Change the first day of the week (when weeks start) in Windows 7
By default on a Windows 7 computer purchased in the US, the first day of the week is Sunday, as is often the case in calendars of all kinds (paper or software), even if most of us consider for work and school that the week starts on Monday. In this tutorial, we will show you how to make Windows 7 use Monday (or another day of your choice, like Saturday), as the first day of the week. This is part of the "regional settings" in Windows 7, and most programs will respect your preferences, and display (among other options) the first day of the week you have chosen in your Windows preferences.
Change the first day of the week to Monday (for example)
Follow these steps to force Windows 7 to start weeks on a different day:
- Open the start menu, and type "date time" in the search field.
- Click on the "Change the date, time, or number format" link Windows 7 displays in the results:
- Windows will open the "Region and Language" dialog, with the "Formats" tab selected by default.
- Under the "Date and time formats" section of options, locate the "First day of week" dropdown menu. It is currently set to whatever day you have as the first day of the week; click on it, and choose the week's first days as you want it to be.
- Click OK to apply your new setting and return to Windows.
- To test that your first day of the week has been changed, click on the system clock, in the notification area: Windows 7 should display in the first column the day you chose:
- From now on, the week will start on this day in the mini calendar of the system clock, and other calendaring applications like Outlook 2007 or the Microsoft Works Calendar.
Note: as mentioned earlier, although programs should respect your Windows 7 local and regional preferences (which includes first day of the week), some third-party applications (like the Mozilla Sunbird calendar), follow their own settings - which in most cases can be configured, and that you'll need to customize manually.