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patrman's avatar
patrman
Copper Contributor
Nov 03, 2023

Mac Excel 365 Changed the character used to separate thousands and decimals after office update

Hi,

 

after updating either Office 365  or Mac OS  (to Sonoma)  in Excel changed: 

  • the character used to separate thousands and decimals after office
  • format of the date

 

In general the regional setting changed from EU region to US region. That happened only for Excel (Apples Numbers respect the OS native setting). 

 

Here is more info: 

  • Excel for Mac version 16.78.3
  • Macbook M1 Pro, Sonoma 14.1
  • I tried to reinstall MS Office - did not help

 

Here is my regional setting from system:

 

How and were can I set regional setting for Excel. Something like here.

 

excel
Excel on Mac

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  • PenelopeAdams's avatar
    PenelopeAdams
    Iron Contributor
    Apr 05, 2025

    1. Modify the number formatting in Excel 
    Select the affected cells → Right-click and select “Set Cell Format” (or Cmd + 1).
    In the “Numbers” tab: 
    select ‘Numeric’ or “Currency” format.
    In the options on the right, manually specify: 
    Decimal sign: . (period) 
    Thousand separator: , (comma) 
    Click OK to apply the changes.
    2. Adjust system locale settings 
    Open Mac System Settings → “Language & Locale”.
    Check the following settings: 
    Preferred Language: Make sure it is English (or another language that uses , as the thousands separator).
    Region: Select USA, UK, etc. (avoid European countries such as Germany, France as they use the 1.000,00 format by default).
    Restart Excel. 
    3. Modify Excel default options 
    In Excel, go to Excel > Preferences > Edit.
    Find the Use system separator option: 
    Uncheck this option.
    Enter manually: 
    Decimal separator: .
    Thousand separators: . 
    Restart Excel. 
    4. Check the Office Language Pack 
    Open Word or Excel → Click on Tools > Language in the menu bar.
    Make sure the default editing language is English (US).
    If a language pack is missing, go to the Microsoft 365 installer to download it.
    5. Rebuild the Excel configuration file 
    If the problem persists, the preferences file may be corrupted: 
    Close Excel. 
    Open Access → Press Cmd + Shift + G and enter the path: 
    ~/Library/Containers/com.microsoft.Excel/Data/Library/Preferences/ Delete the following files: com.microsoft.
    Delete the following files: 
    com.microsoft.Excel.plist 
    all com.microsoft.Excel.XXXXXXX files.
    Reopen Excel (the system automatically rebuilds the configuration file).

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