Power BI service the date format is as required. Any other hints?
Hi Cathy,
thanks for pointing that out. It is indeed a defect in the new version. I haven’t yet found a way around it. The good news is that it is still working well in the server. But it is annoying. I’ll update if I find a solution.
Ziv.
Hi again Cathy,
The problem seems to have been solved for me. I cannot really point out how. I suspect all that was needed is a restart. Can you check too? Thanks.
Thank you very much. This works on IE, Chrome & Firefox, but not on Safari (Mac). Is there anyone that has a solution on the Safari?
Sorry Jesse, I don’t know how to make it work in Safari on Mac. I’ve found several Power BI issues on Safari so ended up using Chrome.
Hello
I will like to change the format to MM/yyyy but it doesn´t allow me to, Under date, I have some options but I can not modify it as I need.
Thanks
Hi,
This behaviour actually makes sense. you have a date field, so its format must include the day. If you just want to show the month and year, you can create another column that holds just month and year (in the data source or as a calculated column).
Ziv.
Thank you so much for these tips. I was about to start pulling my hair out!
Hi can you advice how to specify the format for PowerBI Embeded. I have a scenario where my PC Windows setting is Polish and Customers what to see date formats/ date pickers in Danish. I tried to do it using the data model and change type on the date column with locale set to danish but now the date picker is in English. I don’t want to change the settings of my PC… Do you see any way to solve it without doing it?
Hi Marcin,
Unfortunately I don’t have experience with Power BI embedded.
Ziv.
Hi,
I need a date format like DD-MMM-YYY in date slicer. Could you please help me on how to achieve that.
Hi Ziv,
All is working well in the Desktop App and Web Browsers (DD/MM/YYYY) but when the reports are embedded as a tab in MS Teams it is showing MM/DD/YYYY.
Region/Language/Locale settings for Windows, Web Browsers, MS Teams, Power BI Service are all set to English-NZ.
Have you come across this issue before?
Unfortunately not. I don’t have experience with Power BI embedded. Probably some embedding setting?
I faced this issue. You just need to click on the 3 dots next to your name in MS Teams. Then go to Settings and select the language of your preference. Power BI embedded will adopt the shape/format of the app where it is located.