Ubuntu 20.04: Customize clock format in panel

Support & Help Requests
#1

Hi, on my fresh install of Ubuntu MATE 20.04 I didn't found a way to customize the clock format in the MATE panel (complete notifications bar).
There is only the time, but I would like to have the date as well (and seconds, and a custom format (iso8601), but one after the other... :smiley: )

Is there a way to customize the mate panel clock format in Ubuntu 20.04?

#2

Hi :slight_smile:

You can use this applet :

image

that is more tunable :

image

Right click on your panel > add to panel

Enjoy :slight_smile:

2 Likes
#3

Maybe here https://ubuntu-mate.community/t/20-04-mate-add-hidden-extras-to-top-panel/21795/14

1 Like
#4

Ubuntu Mate is full of choices :slight_smile:

#5

Thank you for this hint as well

I switched back and forth from these two options that were proposed by olek and your link:

  • using the classic clock applet
  • modifying the new clock format

I managed to apply a custom format to both of them!

But, there is a slight advantage of the classic clock, which is why I switched back to using it:
within custom formats it is possible to use html declarations to make some parts smaller! This was the ultimate solution for me in the past, so I will use it again.

Sadly the configure locations changed, so it took some times to find them out:

Apply custom formats to clock applets

Everything below has to be done in dconf-editor.

New clock (in complete notification applet)

  • Open dconf-editor
  • Go to: /com/canonical/indicator/datetime/
  • Enter your custom format in custom-time-format
  • Change time-format to the value custom

Voilà, your custom format should have been applied!

Classic clock applet

  • Add "Clock" to mate panel
  • Open dconf-editor
  • Go to: /org/mate/panel/objects/
  • Go through all object-X entries, until you find one that has the applet-iid=ClockAppletFactory::ClockApplet
  • Go down to the prefs folder
  • Enter your custom format in custom-format
  • Change format to the string custom

Voilà, your custom format should have been applied!

My absolute overruler custom format

<small>%A, %Y-</small>%m-<b>%d</b> %T, <small>KW%V</small>

Looks like this: Sunday, 2020-06-07 22:58:00, KW23

Links:

3 Likes
#6

I can find that entry but when I attempt to change any values I get a 'no schema found' error and no changes are made.

How can I fix this?
TIA

#7

For me, this "no schema found" error is displayed also (since 20.04 I assume), but changes are applied nevertheless.

#8

Ubuntu 20.04.2

Like @walter99 I also get "no schema found" for...

/org/mate/panel/objects/object-3/prefs/custom-format

And the same for...
/org/mate/panel/objects/object-3/prefs/format

I then somehow deleted the "custom-format" key. You can add it back from Terminal like this:
# dconf write /org/mate/panel/objects/object-3/prefs/custom-format "''"

Then go back in to dconf editor as @7even explained and make:
format = custom
and in my case I made...
custom-format = <span size="small"> %H:%M %n %m/%d/%Y</span>

Flex