Obsidian/Q/In obsidian, how can I change the default date format to YYYY-MM-DD?
In Obsidian, how can I change the default date format to YYYY-MM-DD?
Answer
- AI/Response
- Short answer: Obsidian does not offer one vault-wide “default date format” for every surface. Several core features already default to
YYYY-MM-DD; where you can set a default, use Settings → Core plugins → Daily notes or Templates, or an explicit {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} in templates. Date properties are always stored as YYYY-MM-DD in YAML; the date picker display follows your OS regional format unless you change system preferences. - Already
YYYY-MM-DD by default- Daily notes — New daily notes are named with today’s date in
YYYY-MM-DD unless you change Date format under the Daily notes plugin. - Templates —
{{date}} uses YYYY-MM-DD unless you override the plugin’s Date format or use {{date:…}} with a Moment.js format string. - Properties (YAML) —
date and date & time values are written in ISO form (2020-08-21, 2020-08-21T10:30:00) regardless of how the picker looks in Live Preview.
- Set or restore
YYYY-MM-DD in plugin settings- Daily notes: Settings → Core plugins → Daily notes → Date format →
YYYY-MM-DD (or another Moment.js token string if you also want folder segments, e.g. YYYY/MM/YYYY-MM-DD). - Templates: Settings → Core plugins → Templates → Date format →
YYYY-MM-DD. Commands Insert current date and template expansion use this default; per-call override: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}}.
- Properties picker display (not storage)
- The calendar control for Date / Date & time properties follows your operating system’s short date format. On macOS: System Settings → General → Language & Region → Dates (adjust short date to year-month-day order if you want the picker to match ISO visually). Restart Obsidian after changing OS formats.
- Community plugins
- Plugins such as Dataview, Tasks, or Projects may have their own display or parse rules; check each plugin’s settings (forum guidance often points to Luxon/Moment format fields for Dataview). Obsidian core does not centralize those.
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