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Date and number formatting are not following the 'Formatting Locale' setting in M-Files

Last updated on 16 December 2025

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PDF Conversion

Overview

When a Word document is previewed in M-Files or has been converted to PDF, the number and date format might not be shown in the wanted regional format. For example, the data format is shown in US format (MM/DD/YYY). 

Normally the used format can be changed through 'Formatting locale' setting in Advanced Vault Setting, as instructed here: Specifying Vault-Specific Locale Settings

However, in some cases this setting does not have the wanted effect.

Solution

The issue can be seen in cases where the vault uses also 'Extension Filter for Embedded Metadata Update on Check-In' Advanced Vault Setting:

Configurations > File Operations > Extension Filter for Embedded Metadata Update on Check-In

Removing the setting will allow the defined Formatting locale value to be used. 

Also, as an alternative the date and time formats can be modified directly into Microsoft Word templates as discussed in following article: How to change the date and time formats in Word templates

This is related to known issue, CAT-637. When it is fixed, it can be found from M-Files release notes.

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