Configuring Date Time Preferences

Configuring Date & Time Preferences

In addition to displaying a clock on your menu bar, your computer uses date and time information for a variety of operations. For example, your computer uses date and time information to provide files with creation and modification dates and to time-stamp email. You can configure your computer’s clock and calendar settings in the Date & Time preferences pane.

The Date & Time preferences pane is divided into three panels:

• Date & Time

• Time Zone

• Clock

Each panel is accessed by clicking on the button with the corresponding name at the top of the Date & Time preferences pane.

Date & Time panel

Click the Date & Time button to set your computer’s current date and time.

• To set the date and time automatically: Select the Set Date & Time automatically option. This allows OS X to automatically synchronize the computer’s internal clock to a time server over a network or the Internet using Network Time Protocol (NTP). The Set Date & Time automatically pop-up menu allows you to select an Apple time server that is based in the Americas, Asia, or Europe. It also allows for the manual input of a NTP server other than the ones that Apple provides.

• To change the date: Click the little arrows next to the month and year and click a day in the monthly calendar.

• To change the time: Drag the hands of the analog clock and click the AM/PM indicator next to this clock. Alternatively, click the digital hour, minute, or second and then either type a new value or click the little arrows next to the digital clock.

You must click Save to put the new time and date into effect. Figure 13-5 shows the clock and calendar settings in the Date & Time panel of Date & Time preferences.

Figure 13-5: Date & Time panel also contains an Open International button that is a shortcut to the International preferences pane.

Note

If the controls arrows for changing the date and time are absent, you need to deselect the option labeled Set Date & Time automatically.

Tip

Besides the Apple time servers in the NTP Server drop-down list, you can use many public time servers. Check the list on the NTP (network time protocol) Web site at www.eecis.udel.edu/~mills/ntp/servers.htm.

Time Zone panel

Click the Time Zone button to set your time zone. The pop-up menu lists regions that may have different time zones in the highlighted part of the world. You can click another part of the world to highlight it. If daylight-saving time is in effect for the currently selected time zone, a sunburst graphic appears in the lower-left corner of the map next to the time zone’s abbreviation. Figure 13-6 shows the Time Zone panel of the Date & Time preferences pane.

Figure 13-6: Set your time zone in the Time Zone panel of Date & Time preferences.

Tip

Even if you never move your computer, you should set its time zone so that people receiving your email in a different time zone can tell what time you sent the email.

Clock panel

Click the Clock button to configure the appearance of the clock, as shown in Figure 13-7.

Figure 13-7: The Clock panel allows for the configuration of the appearance of the clock in Mac OS X.

By default Mac OS X places a clock in the Finder’s menu bar. You can see the date by clicking the clock in the menu bar. This action displays a menu with the date at the top of it. In addition, this menu has choices for viewing the clock in analog or digital format and for opening the Date & Time pane of System Preferences.

The menu bar clock initially appears at the right end of the menu bar. You can move it by pressing z and dragging it. You can remove the menu bar clock by z-dragging it off the menu bar.

In addition to configuring the appearance of the clock in the Finder’s menu bar, the Clock panel allows the clock to be viewed in a separate window, as shown in Figure 13-8. As with the menu bar clock you can configure the window clock’s display in either analog or digital format.

Figure 13-8: Unlike the Clock application included with iterations of Mac OS X prior to Version 10.3, the view clock in window option can’t be dragged into the Dock.

At the very bottom of the Clock panel, you can elect to have the clock announce the time on the hour, the half-hour, and the quarter-hour. You can also use the Customize Voice button to open the sheet that allows for the configuration of the voice in which the time will be announced, as shown in Figure 13-9.

Figure 13-9: The Customize Voice sheet has every possible option except sound normal.