Show Full or Abbreviated Date and Time in system tray of Windows 11

This post will tell you how to show full or abbreviated date and time in the system tray of Windows 11. When the abbreviated date and time format is set, only day and month are visible for the date, and hour and minutes are shown for the time in the system tray and this is the default setting in Windows 11. On the other hand, when the full or longer date and time format is set, the date will include the year and the time format will include the AM/PM time marker. There are multiple ways to show shorter or longer time and date format in Windows 11 and we have covered all those options with step-by-step instructions.

Show Full or Abbreviated Date and Time in System Tray of Windows 11

There are three native ways to show full or abbreviated date and time in the system tray of Windows 11:

Show Full or Abbreviated Date and Time in System Tray using the Settings app
Show Full or Abbreviated Date and Time in System Tray using Group Policy Editor
Show shorter or longer Time and Date Format in System Tray using Registry Editor.

Let’s check these options.

1] Show Full or Abbreviated Date and Time in System Tray using the Settings app

The steps are as follows:

Use the Win+I hotkey to open the Settings app
Select the Time & language category
Access the Date & time page
Expand the Show time and date in the System tray option
Untick the Show abbreviated time and date option to show the longer time and date.

The changes are applied instantly. Later, when you want to set the shorter time and date format on your Windows 11 PC, follow the above steps and tick the Show abbreviated time and date option.

2] Show Full or Abbreviated Date and Time in System Tray using Group Policy Editor

Here are the steps:

Click on the Search box, type gpedit.msc, and press Enter to open the Group Policy Editor window
Select the Start Menu and Taskbar folder. For this, navigate to the following location:

User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Start Menu and Taskbar

Double-click on the Turn off abbreviated time and date format setting
Select Enabled
Press the OK button
Reboot your system.

Your PC will display the full date and time in the taskbar system tray. This action will also disable the related setting in the Windows 11 Settings app. When you open the Date & time page in the Settings app, you will see that the Show abbreviated time and date option is greyed out. Also, that means you won’t be able to use the Settings app to display full or abbreviated time and date unless you revert the changes.

To undo the applied changes, follow the above steps, and select the Not Configured option for the Turn off abbreviated time and date format setting. Click on the OK button and restart your PC.

Read: How to show Multiple Clocks on Taskbar in Windows PC

3] Show shorter or longer Time and Date Format in System Tray using Registry Editor

Before using this option, backup Windows Registry. After this, follow these steps:

In the Search box, type regedit, and press the Enter key. The Registry Editor window will open
Access the Advanced Registry key. Here is the path:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced

Double-click on the ShowShortenedDateTime DWORD (32-bit) Value available in the right section. This will open an edit value box. If this value is not present, first create a new DWORD (32-bit) Value and then rename it
In the edit value box, add 0 if you want to show the full or longer time and date in the system tray. Otherwise, add 1 to show the abbreviated date and time
Press the OK button and restart your PC if needed.

That’s all.

Now read: Prevent Users from Changing the Date and Time in Windows PC

How to show the date and time in Taskbar Windows 11?

Open the Settings app, access the Date & time page, and turn on the Show time and date in the System tray option. Now you will see the clock and date in the system tray of the Windows 11 taskbar. If the option is greyed out or disabled, access the Remove Clock from the system notification area setting in the Group Policy Editor, and set it to the Not Configured option. Restart the File Explorer and then the date and time will be visible in the taskbar of Windows 11.

How to change the date format in Windows 11 System Tray?

To change the date format in the Windows 11 system tray, open the Settings app. Navigate to Time & language > Language & region > and expand the Regional format section. Press the Change formats button. Now, you can change the date format for short and Long dates. In addition, you can also set Short time and Long time formats.