Formatting Dates, Numbers, Phone Numbers, and Time
You can use the default formatting settings for number data types such as dates, numbers, phone numbers and time, or override them at the company, subsidiary, and user level.
To change the default settings at different preference levels, go to:
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Company – Setup > Company > General Preferences.
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Subsidiary – Setup > Company > Classifications > Subsidiaries. When you edit the subsidiary, you can find the date format in the Preferences > General subtab.
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User – Home > Set Preferences. The date format is in the formatting section.
Dates
The default date format is M/D/YYYY. You can also select the formats to use when displaying abbreviated and full dates. The abbreviated date format appears on reports, forms, and data-entry pages.
By default, users can override the date formats you select. To prevent this, go to Setup > Company > General Preferences. On the Overriding Preferences subtab, next to Date Format or Long Date Format, clear the Allow Override box.
The following table shows some of the available date formats and examples of how March 5, 2025 would appear when the different formats are applied.
|
Date Format |
Example |
|---|---|
|
M/D/YYYY |
3/5/2025 |
|
D/M/YYYY |
5/3/2025 |
|
D-Mon-YYYY |
5-Mar-2025 |
|
D.M.YYYY |
5.3.2025 |
|
DD/MM/YYYY |
05/03/2025 |
|
DD-MONTH-YYYY |
05-March-2025 |
Not all date formats are available in all locales.
Numbers
Set the Number Format and Negative Number Format preferences to determine how numbers display on the screen.
The Number Format preference provides the following format options for thousands separators and decimal places:
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Thousands separator – Comma, period, space, and reverse comma.
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Decimal places – Comma and period.
You can choose to display negative numbers with either a minus sign (for example -100) or parentheses, for example (100).
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Minus sign – -100
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Parentheses – (100)
The following guidelines apply to number formatting:
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Number format preferences do not apply to exports, SOAP web services, SuiteScript, and CSV imports.
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Currency format settings apply to amounts on reports and printed transactions.
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Values with a currency symbol, such as €123,45 or $123.45, render according to the currency format, not the number format preference.
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On the screen, foreign currency amounts render in the format for the currency. Base currency amounts displayed in columns on transactions forms and subtabs follow the number format preferences.
Time
NetSuite supports both the 12 hour and 24 hour clock systems. The following time format options are available:
|
Date Format |
Example |
|---|---|
|
hh:mm AM/PM |
08:00 PM |
|
hh:mm (24 hours) |
20:00 |
|
hh-mm AM/PM |
08-00 PM |
|
hh-mm (24 hours) |
20:00 |