# Format a date field
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When you format a date field, you can choose a list of common formatting options. Or you can open the **Format data** pane to choose from a list of common formats, or specify custom formatting for the date and time values.

Changing a field format changes it for all visuals in the analysis that use that dataset, but does not change it in the dataset itself.

If you want to format a date field by choosing from a list of common options, you can access such a list in several ways. You can access it from the **Field list** pane, a visual on-visual editor, or a visual field well.

**To change a date field's format by choosing a list option**

1. Choose one of the following options:
   + In the **Field list** pane, choose the selector icon to the right of the number field that you want to format. 
   + On any visual that contains an on-visual editor associated with the number field that you want to format, choose that on-visual editor. Expand the **Field wells** pane, and then choose the field well associated with the number field that you want to change.

1. Choose **Format**, and then choose the format that you want. The following quick formatting options are offered for date fields:
   + Show the month, day, year, and time.
   + Show the month, day, and year.
   + Show the month and year.
   + Show the year.

**To manually change a date field's format**

1. Choose one of the following options:
   + In the **Field list** pane, choose the selector icon to the right of the number field that you want to format. 
   + On any visual that contains an on-visual editor associated with the number field that you want to format, choose that on-visual editor. Expand the **Field wells** pane, and then choose the field well associated with the number field that you want to change.

1. Choose **Format**, and then choose **More Formatting Options**. 

   The **Format data** pane opens. 

1. Expand the **Date** section. Choose an existing date format, or choose **Custom** and specify a format pattern in the **Custom** section lower down in the **Format data** pane. If you choose **Custom** for the **Date** section, you must also choose **Custom** for the following **Time** section. The pattern that you specify in the **Custom** section must include any date and time formatting that you want.

   The default selection is **Custom**, with a default format pattern of MMM D, YYYY h:mma, for example Sep 20, 2022 5:30pm.

1. Expand the **Time** section. Choose an existing time format, or choose **Custom** and specify a format pattern in the **Custom** section lower down in the **Format data** pane. If you choose **Custom** for the **Time** section, you must also choose **Custom** for the preceding **Date** section. The pattern that you specify in the **Custom** section must include any date and time formatting that you want.

   The default selection is **Custom**, with a default format pattern of MMM D, YYYY h:mma, for example Sep 20, 2022 5:30pm.

1. If you chose **Custom** in the **Date** and **Time** sections, expand the **Custom** section and specify the format pattern that you want, using the format pattern syntax specified in [Moment.js Display Format](https://momentjs.com/docs/#/displaying/) in the Moment.js JavaScript documentation.
**Note**  
The time zone related display token `Z` from the Moment.js library is supported in Quick, but the `z` token is not.

   If you chose something other than **Custom** in the **Date** and **Time** sections, **Custom** is populated with the format pattern that reflects your selections. For example, if you chose Jun 21, 2016 in the **Date** section and 17:00:00pm in the **Time** section, the **Custom** section shows the format pattern MMM D, YYYY H:mm:ssa.

1. (Optional) Expand the **Custom** section and use **Preview** to verify your specified format.

1. Expand the **Null values** section and choose whether to display null values as `null` or as a custom value. Using `null` is the default.