SharePoint 2010 : Change My Regional Settings

Depending on the configuration of the site, you might be able to define in that site your own regional settings. Doing this changes the way the site is presented to you, without affecting anyone else viewing the site.

When you change the regional settings, you can define how you want dates and numbers to be shown to you, the default sort order that will be used in the site when you view lists, what calendar format you want to see, and how you want to define your work week days.

For example, in a calendar list of events, when the regional settings are set to Australian regional settings, the events are shown with the day before the month. But if you change the settings to the American regional settings, the date will show the month before the day, and the times for the events will change to show when the events occur in the selected time zone.

To change the settings, click on the [your name] link at the top of the page to open a drop-down menu and select My Settings (see Figure 1).

Figure 1. The My Settings link in the drop-down.

SharePoint opens a page showing your details as they are saved in the system. When you click on My Regional Settings, SharePoint opens the Regional Settings configuration screen, where you can choose the settings you want (see Figure 2). The default option is to always follow the settings defined for the website. Unless you clear this option, you will not be able to set any personal setting for yourself.

Figure 2. The Regional Settings page.

The following are the settings you can configure on this page after you disable the Always Follow Web Settings option:

• Locale— Sets the formats of dates, numbers, and sorting order.

• Time Zone— Sets your time zone so that times (for example, time for a meeting) will be displayed to you in your time zone.

• Set Your Calendar— Allows you to select a different calendar format (for example, the Jewish calendar or Arabic calendar) to be displayed instead of the default one.

• Enable an Alternate Calendar— Allows you to select alternative secondary calendar that will be displayed in addition to the default one.

• Define Your Work Week— Allows you to select your work week and working hours (which changes how calendars will be displayed to you).

• Time Format— Allows you to select whether the time format should be in 12-hour format (for example, 01:00 PM) or 24-hour format (for example, 13:00).